Puerto Rico

PUERTO RICO

Boqueron, is the most popular anchorages along the western shore of Puerto Rico. Once a small fishing village is now a small tourist town everything is within walking distance from the dinghy docks. Just around the bay is one of the nicest beaches around, it’s where all the locals hang out.

Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United states we didn’t need to get a visa, but we did need to check-in the boat and show them our passports at immigration. They use American currency here “yes feels good to me!” Immigration is about 15 miles away in a city called Mayaguez. We had to pay a taxi $40.00 to bring us there. The larger cities like Ponce, Mayaguez and San Juan actually look like your in the USA, because there are all the same stores and restaurants.

Mc Donald’s, Mal-mart and Sears you pretty much name it and you can find it here even West Marine the boaters dream store. After clearing in we checked out Boqueron, a bar is found every ten foot. Cobblestone streets are throughout the town. The shops are great, I bought a few new sun dresses and Carl bought a hammock and a nice hat. Venders are everywhere selling oysters and the local fried empanadas. The Spanish food is much different then the Mexican food is different then what we are used to even in Mexico. “But still nice” as Robert would say.
Mystique towed the Pas De Deux all the way to the city of Ponce. They need to have their trasmission rebuilt and Boqueron is just a small tourist town.

It took us a full day to arrive in Ponce with no problems. We invited Michiel (spelled the Holland way) & Robert to stay aboard Mystique while the Pas De Deux is being repaired. Robert is a chef and Michiel can fix anything. We enjoy having them aboard, two real nice guys. Carl had the windless fixed on Mystique. The electric wench that pulls up the anchor, while they fixed there boat. Now Carl will be in a much better mood when we set and pick up anchor. It was worth every penny spent!

Carl myself, Michiel & Robert rented a car and drove all over the island. My favorite stop was the El Yunque. The Caribbean Nation Rain Forest. I was in heaven, if you know me at all you know that I love plants, flowers and parrots. This place had it all! Plus waterfalls. We hiked a 1 ¾ mile hike to the main waterfall it was quite beautiful. The next favorite thing was the boardwalk in Ponce. It has loud Spanish music playing people dancing, food and beer. Best of all the little booths with the locals sold trinkets. We stayed in Puerto Rico for a week and enjoyed every minute. Wile we were there we received word that Chris and Amanda are expecting a new baby. Congratulation!!! Now the wedding date is going to be May 17th 2008. We will sail as far South as we can through the Spanish Virgin Islands and fly home for the great event. Keep you posted on how far we get.

Mona Passage

THE MONA PASSAGE ( from D.R to Puerto Rico)

The Mona passage is really a tough crossing for any caption and crew. My caption is a rookie! The crew is even worse! I’m getting worried. I still hate sailing through the night, we have watches two hours on two hours off. The passage from Luperon to Puerto Rico (in good weather) will take three nights and two full days to sail. We decided to make two stops along the way. Other boats sailed the whole way through.

We stopped in the middle of the night at Rio San Juan. Some of the boats that were anchored there didn’t have any anchor lights on. I steered and Carl was on the bow of the boat with a flashlight. We set anchor and went to sleep. In the morning we awoke to see that all of the other sailboats were gone except the Pas De Deux and us. Mystique was anchored about ten yards away from a tourist diving spot. Then two large cat sailboats pull up on both sides of us, playing loud music and carrying about fifty tourists each. All of which dive off to snorkel. Carl just waves and looks at all the girls, I wanted to move out of their way. We stayed put until they left!
The next afternoon we dropped the hook in Samana. It’s still D.R. and is very beautiful and clean. As soon as we dropped anchor a guy just like handy Andy pulls up along side our boat. We were only going to sleep a few hours and then head for the Mona passage that evening. He took Carl to Immigration and brought us diesel and water to the boat. It was kind of nice when your tired to have someone like him help you out. The Pas De Deux didn’t stop in Samana they went on ahead from Rio San Juan to Puerto Rico.

We left Samana right on schedule 4:30 pm. The weather remained good. It took us 29 hours through the Mona passage. We ended up motor sailing most of the way because the winds and the sea were real calm. After dropping hook in Puerto Rico my phone began to chime. I had three unheard messages. They were from Michiel on the Pas De Deux. Their transmission had went out on the passage. They were hoping to meet up with us alone the way. We must have passed them during the night. It was the passage from hell for them. Hot no wind sitting not going anywhere. My heart sunk. I called them back. They were fine but still about five hours away. They are from Holland so they have to go to another port for immigration then us from the USA. That night as the sun was setting us saw then sailing into Borinquen bay. They got as close as possible then used their dinghy to push the boat into the bay for a safe anchorage. We met them on the way in to show them where we were.

THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Luperon: The D.R. is about the size of Florida with about 10 million people that speak Spanish. They grow a lot of sugar cane and raise a lot of cattle here on the island. Large green mountain ranges cover most of the terrain. About 50 cruisers set anchor in the bay at all times. It’s kind of like George Town but with a lot fewer boats. Many cruisers come to visit and never leave. It’s affordable to live here and it’s really beautiful. The towns people welcome the tourists see if the There is a small fishing boat that comes around the cruisers need anything. “Just call handy Andy on your VHF radio if you need anything” He delivers diesel, water or propane right to your boat.

Luperon is a port of entry to D.R. Passing through customs is quite interesting. The caption of their Navy makes a visit to your boat, he doesn’t come aboard he sits in handy Andy’s little fishing boat along side. Handy Andy does all the talking for him. He looks over your paperwork and hands it back to you. It’s obvious that he can’t read any of it. Then handy Andy asks for a donation to the navy. Then you need to go to the Immigration office on shore. You pay this guy to look over your boats registration and your visas. Then you see this other guy and you have to pay him again for who knows what. Then a couple of hours later you receive a visit on your boat from the Department of Agriculture you also have to pay them too. She only spoke Spanish, so I got out my Spanish - English dictionary. We communicated pretty well. I gave her a coke and a warm smile, I think she liked me. All she did was look at the dog & cats vet paperwork and asked me if I had any carne meat aboard. I showed her what I had and said si with a smile. I saw her again at a restaurant in town called Caption Steve’s, she came over to me and said hola. Caption Steve’s is a real cool bar & restaurant. We met Steve & his wife Annie, their place is where we went everyday. He let us take showers there he had a real nice swimming pool, his wife did our laundry (we paid for that) but the showers, internet and pool were all free. The food was excellent beer was cold.

Outside of town there is a place with 27 waterfalls, we went on a guided tour. It was great! They made us wear helmets and life jackets. We only went to 7 out of the 27 waterfalls, but that was enough for us. They pulled you up the rock formations that led to the next fall and you swam the whole way. On the way back you used the falls as a slide to get back down to the next level. The last fall you had to jump down. It was so much fun.

We rented car and drove down the countryside to a large town call Santiago. Lots of traffic they drive a lot of motorcycles but still very congested. Santiago has all the tourist shopping that you can imagine. Lots of real green tall trees with palm trees between them. We passed lots of cattle and sugar cane fields. The next day we took the local bus into Playa de Puerto. Watching the locals board and get off was quite an experience. When we arrived a young guy approached us he said he was a tour guide. He would help us find anything that we needed for free. We had a lot of fun with him and we did pay him at the end of the day. We stayed a week in Luperon and enjoyed every minute. Now we will be heading to Puerto Rico The Mona passage. The longest passage we will make so far and it includes night sailing. The weather is just right and about 7 other boats are all going to leave also including the Pas De Deux.

TURKS AND CAICOS

TURKS & CAICOS

Next stop Turks & Caicos Islands: Another over night sail and out of the Bahamas to another country. This is where Dick can catch a flight home. We arrived safe and sound at 9:00 am at Providenciales (Provo.) Sapodilla Bay anchorage. We went to immigration to clear. Dick found a guy there that was heading to the airport so he hitched a ride and was gone like the wind before we even cleared the boat through customs. Good bye Dick we will miss you!

Providenciales is a large Island, big downtown and lots of cars. Michiel, Robert and Carl & I called a taxi to go into town. We needed food, beer & rum! This whole Island is lime stone. Lots of dust that covers everything. We were so tired that we didn’t so sight seeing on this island. We went to the boat and went to sleep. Next morning on the road again. We have to go when the weather is good or we could be held up for days.

Next stop French Cay: Only a half day away this island is a wildlife preserve you can look but you can’t touch. Non inhabited. Next quick stop Long Cay: We didn’t go ashore. Next stop Big Sand Cay: Also uninhabited.

We are preparing to make the roughest over night passage that we have ever made yet. The weather window is good we have to leave tonight after sailing all day. Just two hour rest then onward to the Dominican Republic. We will sail all night and arrive in Luperon about 9:00am.

GEORGE TOWN

GEORGE TOWN:

Next stop George Town: We arrived the day before Dick’s plane came in. In George Town sail boaters come from all over to sail in the Regattas. 250 boats are anchored in the anchorages throughout town. They have volleyball, softball, basket weaving, card playing activities scheduled for everyday. A cruiser net is on the VHF every morning @ 8:00am to tell the cruisers what’s up for that day. It’s wild. We paid for a slip at the only marina in town. It would be so much easier for Dick to find us there. As Carl was walking Tara by the marina office, Dick’s Taxi pulled up, we couldn’t have planed it better if we knew the exact time he would be arriving. We are glad that he is here safe and sound! It really was a good thing that Carl found him so quickly, because Carl gave Dick a long list of things he needed for the boat. Carrying his bags with that stuff inside would be a chore for one person. Dick is our 1st guest aboard. It’s great to have him here!

For those of you that don’t know, Dick and his wife Terry joined us in Florida to take sailing classes with us. “Great people.” We will put Dick to work sailing as far as we can go in two weeks. Lets see what he remembers!

Having Dick aboard is purely a pleasure. He has been out sailing with other friends a number of times. He is a natural, just a few lessons on navigation he will be ready to rent the catamaran that he has his eye on and sail it with no problem. We found Michiel & Robert from the Pas De Deux sailboat. We have become great friends. Carl, Robert and I are trying to fish. We all caught one about 4” long. We just through them back. We are learning. George Town is fun but there are to many boaters. They are continently on the VHF radio calling someone, it drives me nuts!
As soon as weather permits we will be heading out to Long Island. We will follow Pas De Deux for a while south. They have been sailing for many years and are so helpful with anything on the boat. I just feed them and supply the beer or Rum. They are happy to help out with anything!

Long Island then to Conception Islands: just two small anchorages to drop anchor spend the night and leave early in the morning. In Long Island, our windless motor broke down. This is a automatic motor that lets your chain down and pulls up. Without it you need a lot of mussels to pull it up by hand. Carl & Dick took turns I drove the boat toward the anchor. More snorkeling, Carl is practicing spear-fishing. He speared a Parrot fish big enough to eat. Robert & Carl tried to cut it up but had some problems. I ended up boiling it and feeding it to sailor. Robert is a great chef he makes us dinner quite often, he cooks I do dishes. He knows his way around my galley better then Carl does.

Rum Cay: Is our next stop it has a small little village. We all went ashore to explore. We found a little store, church and Ocean View Restaurant. Owned by Ruby Bain a genuine local Bohemian. We had to order our dinner four hours in advance. Ruby cooked a real Bohemian dinner for us it was great. We all got to try some turtle it was really quite good. The people here are really nice we met some of the local children, they asked me lots of questions. They feel blessed that they can go to school and they love to learn. I bought eggs from the local chickens.

Tonight we are preparing for our 1st over night sail to Mayaguana a stepping stone to the Turks & Caicos Islands. More reef snorkeling, I found another huge beautiful conch shell. It’s great to have Dick here to help out he and Carl enjoy sailing at night. I can’t see anything at night and it scares me. Karie & Alex downloaded music on my I-pod, it sure comes in handy on over-nighters helps the time pass quicker. Our passage was a success smooth sailing. It was great having Dicks help aboard.

GEORGE TOWN

Carl’s real good friend Dick from high school is coming to join us for a couple of weeks. He can fly into Nassau and get a small shuttle to George Town. So we had to get to George Town before the 18th of February. All the cruiser friends we were with wanted to explore all the little islands in between, some won’t even go that far south because they had to be heading back home soon. We said our good buys to our new friends and headed toward George Town.

Next stop Staniel Cay: We were there over Valentines day. Carl took me out for steak & lobster dinner. We sat with a couple, he was a pilot that owned a vacation home there. Real nice people. The next day we went to Thunderball Cave. It’s a famous underwater cave where shafts of sunlight illuminate the fish inside. The James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed inside this cave. We met up with two guys Michiel & Robert from Holland a boat anchored next to us called the Pas De Deux, they came with us. It was the coolest snorkeling I’ve ever did. We brought some old bread to feed the fish, they came up to us and ate out of our hands. The cave was awesome. Next we went to Big Majors Cay and saw the swimming pigs. We also fed them they rum off the island and swim to your dinghy to eat. Weird but different. We also met a couple that were vacationing on the Island. Tim & Debbie. We invited them over to our boat for Happy hour. Carl picked them up in our dinghy and brought them to our boat anchored in the anchorage. It was their 1st time on a sail boat. They had a great time. The next day Tim made me a CD of Jimmy Buffett, (Also a parrot head.) We said good bye exchanged numbers so we could keep in touch. Mike & Robert were also heading to George Town we would look them up there.

GEORGE TOWN:

Next stop George Town: We arrived the day before Dick’s plane came in. In George Town sail boaters come from all over to sail in the Regattas. 250 boats are anchored in the anchorages throughout town. They have volleyball, softball, basket weaving, card playing activities scheduled for everyday. A cruiser net is on the VHF every morning @ 8:00am to tell the cruisers what’s up for that day. It’s wild. We paid for a slip at the only marina in town. It would be so much easier for Dick to find us there. As Carl was walking Tara by the marina office, Dick’s Taxi pulled up, we couldn’t have planed it better if we knew the exact time he would be arriving. We are glad that he is here safe and sound! It really was a good thing that Carl found him so quickly, because Carl gave Dick a long list of things he needed for the boat. Carrying his bags with that stuff inside would be a chore for one person. Dick is our 1st guest aboard. It’s great to have him here!
For those of you that don’t know, Dick and his wife Terry joined us in Florida to take sailing classes with us. “Great people.” We will put Dick to work sailing as far as we can go in two weeks. Lets see what he remembers!
Having Dick aboard is purely a pleasure. He has been out sailing with other friends a number of times. He is a natural, just a few lessons on navigation he will be ready to rent the catamaran that he has his eye on and sail it with no problem. We found Michiel & Robert from the Pas De Deux sailboat. We have become great friends. Carl, Robert and I are trying to fish. We all caught one about 4” long. We just through them back. We are learning. George Town is fun but there are to many boaters. They are continently on the VHF radio calling someone, it drives me nuts!
As soon as weather permits we will be heading out to Long Island. We will follow Pas De Deux for a while south. They have been sailing for many years and are so helpful with anything on the boat. I just feed them and supply the beer or Rum. They are happy to help out with anything! Long Island then to Conception Islands: just two small anchorages to drop anchor spend the night and leave early in the morning. In Long Island, our windless motor broke down. This is a automatic motor that lets your chain down and pulls up. Without it you need a lot of mussels to pull it up by hand. Carl & Dick took turns I drove the boat toward the anchor. More snorkeling, Carl is practicing spear-fishing. He speared a Parrot fish big enough to eat. Robert & Carl tried to cut it up but had some problems. I ended up boiling it and feeding it to sailor. Robert is a great chef he makes us dinner quite often, he cooks I do dishes. He knows his way around my