Tuesday, March 7, 2017, continued
Eventually, we all got so bored that we decided to get a cab, go out for lunch to Chilis in Humacao and go shopping. I wanted to do some final provisioning before we left here, so we stocked up on Puerto Rican coffee and a few other essentials to get us by.
The zinc anode arrived by UPS at 5:30, so we are ready to have Julian install it tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
In the morning, Craig, Jo, and I went for a walk all around the marina to the Boat Yard on the other side of the marina entrance. On the way, we saw a hummingbird whirring around a bush sipping nectar. He didn't seem at all concerned that we were getting close.
We've seen lots of black crabs here, too, as well as a few iguanas. I love catching sight of whatever nature shows itself around here.
Julian, the diver, texted to say that he couldn't come until tomorrow. Although we were hoping to leave tomorrow, it doesn't look like the weather is going to allow us out anyway, so it's not a catastrophe.
The wind is very strong and gusty and there were tons of whitecaps on the water today. However, we heard that at home in Ontario they were having gusts up to 90 km! Wow! Hold onto your hats (or your garbage cans, in Mom's case).
Carey and Craig installed our new 'no unravel' paper towel holder today. Bliss! It's the little things in life.
In the afternoon, we invited Mike and Camille (our neighbours on the dock) to come over for appetizers and drinks. They brought fresh shrimp. Yum! We snacked on so much that we didn't bother with supper tonight.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
It was another windy, rainy night. The swells work their way into this marina, so we often feel like we're in an anchorage instead of tied to a dock.
I put a load of laundry in this morning, but Julian arrived just as I was due to switch the load to the dryer, so Jo jumped in to help, as usual. She switched my load while I helped to get Julian set up to install the new zinc anode. He dove underwater and started the job. However, after a little while, he came up and said he couldn't get the prop off. He had removed the large bolt, and taken off the cone, but the propeller wouldn't budge, even when he hit it with a mallet. Aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh! While Craig and Jo tried to research a solution on Google and in the manual, Julian said he would go talk to another guy at the Boat Yard who does this all the time. We were hoping that we wouldn't have to pull the boat out to do the installation on land. When he returned, he didn't have a solution, but said that the Boat Yard charges $500 just to take the boat out of the water. Yikes!
We asked Julian if he thought another pair eof hands would help. When he agreed, we walked down the dock to get Dave, a power boater. Jo had been talking to him at the pool yesterday, and when she had explained our problem, he offered to help (for free--bonus!). Dave suited up in his scuba gear, but before he could even jump in, Carey had given Julian a bigger screwdriver to pry the prop off and it worked. Phew! Dave jumped in anyway, just to be available if needed. Julian took everything apart and set it in our swim ladder compartment so nothing could accidentally roll off or be kicked into the water. Dave said the water was so murky that he could only see about 10 inches in front of him. It must have been bad, because Julian got a fright when Dave suddenly appeared near him. Carey joked that he must have thought it was a manatee. Eek!
Julian took off the old anode first, which consisted of two small pieces of corroded metal. This originally was a circular ring of metal about four inches in diameter!
Finally, Julian came up and said that it was all finished--the anode was installed and everything was put back together. There was only one problem--as Carey was gathering up Julian's tools and supplies from the swim ladder compartment he found a lock nut. Uh, oh, it's never good to have extra parts left over.
Julian didn't recognize it and had no clue where it had come from. That's not a good thing. Eventually, we figured out that it must have come from inside the cone, which is why he hadn't seen it when he removed the cone. (Thank goodness it hadn't dropped to the bottom of this murky marina, because we wouldn't have had a clue that something was missing.)
Julian is from Belgium and has a thick French accent, so he is hard to understand sometimes. (Deb K, where are you when I need a translator?). When he and Carey finally figured out where the lock nut went and how it fit in, Julian said, "I put zat in zat, and zen I put zat in...and zen we drink beer." Hahaha. He makes me laugh.
He finished up the job--with no extra parts--and we were finally free to leave whenever the weather permitted. Perhaps Christmas. Julian charged $3 per foot to clean the bottom and another $80 to replace the zinc. Very reasonable, we thought, especially when he had to come back several times to do it. Nice guy. Fingers crossed that the prop doesn't fall off as we leave the marina!
Jo and Craig found a hermit crab on the sidewalk near the marina office, with only its legs visible.
While it rained off and on for the rest of the day, we relaxed with our books.
Friday, March 10, 2017
It was gusty and rainy last night again. I couldn't sleep so I read from 2:30 to 4:30 am and finished my book. Then, finally, I could sleep for a few hours.
After breakfast, we all started doing our jobs--laundry, filling tanks, cleaning, defrosting the fridge, etc.--in preparation for leaving tomorrow morning. Earlier, I was talking to Dan (S/Y Slip Aweigh) who had been contemplating leaving at noon today. He was worried about being blown onto the dock once his upwind dock lines were let loose. I am more concerned about getting through the huge swells at the entrance to the marina, because it is lined with rocks. If a wave pushes our bow offline, we may get too close to the rocks for comfort. While we were chatting, Roberto (an awesome marina guy) rode up on his golf cart. He asked for a coin and said, "Faces you go, tails you stay." He flipped and it was tails. Phew, I guess we'll both wait until tomorrow. It's always good to use a scientific method to make decisions. Haha.
The marina workers here have been amazing--Juanjo, the manager whose motto is "we aim to please" and they do; Glenda, the office worker who knows everything; Roberto, Salvy and Bernardo, the dock guys, who are constantly there to offer their assistance in any way (including offering us rides on their golf carts). The whole team is always cheerful and good-natured. Other marina's should take lessons from them. We'll miss them when we leave.
In the afternoon, we all went for a walk on the beach. The surf was pounding in and the wind was blowing. It was an invigorating walk. Carey tried his best to keep his feet dry, while Jo, Craig, and I tried our best to get wet. LOL.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Happy birthday, Boh!
We are finally moving on from Palmas del Mar to Salinas, Puerto Rico today. Marcel, from down the dock, came by to say goodbye and to give us a couple of his Jefferson Parker books. We had discussed favourite authors last evening, so he was sharing his collection. He wished us a bon voyage and hopes to see us in Florida some time.
We are on the move. We left the marina, Carey at the helm and the rest of us working docklines (including Juanjo and one of his guys), at 8:30 am and everything went just as planned. Carey stayed on the helm for the first while, then I took over and then Jo took a turn at about 11:20. At 5 knots per hour we calculated that we should arrive in Salinas around 4:30. However, we were motoring (since the winds were directly astern--again), so we were moving more quickly than anticipated. By 11:45, we were only 8.5 nm from our destination. I love getting into places earlier than expected. It gives us some downtime before bed and that's always nice.
Just as we were going into the channel that leads to the Salinas anchorage, five dolphins appeared by our boat. So cool! I've been looking everywhere for dolphins, but haven't seen many. These were as big as Flipper. Alas, unlike Flipper, they were camera shy dolphins and they sunk underwater before I could get a good video of them. Darn. Hopefully, there will be lots of "next times" for me to get pictures.
We arrived at Salinas at 2:00 and anchored in very shallow (6') water surrounded by mangroves on three sides. Then, it was finally time for lunch. While Jo and I were making lunch, Craig said he saw a manatee near the boat. Since Jo wanted to see a manatee as badly as I wanted to see dolphins, I was sure he was just teasing her. Nope, in a very short time we all saw a manatee come up for a breath. This one appeared several times close to the boat--he was taking a breath very regularly about every two minutes. He had a brother a little further away, too. Two manatees! Manatees are very odd looking mammals. They are fat, bloated-looking, and slow moving, hence the alternate name 'sea cow.' They are shaped somewhat like a walrus. Their noses look like a truncated elephant trunk. So cool to see wildlife--in the wild.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
After a breakfast of homemade raisin loaf, we lifted anchor at 9:30 am. We hoisted our sails and sailed downwind in strong 20-25 knot winds. I was on the helm for the first two hours and then Carey took over. It was a little tricky because of the swells, so we were rolling a lot. The forecast was for 4.5 foot swells, but Carey estimated them at closer to 8 feet with a 15 foot rogue thrown in from time to time. Needless to say, very rolly.
We arrived in Ponce (pronounced Pon-say) at 1:45 and anchored in front of the yacht club. Once again, lunch was going to be after 2:00. We cleared in with Customs on the phone. The Customs guy said we were supposed to clear in at every port (even though we only anchored at Salinas and the Customs officer at Culebra said we didn't have to clear in at Customs again until Ponce). Grrrr. There's no one who tries to follow Customs and Immigrations procedures more than I do, but I wish they'd get their stories straight. Throughout this whole trip (US, BVI, USVI, Spanish Virgin Islands including Puerto Rico), the rules changed depending on whom you were talking to at that moment. I'm ready to give up trying to follow their fluid rules. This Customs guy said we only needed to clear out of Puerto Rico if the next port of call required a clearance certificate. I can't find anything that says the Turks and Caicos requires that, so we may leave without one.
We are staying on the boat this afternoon. It's too much of a hassle (not to mention dangerous) to launch the dinghy in this wind, and we certainly don't want to drag it tomorrow in these swells, so we're staying put.
This harbour is a happenin' place! A tour boat came and went several times throughout the day, and when we arrived, music from a harbourside restaurant was playing music with a strong Latin beat. Aka, loud and repetitive with bongo drums thrown in. Unfortunately, they played non-stop (literally, without a break in the song) until well past ten. We ate lunch to this music, then ate supper to this music, then.... Aaarrrrggghhhhh--please stop!
There's a huge full moon just rising over the horizon tonight. It was lost in the lights of the harbour at first, and is rising quickly. Amazing spectacle.
Jo and Craig cooked us a delicious dinner of barbecued steak, French fries and sweet potato fries, brown beans, raw peppers and cucumbers, along with fried mushrooms and sautéed spinach. Yummy!
Monday, March 13, 2017
We had an early start today--up at 7 and on the road by 8. Today, we were heading to Boqueron. The sun was so burning hot on the helm that Craig had to take over for me after only about a half hour. He loves the heat, and he drove most of the way. At noon, we turned on Otto the Autopilot so we could all have lunch together. After looking at the guide book, we decided to go to Puerto Real instead of Boqueron, because they have fuel and water and it is a little bit closer to Aguadilla where Jo and Craig have booked a flight to Florida.
Once we were past Cabo Rojo (Red Cape), we turned north along the west side of Puerto Rico. Carey and Jo saw a dolphin right up against our boat, but I didn't even get a glimpse. Bummer. However, about ten minutes later, I saw two dolphins just under the water, almost touching the starboard side of the boat. So exciting! They soon disappeared, but then we watched them leaping into the air behind us as we motored away. Doubly exciting. Jo is sure she called them by clapping, just like the Sea World dolphins. Jo, the dolphin whisperer!
We arrived at the Marina Pescaderia fuel dock at 2:30. Wow, what a great new marina. Beautiful fuel dock with rub rails, so no scrubbing our boat along the dock or our fenders catching on spiles. Yahoo! The owner, Jose Mendez, came out to personally greet us and to answer our questions about the area. Fuel was cheap and water was $2.50 flat rate. After filling up our tanks, he suggested we wash down the boat since we had already paid for the water. Well, all rightee! Craig is happiest when he's got a hose in his hand, so he took over that job.
Once we had anchored, we launched the dinghy and went to the waterside restaurant, Brisas del Mar (Breezes of the Sea). Carey and I had surf and turf, which was delicious, while Jo had surf and Craig had turf.
On our way back to the boat, we stopped off at a Hunter 46 from Montreal just to say hello to fellow Canadians. They were very nice and encouraged us to stop at Dominican Republic. They loved it there and it was very inexpensive. Our plan, once we dropped off Jo and Craig, was to do a two day passage directly to Turks and Caicos and to bypass Dominican Republic altogether. Now, we think we'll follow their advice and stop off at Samana on the east coast of Dominican and to Ocean World on the north shore.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Happy birthday, Corrie!
Another early start today--up at 7 and on the road by 8.
Jo had a brief manatee sighting as we were leaving the anchorage. Craig took the helm at 8:45 and we motored most of the way. He was eager to get to Aguadilla so they could figure out how to get to the airport, etc.
By 11:00, we were rounding the westernmost tip of Puerto Rico, Punta Higuero, and heading into Aguadilla harbour toward Aguadilla. We had a pretty uneventful trip--no dolphins, no high winds, no crazy swells.
We arrived at the Aguadilla anchorage at 12:30. It's just a big wide open space, with not the best protection, but it's supposed to be close to the airport. After we had anchored, I called Customs to let them know that we were clearing out in the morning. To do that, I was informed, I needed to go to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office at the airport. Also, if we had guests departing, they had to appear with me along with their passports and luggage. Here's the catch--the CBP office closes at 10 pm, but the airport doesn't OPEN until midnight. Hmmmmm. Upon further investigation, I found out that the airport doors were open, but that all of the airline counters, gates, and restaurants were closed. Craig said he would rather be twelve hours early than chance being late, so we planned on heading in.
After lunch, Jo and Craig got packed and cleaned their living space for the last month. Around 2:30, we all climbed into the dinghy, bags and all, and headed for the beach. There was a bit of a swell, but we were able to land the dinghy without getting soaked or swamped. We dragged the dinghy and lugged the bags up the beach, and tied the dinghy to the Police Station fence. Can't get a safer spot than that!
Once on land, Jo and I walked a couple of blocks to the Biblioteca Electronique (Electronic Library) where Jo printed off their boarding passes. Then, we tried to get a cab to the airport, but it took a half hour just to get the taxi dispatcher to send me the driver's name and number for me to call. Just then, a white van pulled up and the driver asked if we were trying to get a cab. No, he wasn't a cabbie. He was an engineer (and sailor) who worked just down the road, had seen our boat in the harbour, and figured the owners must be the lost souls sitting on a park bench, obviously waiting for a ride. He said this area was tough to get a cab at, and offered to take us to the airport, which was near his home. We gladly accepted, climbed in and Manuel, and his kids, Alejandro and Fernando, took us to the airport. We meet guardian angels everywhere we go. Thanks Manuel, Alejandro, and Fernando!
We easily found the CBP office and completed the necessary paperwork to clear out. Dominican Republic requires a clearance certificate from your last port of call, so we need this piece of paper and official stamp before we leave. Otherwise, the DR officials could give us a hard time. We definitely don't want to fool with the DR officials. Nope, nope, nope.
Once that was done, we were free to go. Craig and Jo were going to sit around the empty airport until their flight which was scheduled at 3 in the morning, so we decided to head back to the boat while we still had light. We caught a cab ($25 for a twenty minute ride) back to the police station, unlocked our dinghy (yippee, the dinghy and motor were still there!), dragged it to the water and dinghied back to the boat. Once at the boat, we had to remove the engine, seat, and oars, and then hoist the dinghy on deck. I use our topping lift to hoist the dinghy over the lifelines while Carey steadies this cumbersome swinging pendulum until I can lower it to the deck. It's quite a feat when it's windy (and it almost always is) to not knock Carey overboard. So far, so good. Fingers crossed. The dinghy needed to be up on deck, because tomorrow we are crossing the Mona Passage to the Dominican Republic. The Mona Passage is notorious for its rough waters and wild sailor's tales, but it looks like we'll have a good weather window tomorrow.
I made a big dinner of bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, and red peppers because we will probably have light meals while crossing the Mona.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
As expected, this anchorage was somewhat rolly, but we've been in worse, and the loud bar music actually ended fairly early. Puerto Ricans definitely love their loud music.
We lifted anchor at 10:00 am, and headed on our 125 nm passage to Dominican Republic. We expect this will take us 18-24 hours, depending on our speed.
It was a very calm day, but the swells were on our beam, so they were hitting us broadside and rolling us around. We raised the sails and sailed for a couple hours, but the winds were gradually decreasing, so we furled the jib and raised the Code Zero (our big head sail) at 1:30. The winds were so light that we had to furl both sails at 2:00, and we turned on the engine. The ocean is already 10,000 feet deep here!
By 2:30 pm, we could barely see Puerto Rico, which was 24 nautical miles in the distance. By 4:00, we were 34 nm from PR and almost 100 miles from our destination in DR.
During the passage from Virginia to the BVIs, we wore our PFDs (aka life jackets, or personal flotation devices) constantly in bad weather, and when we were in the cockpit alone in good weather. We invested in really good PFDs. It's one of those life saving devices that you hope you never have to use, but if you do, you want it to work really well. Our PFDs are equipped with spray hoods (to keep the waves from drowning you), crotch straps (so the PFD doesn't slide too far up, or even off, your body), and automatic inflation as soon as it hits the water. They also come with a light and a whistle attached. We've added a personal locator beacon inside the jacket, so that the chartplotter can find us in the event we go overboard. The best way to keep safe, though, is to stay on the boat! That's our plan. On this passage, we plan on both staying in the cockpit the entire time, so we won't have to wear our PFDs all the time. We will take turns having naps throughout the night. If either of us goes out on deck, though, day or night, the PFD goes on and the harness is hooked onto the jacklines. That's a rule!
At 4:10, Carey suddenly saw two black fins in the water off our bow. He thought they were dolphins at first, but then we could both see them within 25 feet of the boat and they were not moving like dolphins and they were twice as long. They sunk under the water and we motored past them. We searched the waters behind us and Carey saw one spout. OMG, they were whales! They say that whales congregate at the approach to Samana Bay in DR from December to March, so we were thrilled to seem them so soon.
Halfway across the Mona Passage, we crossed paths with another sailboat. A couple freighters had gone by earlier, but we had seen no small boat traffic so far. Oddly, the other sailboat hailed us on the radio. The boat name was Ketzal and they were originally from New England, but had been sailing for quite a while. They were on their way to Puerto Real, coming from Ocean World. The captain suggested that we change our destination from an anchorage in Santa Barbara de Samana (which could be dicey) to the marina at Puerto Bahia. He said this marina is beautiful and we'd be well taken care of. Plus, they have a free shuttle to the town of Santa Barbara de Samana. Perfect! He also said that the Turks and Caicos is shallow and expensive, but if we had to stop, he recommended the Southside Marina (and, yes, it is deep enough for our draft, contrary to info we had heard in Palmas Del Mar). It sounds like they enjoyed the Bahamas, though. Good to know! I LOVE getting current info from other cruisers! We told him to keep an eye out for the whales up ahead.
At 8:50 pm I hailed a cargo freighter to make sure they saw us and to see if they were going to take our bow or stern. They very kindly said they'd make the turn and take our stern. There was another freighter right behind them and I guess it got the memo, because it turned aft as well. Perfect! Love it when the big guys go around little ole us. Haha.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
We motored all the way across the Mona Passage. The winds were light, and the swells were on our beam at first and then moved around to our stern. The moon rose right behind us and it was so full and bright that I thought we had a boat coming up behind us. We had moon shadows. At 4:00, we slowed down so we wouldn't arrive in the dark and we didn't want to arrive too early to see the whales. Around this time, the chartplotter suddenly shut itself off--three times! We couldn't go anywhere very easily without our chartplotter. There are so many rocks, shoals, reefs and low cays down here, and it's all unknown territory for us, that it would be extremely difficult not to hit something. Luckily, it came back on and behaved for the rest of the trip. We never did figure out what caused the problem. Fingers crossed that it was a fluke and it won't happen again. Yeah, right.
We stayed up most of night with short rest periods when we tried to nap. Every island has a smell as you approach from the sea. The DR smelled like something burning. Perhaps they burn their garbage at night.
We arrived at the mouth of Samana Bay around 5:30 am. It was still dark, but the sun was up by 6:30. The Danish cruise ship, Aidamar, passed close by us going in to Santa Barbara de Samana. I hailed them on the radio to make sure they saw us and they said they would pass us on their port side.
It was too early when we were getting close to the marina, so no one answered the radio until 8:30. Eventually, we were directed to the fuel dock. The meter said that the fuel was $16.49 per gallon and our total cost was $2436. Yikes! Luckily, that was in pesos, not US dollars. Phew!
After filling up, the young attendant jumped on his motorcycle and rode to the other side of the marina to show us where we would dock. It was only seconds away by boat, so we motored over and he helped us dock and tied our lines. There are cement docks here, so you definitely don't want to rub up against them. He was very careful and we docked without incident.
Next, we had to do all of the official stuff. Alessandro signed us into the Marina/Resort and showed us around, then we had breakfast at the poolside restaurant overlooking the marina (because the Customs, Immigration, and Army people weren't in their offices yet). After cappuccinos and DR-style plates of Eggs Benedict, which were delicious, we met with Lieutenant Shepard from the Army, and then a Customs official. Still, not all of the official paperwork was done. The immigration person wasn't there yet to stamp our passports, so they said they would come get us when she arrived. In the DR, we have to get a clearance from the Army before we move to any other DR port. We need to tell Lieutenant Shepard 24 hours before we plan on leaving, so we'll go back to see him tomorrow. (All of their paperwork is done with old style carbon paper in between the sheets of paper, so they are very slow and careful when completing the forms in triplicate.)
Although we had napped a bit overnight, we were very tired. However, we didn't want to have a shower and take a nap until after we had met with Immigration. We puttered around the boat, hoisting the DR courtesy flag, getting the boat securely situated, recording the daily chartplotter data, etc., and then waited for her arrival.
We had heard and read scary stuff about all sorts of officials boarding our boat, so we were pleasantly surprised at the ease with which we entered the country. They were surprisingly welcoming and wished us a good stay in their country.
Now, we are watching a puffer fish and a jellyfish right beside our boat. I love the marine life around here. It is hot, hot, hot here, so it's time for a swim in one of the pools. We went to the infinity pool overlooking the bay, had a local Presidente cerveza ($2.50) and a local rum and coke ($2.50). There is 18% tax on everything here, but it's still very reasonable.
The immigration lady was back by the time we left the pool, so we gathered up our passports and money and headed to her office. All went well until she asked for $94--cash. Well, okay. That was all the cash I had, so I handed over five twenties. This was fine until she inspected all of them and handed one back. It had a small tear (about two centimetres) on one edge. She said her bank wouldn't accept any bills with tears. What?! Have you ever seen US twenties without wear and tear? Very few. I had no more cash, and they had no ATM onsite. We were at an impasse...and I wasn't going to do anything about it. Too ridiculous. Finally, she called someone else in who got her some pristine replacement bills to make up the $14 and my $6 change. Very strange, but if that's the extent of our problems with DR officials, I'll take it.
The marina has invited us to enjoy a free cocktail at a social event in their lobby tonight. Not sure we'll make it, because we are so tired (and we never did get that nap through the day), but it's a lovely gesture. Nope, we were in bed very early and slept deeply until the morning.
