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

Nassau Harbor West

Nassau Harbor West.

Nassau, New Providence Island, and Paradise Island are across the harbor. There was a lot of traffic entering this harbor, cruise ships, Haitian boats, ferries, commercial ships and even seaplanes. The Nassau Port Authority Horbour Control controls the harbor. Your vessel is required to report in before entering the harbor. They want to know all of the details about your boat and your destination. You also have to ask permission to leave the harbor. We splurged and rented a slip at the Nassau Harbour Club. Nassau is known to have a high crime rate and attempted thefts are very likely. They will steal your dinghy if its not locked up.

Staying at a slip tied up to a dock is very nice, we can sleep at night without worrying about the anchor slipping. The security at the marina is great. We went to Atlantis saw the aquarium with the glass-sided fish preserve. It was purely an archaeological fantasy. We went to all of the cruise ship destinations, had drinks at Senor Frogs, shopped at the straw Market. Went to Ardastra Gardens & zoo. Saw rare Bahaman parrots, flamingos and all the beautiful tropical plants that I could ever imagine. It was truly a treat.

Exuma Sound

We then decided to visit the Northern Exuma Cays. The further south you go, the warmer the weather is. We picked Exumas east side, the (Exuma Sound) for it’s deep water so we wouldn’t have any problems with coral heads, sand banks or shoals. It was great day for sailing, with calm seas and nice winds. It was a long days’ sail toward Allans Cay. This island has a ton of Iguanas on the beach. If you land they come meet you, looking for food. It’s the only island that has that many Iguanas.

I stayed in the dinghy wile Carl & Tara went ashore. Tara barked and Carl kept her out of their reach. Dive boats and charter boats came throughout the day letting people off to see the Iguanas. It was quite the attraction. I did a little snorkeling far away from that cay, but stayed aboard the rest of the time. We enjoyed the warmer weather in the cockpit of our boat.

Next stop was just a hop away, Normans Cay. As we were pulling up to the anchorage we saw Lynne & George on Ketch’n Dreams. They told us to follow them so we did we went up just a little ways to Shroud Cay. This island is located in The Exuma Land & Sea Park it‘s about 176 square miles of protected spectacular subtropical waters, coral reefs and fish-breeding grounds. Fishing or gathering of any kind is not permitted. When we got there they introduced us to Lynn & Peter Forgosh in First Edition, nice people we had drinks all together.

As we looked around we saw Beth & Jim from Madcap. Now the fun begins again. This Island has a channel mangrove like a swamp with mangrove trees lining the banks they look like half planted root like fibrous just like what you would see in the Everglades, but the water is so clear you can see the bottom and every grain of sand. We all got into our dinghies and went exploring.

On the way we saw 2 lemon sharks and 2 manta rays. The water was shallow so we walked the dinghy part of the way. About 100 years ago a hermit built a hut on the top of a mountain over looking an uninhibited beautiful beach. He lived there all by himself. Some ruins are still there. Cruisers leave offering up there for good luck. We just wrote our names of our boats on a palm tree. Went snorkeling and had a great day.

The next stop was Hawksbill Cay. Just 1 hour away. There are move ruins and another great beach on the other side of the Island. You can’t anchor there because the sea is to rough. We haven’t done so much walking in our whole lives, but it feels good to be in the tropical Islands and we sleep well!

More snorkeling the next day. I got to tell you that I really enjoy seeing small multi-colored fish and coral reefs, but this time we saw a nurse shark about 3 ft long a 18” grouper and a 8” barracuda within arms length. I just froze as they swam by. I don’t think I like them big guys that close.

Next stop Warderick Wells: This island is still located within the protected park and is covered with marked walking trails. It’s got some of the clearest water in the world. We picked up a pamphlet showing all the rare birds to spot on the trails. There is also Boo Boo Hill where cruisers leave the boats name as a memento.
The weather started to get rough a front was coming in we all decided to stay here until it passed. In spite of the weather we enjoyed the snorkeling. The water just continues to get clearer. I saw beautiful coral reefs with sea fans, Queen angelfish, Yellow goatfish, Trumpet fish, Stoplight parrotfish. It was truly amazing! Carl thinks that I’ve become a fish myself. All the boaters had a big bomb fire on the beach, everyone brought a snack to share and their own drinks. Everyone showed up it was a great turn out, everyone has so much in common living on a boat. There were doctors, lawyers, a lot of teachers and just plain old people like us. Now it doesn’t matter out here who you are we are all the same. I guess that’s why we are all out here living a dream.

THE BAHAMAS

The Bahamas

On the 10th day of January 2008 we set sail at 4:00 am from Palm Beach Fl. heading across the Gulf Stream to the West End (Old Bahaman Bay) which is a port of entry where you can go through the immigration process. As we mentioned before, we have had a fuel problem on the boat. After the mechanic worked on it in Manatee Pocket, Mystique was running fine. Wouldn’t you know it, after about three hours out at sea Mystique stops. We turn her on, she starts right up, runs for a wile and stops again. After doing this a few times the start battery starts to get low. Carl goes down below to do everything possible. The current on the Gulf is so strong that even when your motoring it drags you back. We were slowly drifting backward and rocking. I set sail but of course the wind was coming from the south and we were heading south. Unfortunately you can’t sail strait into the wind. I had to change our course a little bit and adjust later on when we got closer. There was no more rocking, just a swift current.

We are very fortunate that neither of us has gotten sea sick yet! Sailor is so smart he tries to sleep the whole time we are out at sea and he picks out a place smack-dab in the middle of the boat. That’s where the boat has the least amount of movement. He comes up in the cockpit when the boat stops looks around feels the breeze and relaxes with us, he hasn’t tried to get off of the boat yet. I hope it stays that way. He really lives up to his name well. Tara has more problems, she wont go to the bathroom where we made arrangements for her to do so and she slips and slides all over the place when the going gets rough. Carl made her a ramp to help her to get out of the boat and into the cockpit. She uses it pretty well however, some days are better then others. She sure loves the attention and the long walks when we are docked somewhere or when we bring her to dry land by dinghy.

Carl finally gets Mystique up and running after 6 long hours on the Gulf. When she runs, she runs fast and strong. Of course we didn’t arrive at the time we planed on, but we were safe and sound.

The Bahamas cruising guide is our bible. It reads “DO NOT ARRIVE AFTER DARK!,” in big black letters. What could we do? We reached the port at 9:00 pm. Carl called the Marina, no answer. We decided to set anchor right there with no real protection from the open sea.

The cruising guide says that there are no anchorages here, and that the water is really shallow. In the day time you can read the water and steer away from the coral and little islands. At night it’s really hard to tell where you are. So we set anchor. After rocking and rolling all day, we had the night from hell! The Gulf has no mercy what so ever. The boat creaked from spots that I never heard before tipping side to side without any relief. When the sun came up we were safe and nobody got sick. As soon as the marina opened we sailed into shelter. Later on we found out that if the marina is closed you should dock or anchor inside the marina then settle up with the funds in the next morning. Great! Live and learn.

Immigration was so easy we were so relieved. They were really nice and we didn’t have any problems with our pets. We got our fishing license and papers and we are now ready to go explore. Getting ready to sail away from the slip wasn’t going to be easy, a really large Catamaran (Noahgenda) had to dock behind us. It wasn’t real close and would be really easy for an experienced sailor to pass by, but not for us. We were pondering over how to get out when the guy came out and said he was going to be leaving in 15 min. After talking, we found out that we were heading in the same direction, to Great Sail Cay, so we sailed together. This Cay is only an anchorage along the way to the Abaco Cays. They had sailed there before last year and were lots of help. This was the beginning of a new friendship. Their names are Peter & Lorraine MacLean from Canada, our friends forever.

The next day we all sailed to Allans-Pensacola Cay. The Northern Abaco Cays. We stayed there 2 days. This Cay has an old military base to explore and a path that led you to the other side of the island. There was a beautiful beach totally secluded except for when the trash washed up on shore. It reminded us that people were around at sometime. Sad! We brought our snorkeling gear but the winds were too strong and the waves were high. It wasn’t a day for snorkeling. We couldn’t find shells ether!

That night we met another couple who are deep sea fishing experts from the USA. Marla & Jack on the (Skip-Jack) the fishing boat. They live on the ICW at Peck Lake. That’s where we were when we had to be towed in. We remembered that place really well. Another start of a good friendship they have been coming to the Bahamas for 12 years now. Now Peter started a tradition, 4:00pm happy hour. One night at each other’s boat. It’s great, they tell us where to go where not to go and the fresh fish is wonderful. We haven’t caught a thing yet. Jack taught Carl how to clean and filet the fish that he caught on his boat.

We continued to sail together Noahgenda, Skip-Jack and Mystique to Man jack Cay, this island is mostly just an anchorage. Our anchoring skills are improving everyone of them has held. We just have to chill out a little. There was Mangroves that led through the island. All three couples got into our own dinghies ready to explore. It was a lot of fun. I found my 1st conch shell it was great! The weather is nice but not warm enough to swim.

All three of us headed to Green Turtle Cay one of the best-loved cays in the Abacos. It’s a historic settlement of New Plymouth. This cay has restaurants, stores and marinas. Here Peter, Lorraine, Carl & I rented a golf cart to go site seeing we didn’t miss a thing. We tried our 1st fried conch for lunch it was really good.

Next to Marsh Harbor. We had to stay in Marsh harbor for, four days due to weather. It was a much bigger town in the Abacos, it reminds me of San Carlos MX. They drive on the left side of the road and will run you over if your not careful. Here we also anchored along with about 50 other boaters. Most of the boats are from Canada they all seem to know one another. We met a lot of cruisers at the dinghy dock and at the laundry mat there were long lines waiting to do laundry. It was a lot of fun enjoying our new friends. Skip-Jack needed to head back to Florida and Nohagenda wanted to go to Treasure Cay which was in the opposite direction in which we needed to go. We wanted to go to Nassau to see Atlantis. So we all said our good-byes and went our separate ways.

We headed to Little Harbor that is a remote refuge. All that is there is an art gallery with great sculptors of the 20th century from Randolph Johnson and his three sons. Quite extraordinary (a must see.) The only other point of interest is Pete’s Pub, a shack bar on the beach. Known for their famous weekend pig-roasts. Wile we anchored at Lynyard Cay we met a couple that we met in the laundry mat in Marsh Harbor. Jim and Beth on the Madcap sailboat from Canada. They were heading to our next destination Royal Island so we joined them along with 4 other sailboats to Royal Island. It reminded us of the old days when we road with the Harley Riders. We were safe and it was a lot of fun.

When we arrived at Royal Island we met up with a couple we also met in Marsh harbor at the dinghy dock. George & Lynne on Ketch’n Dreams. They are a real nice couple from the USA. We are the minority here. Now we are feeling the closeness of the cursers all living their dream. We all help each other out talk over the weather, winds and currents. Royal Island is a private island they are in the process of developing it now. Soon it will no longer be a free anchorage. At that time we were ready to cross over to Nassau. About a full day sail away, it’s a little windy but the weather was nice.