Our next destination: the Dominican Republic, which occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola (the remaining third is Haiti). It has the Caribbean's highest peak (Pico Duarte at 10,164 feet located in the center), largest lake (Lago Enriquillo, a salt lake), and biggest city (Santo Domingo, its capitol on the SW coast with a population of about 965,000). But it's mostly known for over 1,000 miles of white-sand beaches.
The first European colony in the New World settled here. It was originally populated by Taino Indians when Columbus arrived in 1492, discovering the island's gold deposits. Its history includes Spanish rule, an economy fueled by gold and later sugarcane, pirates and French buccaneers, and the fight for independence from France, Spain, slavery, and later even Haiti. Only since 1961 has the Dominican Republic established itself as a stable Latin-Caribbean democracy.
Today's economy is based on tourism, agriculture, and mineral exports. Tourism is by far the biggest contributor and concentrated on the northern and eastern coasts (where we've been sailing). The Dominican Republic is also the world's leading exporter of hand-rolled cigars (over 500 million cigars per year). Other exports include sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, fruits and vegetables, live plants and cut flowers.
Our crossing from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico to Cap Cana, Dominican Republic was relatively uneventful. Under certain conditions, crossing the Mona Passage from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic can be a rough, uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous sail. We watched the weather closely for weeks before we crossed. We had clear, sunny skies and 15 to 20 NE winds with large swells that pushed us 80 miles in about ten hours. Sailing the whole way, we didn't need to use our engines. Seas were moderately rough and had we not had the winds behind us, it wouldn't have been as nice a sail. We didn't see any other boats on our crossing except on large fishing boat, which rather rudely forced us slightly off our course to accommodate them as we neared Cap Cana. Here's to our successful and safe crossing!
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| The Mona Passage |
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| Crossing to Cap Cana on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic |
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| All sails working well |
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| The new chart plotter installed at the port helm |
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| Always hold on when walking on the deck, as Jerry demonstrates |
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| Paula |
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| A picture never truly depicts how large the swells are |
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| We had bright, almost cloudless, sunny skies all day |
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| Jerry, enjoying the sail in the shade of the jib |
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| Kent, at the helm, slathered with sunscreen |
At the end of the day, we were all very tired and were glad we had arranged to dock at the marina instead of anchoring. The marina was part of a large development. There were restaurants, a hotel, condos, and party buildings, as well as the marina. Because it was off-season, there were very few people there and, as a matter of fact, I think we were the only people eating dinner at the restaurant. Our dinner was excellent, especially the appetizer, a platter of octopus carpaccio. Yum!
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| Octopus carpaccio |
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| Kent's brother Jerry |
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| Kent |
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| Mahi-mahi with tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, for Jerry |
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| Grilled Caribbean langoustino for Kent |
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| Grilled mahi-mahi for Paula |
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| Pretty stones lit up in the garden |
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| The marina at night |
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| Big, fancy boats |
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| Our boat dockside |
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A charter tuna fishing boat--you couldn't pay me enough
to climb up to the helm of one of these boats! |
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Hotel and marina guests are transported around the
complex in these little carts or they can rent them |
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| Our boat dockside, again |
The next morning, we were off early in the morning, anticipating another long day sail, about 90 miles west across the north side of the Dominican Republic. The entire north side is typically rough and there are very few, if any, places to anchor successfully and safely. Reefs are a danger, a rocky bottom is common, a lack of protected bays, and a huge swell from the Atlantic Ocean all make anchoring difficult. So we arranged to stay overnight in marinas as needed. Eleven hours after leaving Cap Cana, we arrived at Puerto Bahai Marina in Samana Bay. We kept an eye out for whales around the peninsula, but the main whale-watching season end by April. Coming out of Cap Cana was very rough, but otherwise our sail was pleasant, again with wind and surf pushing us from behind. We were thrilled to have about half a dozen dolphins welcome us int o Samana Bay after an eleven hour sail. The marina was very upscale and included a hotel, three restaurants, four bars, and an infinity pool. We had a delicious dinner in a lovely seaside restaurant right next to our boat, with a view of the infinity pool. Alas, it had closed at 7pm and we did not have time for a swim! After dinner, we bar-hopped in the marina facility, trying out all three bars!
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| Trooper, who has been an excellent sailing companion! |
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| The infinity pool overlooking the bay |
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| Our boat |
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| All hooked up to electric--what a treat! |
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| Dusk in the marina |
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| The palms are very majestic |
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| This is a favorite beer of ours as we've traveled the Caribbean |
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| Garlic whole red snapper (yes, I ate the eye) |
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| Bar-hopping |
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| Kent's grilled Caribbean lobster |
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| Bar-hopping:in the hotel |
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| Paula's dates for the evening |
From Puerto Bahai Marina, we headed out into Samana Bay the next morning. We hadn't gone far, before Kent realized that we'd forgotten to walk our minpin, Trooper. Hmmm. Should we go back and walk him ,or should we go forward and take our chances that he will (finally) go on the boat? Knowing how stubborn he is, and given that we hadn't gone far (although we'd just hoisted our sails), we decided to turn back to the marina. I'm sure the dockhands who met us at the dock thought we were crazy. I walked Trooper and we sailed off again.
Our plan was to sail to Rio San Juan, further west along the north coast. However, we'd gotten a late start, plus we'd had to return to walk Trooper, so we didn't have a full day. Instead, we sailed about 45 miles to El Valle. For the first time in many days, we had little wind, so we motor-sailed most of the way. We anchored near El Valle which is beautiful and somewhat isolated. No cell signal, no internet, no wifi, nothing. Just the gorgeous surroundings to enjoy. The only issue we had was the surf which made it difficult for Kent and Jerry to take the dinghy ashore to walk Trooper. Luckily, a young local man on the beach helped push them out beyond the surf. I wasn't sure they were going to make it back to the boat when I saw them paddling!
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| The beach at El Valle |
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| The view outside our boat where we anchored in El Valle |
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Kent and Jerry taking Trooper for a walk on the beach.
The swells don't look like much in this picture, but it was difficult
getting the dinghy back to the boat going opposite through the swells. |
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Pretty secluded. Seeng Kent and Trooper on the beach gives
you some perspective on how big those palm trees really are! |
From El Valle, we were determined to make it Rio San Juan. It was a slightly cloudy day, with average wind. On our way our of the bay, some local fisherman hailed us from their colorful boat, waving fresh lobsters. For $40USD, we bought two huge lobsters and a giant crab. Excellent for grilling!
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| On our way from El Valle in the morning when it was calm |
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| The local fishermen in the bay |
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| Selling fresh live lobsters and crabs |
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| We bought two of these big lobsters: a 2-pounder and a 4-pounder |
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| This magnificent specimen weighed 6 pounds! |
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| Look at the size of that crab claw! |
We made it to Rio San Juan but unfortunately, there was no shelter from the swell from the Atlantic and anchoring there was untenable. We continued on, sailing west, hoping to find a secure anchor spot. Finally, 93 miles and a long 12 hours, we arrived in Sosua. Sosua claims to be the windsurfing capital of the Caribbean. The swell rolled and waves crashed on some nearby reefs. It was DARK. Thankfully, our deck light and handheld spotlight helped us identify a few fishing boats in the bay and we avoided any collision. Anchoring in the dark is very unpleasant and we avoid it whenever possible. After a couple of tries, it was 9:30 p.m. by the time we secured anchorage on a shelf in the bay, avoiding reefs and as much of the surf and swell. We skipped supper and called it a night. Checking for anchor slippage periodically made for a slightly uneasy sleep that night!
I don't have pictures of Sosua because it was so dark when we were there. If I had a picture, this is what it would look like! You will have to imagine that this picture includes six fishing boats, a small reef, and breaking waves in the background.
The next day, since we had sailed so far beyond our expected destination the day before, we only had 15 miles to sail to Ocean World Marina, west of Puerto Plata on the north coast. Our trip was only two hours and the weather was bright and sunny. This is our "jumping point" to the Turks & Caicos, across the Caribbean Sea about 100 miles north and west.
This marina is situated next to and is part of Ocean World. It bills itself as the "Caribbean's premier marina destination" and offers state of the art marina services, weather service, a personalized concierge, laundry service, restaurants, a disco, hotel, gym facilities, ship's chandlery, dive and fishing charter shop, car rental, tobacco shop, day spa, and heliport. Our boat is docked adjacent to the Ocean World Adventure Park, including a waterpark, beach, and interactive encounters with dolphins, sharks, stingrays, and sea lions. I forgot to mention the casino and Bravissimo, the evening burlesque show. Wow! So much to do and so little time!
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| The waterpark slide, pic courtesy of the brochure |
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| Bravissimo! (I know you think this is a picture of me, but it's not) |
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| Our dock |
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| I like the texture of this stone wall which lines the marina |
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| The casino |
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| We ate lunch harborside |
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| The beer is served in paper bags to soak up the moisture |
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| Sorry for the fuzzy picture, Mr. Heron |
We opted to spend two nights in the marina, giving us time to do our laundry, go to the market to re-provision, do a little clean up, and make our final plan for the next crossing to the Turks & Caicos. We might even fit in a nap or two!
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| Kent is out |
