Week 18 started off in the Ocean World Marina and finished
in the Ocean World Marina.
Sunday we worked on a few things that needed to be done on
the yacht and then spent the rest of
the day at the pool.
Mel was keen to start heading east but I wasn’t ready - I
wasn’t keen to have another two days of sailing and beating into the wind as we
knew we would have to AND I am still lacking in confidence in my ability to
help Mel when the seas are rough and we are sailing in seas with 2 – 3 metre
swells. We looked at the weather forecast for the next week and saw that Monday
to Wednesday would be okay but by Thursday afternoon through to Saturday, the winds would be up to
15 – 20 knots along with the swells of 2 -3 metres. We could see that the
following week looked pretty calm which I was happy about, although Salty
Sailor Mel would prefer slightly stronger winds. We thought we would wait and
monitor when the next good sailing window would be so in the meantime we would
do a bit of exploring.
Monday morning, Mel organised a car for us for the next
three days. Thank goodness Mel is used to driving in organised chaos. As
mentioned previously (Week 17), there are a mixture of modes of transport from
donkey carts, to horseback riders, to big modern 4wheel drive vehicles, to
motor bikes everywhere!!
The motor bikes appear from just about anywhere at any time
and many times they don’t actually look - they just drive!!!
We decided to drive east, to Sosua, to a place we thought we
may anchor off at for a while, while making our way eastwards.
The DR is slowly becoming yacht friendly although the
“authorities” do not like boats just anchoring off anywhere as in the Bahamas
and other Caribbean countries. “They” like to know where you are at all times
and there is quite a bit of red tape and bribery. This puts off LOTS of boat
people from coming here although the DR depends on tourism like most
places/countries now a days. They are slowly making inroads into the tourist
market as there are many hotel developments on the SE coast and north coast-
where we are. About 3kms from the marina, a HUGE ocean cruise ship terminal is being
built and should be finished by the end of next year.
Back to Sosua – it is only about 10nm from Puerto Plata, is
situated on a cliff top, has coral reefs close to the main beach which makes it
easy to swim to from the beach. It is divided into two areas – Los Charmaicos
to the west and El Batey to the west, where German and Austrian Jewish refugees
settled during the 1940’s.
Mel and I noticed when we were driving through that there
was a synagogue and lots of German and Jewish flags flying and it was only when
we stopped to walk around did we find out why.
The main beach is lined with an avenue of trees and under
the trees are all market stalls.
We drove further east to Cabarete – this is known as one of
the best windsurfing and kiteboarding
areas in the Caribbean. WOW does the wind
blow there!!
It was fascinating going up the cable car as it reminded Mel
and me of the old cable cars that took you up Table Mountain.
We stopped off at Kite Beach – aptly named as we have never
seen so many kiteboards. From beginners to the more experienced – it was
fascinating to watch.
After watching the kite boarders for quite a while, we made
our way back to the marina, had a swim and then settled down for the night.
Tuesday was a clear day so we decided to go up the Monte
Isabel De Torre (781m) which soars over Puerto Plata.
As predicted there are always people trying to get you to
part with your money because as we arrived in the parking lot for the cable cay
to take us up the Monte Isabel De Torre, we were “hounded” by tour guides and
parking lot attendants. I suppose we all have to make a living somehow.
It was fascinating going up the cable car as it reminded Mel
and me of the old cable cars that took you up Table Mountain.
On the top of Monte Isabel De Torre, is a statue of Jesus
similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro but it is MUCH smaller.
There were paths leading off in all different directions so
we just walked and walked. We walked to the other side of the mountain and saw
the hinterland and country side. It is so lush and green!
We stayed on Monte Isabel De Torre for about 2 hours then
made our way back down to our car.
Afterwards we went into town to the big supermarket Le Serai
to get some never ending fresh fruit and veggies.
For lunch we went down town to a local restaurant and tried
some of the local DR food. It is always fascinating to people watch!!
My Darling husband can never go passed somebody selling
DVD’s! We have so many DVD’s at home in Perth, I had visions of us collecting a
whole lot more for the yacht!
When we arrived back on the boat and were preparing dinner,
the people ( Joaquin, Marie and their two children, Ava and Adrian, On Mirador)
in the yacht on our starboard (right) side came over to ask if we wanted to
join them and the couple on our port (left) side – John and Lyn on Blue Moon,
for dinner. They were planning on walking up the road from the marina to one of
the many restaurants along the side of the road.
We joined them and had a great evening as always discussing
the weather and what and when is the best time to head east – as we were all
planning on doing the same thing although our time frames where slightly
different.
Wednesday morning, we decided to head to Luperon.
*Bruce van Sant who wrote the “The Gentleman’s Guide to Passages
South” about sailing along the thornless path to the Windward islands –
the route we were taking, suggests going to Luperon and anchoring there until
the next good weather wind. Luperon has the best hurricane hole in the
Caribbean and judging from google earth, it looked a great anchorage.
Mel wasn’t keen on going to Luperon as mentioned in week 17
because of the Customs and Immigrations here in the DR.
*Bruce in his book raves about Luperon, so we thought let’s
go and have a look.
Well, all I can say is THANK GOODNESS Mel decided for us to
sail to Puerto Plata and the marina!
What a dive!! It is smelly and the water looks dirty! Yes it
is an extremely good hurricane hole and if one had no choice but to go there,
fine but thank goodness we didn’t go there as I know I would have taken the
next taxi back to the airport and already be back in Perth!
We drove around Luperon for a while and tried to contact
some people we “met” along the way to the DR – Bill and Alysha on Destiny who
we knew were heading for Luperon.
Back in Week 17 when we were crossing the Caicos Banks, we
noticed another yacht was “descending” onto the same waypoint as us. We made
contact with each other over the radio, introduced ourselves and exchange info
about where we had been and where we were heading – the usual stuff. Destiny
was also heading to the DR but on a slight different route and time frame as
us.
Later that same day while we were in Fish Cay and the
following day – Thursday, when we were sailing across to Big Sand Cay.
Bill and Alysha were only going to cross to the DR the
following Monday and they were heading to Luperon.
Unfortunately we didn’t make contact with them but we will
keep a look out for them as we make our way east.
We drove back to Puerto Plata and went to the Fortaleza San
Felipe which is the oldest colonial fortress of the New World. From the fort,
there were lovely/interesting views of Puerto Plata’s
harbour and the Monte
Isabel De Torre.
Afterwards we thought we would just park the car and walk
the streets, which we did.
As we were walking up one of the streets, one of the
security guides at the marina recognised us and we started chatting to him – he
used is limited English and we tried our limited Spanish. It was his day off
and he was out doing chores with his wife Christina. His name was Salvadore.
He told us about the local market so off we went….. we
prefer going where the locals go and seeing the “real” parts of a city/place.
The veggies and fruit were so fresh and cheap!! The DR is
very cheap. Breakfast in Perth would cost Mel and I at least $50 (bacon, eggs,
toast, sausage etc.) Here the equivalent costs us $12!!!! We also bought some mangoes x12 for 40c and they taste like the mangoes we grew up with.
After the markets, we told Salvadore and Christina for a
drink at a restaurant where his sister works. It was in an old colony (Spanish)
building. Everything though is so sweet!!! After our drink we said our
“Goodbyes” and headed back to the boat.
Thursday saw us working and cleaning the boat.
I actually did some quilting!!! It is the first bit of
quilting I have done in over 6 months!! Mel worked on the radio and organised
all the channels and their frequencies.
Friday morning – Good Friday – we went to breakfast at the
marina Terrace with John and Lyn. We stayed there for most of the morning only
returning to the boat after 1.30pm I found a T.V. that had the Monte Carlo ATP
tennis tournament on and Roger Federer was playing against Tsong, so I was
EXTREMELY happy and sat and watched that.
Friday afternoon, Mel worked on a few things on the boat,
while I made the courtesy flag for the Netherlands Antilles.(Bonaire, Curacao, Saba,
St Eustatius and St Maarten)
All the time we download the weather forecasts and adjust
our plans accordingly. The internet at the marina is awful! It is so
inconsistent and it is worse when the wind starts blowing which it has been
since Thursday afternoon.
The people at the marina are extremely friendly and helpful.
It is quite a distance to where our boat is and where the main marina offices,
laundry, bathrooms and entrance are. The workers use golf carts and they will
stop and give you a ride if they see you walking along the walk way.
As far as our plans are for the next part of our journey
well…… next week the winds look mild, almost nothing – 5knots which will be
good for us heading east against the easterlies which are the prevailing winds.
The best times to sail in this area if you are heading east
is at night time when the Katabatic winds off the mountains blow and they are
SE winds. ( Katabatic – a wind that flows down a slope usually at night time,
due to the cooling of the upper level air which becomes heavier and flows downhill
– definition taken from Bruce van Sant’s book). The winds pick up during the
course of the day and afternoon and die down between 7/8.00pm and 9.00am so
that is when most of our sailing will take place over the next week – Week 19.
Week 19 is going to be an interesting week as we will be
heading east to Samana and then the next BIG “obstacle” is the Mona passage
which if according to *Bruce can be a breeze or turn into your worst nightmare
if you do not time things right. He believes and is known to have the correct
idea/formula so we are taking note of what he has to say.
So until next time when I am sure I will have LOTS to report
on…. Take care.
Sending lots of love
Captain Salty Sailor Mel – the Sailing Nut and his Admiral
Caryn/xx
