March 1, 2001 -- San Salvadore Bound We left the anchorage at Conception at 1145 GMT following Puffin, Wyvern, Orca and Aphrodite. Orca and Aphrodite went the southern route while Puffin, Wyvern, and we took the northern route. While underway, it occurred to us that we should have taken the southern route as well since that would have put us in a better position to deal with the northerly swell that we discovered. Other than the swell, the trip was quiet. We only saw 3 flying fish! As we approached San Salvadore, we could see the deep water boundry was less than 300 yards from shore, and we were amazed. Sure enough, we were very close in before we had depth readings, and then it went from no reading (greater then 600 feet) to less than 100 feet in the space of about 50 feet! We anchored in 20 feet of water, that when we swung, dropped to 9 feet! That evening, we invited everyone over for cocktails on our boat. It was a great evening.

March 2-4, 2001 -- Underway to Luperon On March 2, the weather charts showed a front that would be bringing strong SW winds that would then clock around to the NW in the next 72 hours. After reviewing our charts for a safe place, the only one we found was on Long Island, 60 miles to the south and west of us! We would have to back track. Out of curiosity, Mike plotted our course to Luperon and discovered that in approximately 48 hours, we could be safe in a good protected anchorage. We decided to head for Luperon, and at 1648 GMT March 2, we raised anchor. We listened to Herb on South Bound II (12359.0 USB at 2000 GMT) who gives forecasts for vessels that check in with him. While we did not check in, he was dealing with other boats in our general vicinity and we received a favorable forcast as long as we would be in by Monday. That was fine since we would be at anchor by Sunday! Just after we rounded the North East corner of the Turks and Caicos islands around 0000 GMT (7:00 PM EST) March 3, Mike went into the engine room to add oil to the engines and to check the vacuum level on our raycors. Unfortunately, he stayed down a little to long and became sea sick. To compound matters, as we moved along, the set screws on our staysail furling housing backed out and our staysail, which we had partially deployed unfurled completely. We had to go forward and drop our staysail! Mind you this occurred while Mike was Hurling, which he had to stop and help with, before he could go back to Hurling! The winds and seas were fairly comfortable until we rounded the South East corner of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The winds were blowing steadily between 20 and 30 knots apparent (so between 15 and 25 knots true) and the seas were beginning to build. We were sailing by some shallows and assumed that the shallow areas were a contributing factor to the size of the seas. Since the sea's build up as they get closer to land, or over shallows. We pressed on and turned to 168 degrees magnetic. We would travel on this course for the next 18 hours or so. The winds and seas continued to build until we were motor sailing 50 degrees off the wind into 12 to 15 foot seas in winds of 20 to 25 knots true. We slowed down to a virtual crawl at 3 to 5 knots, and received a much better ride as the boat handled very well! We passed two other boats during the night. One was the S/V Mission that was headed for the Turks and Caicos Islands from Luperon. He reported that he had had 25 to 30 knots of wind and very lumpy seas leaving, but that things had calmed down and he was having a great sail. The other vessel that we passed was the M/V Bravo Zulu who was also headed to the Turks and Caicos from Puerto Rico. Both vessels confirmed our thoughts that the winds and seas were not predicted by anyone! Herb, David Jones (Herb's equivalent in the Carribean), the Tropical Prediction center, and NMN (voice broadcast) all had predicted 10 knots of wind or less and seas no higher than 4 feet! We weathered the winds and seas, and around 1400 GMT (9:00 AM EST) March 4, the winds moderated and the seas diminished. We were now in winds under 15 knots and seas of 5 feet or less. At 1741 GMT March 4, we dropped anchor in Luperon, DR. We picked out a spot, dropped the hook and made every effort to stay awake for when customs and immigration arrived. We fell sound asleep, which wasn't too bad as customs never did visit us that day (Sunday). The vessel Journey hailed us to let us know that we were about a boat length away from a shoal area of about 4.5 feet. They also let us know about the time change from EST to AST (Atlantic Standard Time); that took us some time to figure out! Armed with this information, we moved to a new spot to anchor.

March 5 - 16, 2001 -- Luperon Bright and early at 8:30 AM AST Immigration came out to the boat and we cleared in. We waited for customs most of the day. However, by 2:00 PM AST, they had not shown up so we went to customs. We decided that we were legal to go ashore, but our boat wasn't. Given all of the shoals in Luperon, we wanted the boat to be legal in case it decided to either come into town, or run aground. Since we figured that we would stay in Luperon for a while, we decided to drop Fido (the large dinghy, we finally gave him a name!) over the side. We all piled in, but unfortunately, the engine appears to have sung its swan song and would no longer start. We had gas at the carburetor and spark, so apparently the computer bit the dust. We launched Spot and headed in to clear customs. This was a fairly painless process, thankfully. We were in and out of the Comandancia quickly. We headed into Luperon to change some money and to get a bite to eat. After dinner, we went to the Marina Bar for a drink. On March 6, we worked on Fido trying to figure out what the problem was. We didn't have any success. We also took a look at our stay sail furling gear, and discovered the big thing we need to do, of course, is obtain a new bearing for it. Unfortunately, we won't be able to do that before Puerto Rico. Finally, we headed to the marina bar to attend a meeting of cruisers headed south, where we met Bruce Van Sant, author of A Gentleman's Guide to Passages South . This is an excellent book about how to move from the east coast of Florida to the Spanish Virgin Islands comfortably, against the trade winds that blow all year around. On March 7, Sue and Leon on Masade organized a tour of Puerto Plata. We headed there with them, as well as Blind Date, Amphrotite (not to be confused with the boat that we were with in San Salvadore), Island Spirit and Sherpa. Touring the town was a lot of fun; however, we do wish that we had had some time to wander around a little bit more. We arrived back in time to go to dinner at the Marina. The Puerto Blanco Marina is really a major gathering place for the cruisers in Luperon. They host special food nights on Wednesday and Friday. On Sunday mornings they allow a swap meet and on Monday evenings they allow a 'Cruiser Potluck' dinner. It really is a great place. On March 8, we didn't do a whole lot. We wandered around Luperon checking out the town and trying to find a few things. Otherwise it was a relax and recover day. On March 9, we headed in to the Internet cafe to check our e-mail. The Codetel, the local phone company, maintains offices that have multiple phones and several computers. The Internet access costs approximately $1.80/hour and phone calls are not much more than that. After that, we headed back to the boat to do a few chores. Sandra and I finished up the screen for our aft door and Mike put additional braces on the coke machine. Finally, we headed into the marina for Paella night and merange dancing. It was a lot of fun. On March 10, Sandra and I decided to walk up to the resort to see what it is like. She is looking for potential vacation spots for the future. The D.R. is very promising in that respect. We wandered around the 'all inclusive' resort for a little while, then headed back to the boat. After the Herb show (12359 at 2000 GMT Herb Hilgenberg runs an excellent weather net), we all congregated at the marina to discuss the weather and options for leaving Luperon to continue our trek south. Bruce Van Sant graciously attended to give his recommendations and to offer his insights from his years cruising the route outlined in his book. On March 11, we checked out with the Commandancia. We picked up some cheap (in cost only, good stuff) rum and Cuban cigars to celebrate once we get to Trinidad or Grenada. At 5:30 PM AST, we pulled up our anchor and headed out. We got about a mile out and turned around as it was just a little rougher than we wanted to deal with all night. Coming back in we saw the flutterbys dinking around with their wings on. The flutterbys are an organization comprised of cruisers who are staying in Luperon for a while that offer services such as freshly baked bread delivered to your boat hot out of the oven (their oatmeal bread is fantastic, and their white bread is great too), boat sitting services, and Spanish lessons for about $1.75 an hour. It is a pretty free form organization that was started by one cruiser a year ago. She brought another woman in to help her, and left the organization to ready her boat to leave Luperon. Thus the flutterbys were born. Since we didn't leave, Tim from Margarita stopped by for us to look at his PC. On March 12 and 13, not much happened. Everyone was still expecting a weather window to develop. No one went far from their boat, or did much. We convened the 'Herb Committee' on Nightwinds. Several other boats came over, we listened to Herb and then compared notes, weather faxes and the off shore report. Ultimately, we decided not to leave and I finally found the reason for the disparate forecasts. On March 14, we pretty much did the same things that we did the previous two days. Sandra went on the Waterfall trip. There is a waterfall that is About an hour outside of Luperon that has 7 levels. Everyone climbed the levels, to the top, then slid/jumped/climbed down again. It sounded absolutely spectacular. Due to questionable holding, Mike and I stayed aboard Nightwinds to make sure that our anchors were holding sufficiently. After the winds laid down, we did attend the taco night at the Marina. On March 15, Sue and Leon on Masade were saying good-bye to Sue's sister Jill, and her companion Marilla who had been visiting for the week from Switzerland. They invited us to lunch with them. We had a great time. Jill and Marilla are certainly a pair of characters! On March 16, we were back to weather again, though we did make time to try Laessa's Chicken Shack. For $6.00 US, all three of us ate well on chicken, rice and beans and salad, we also had 2 cokes to boot. It was excellent food.

Today, bright and early at 6:00 AM AST, we headed for the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. We planned to do a true tour of the city, and visit the various monuments, museum and historic district. Just after 8:00 AM, we stopped at the D.R. equivalent of a truck stop to sample some of the 'typico' breakfast food. Overall, it was quite good, though I don't recommend the doughnuts there. After breakfast, we piled back in the van and made a quick stop at the War memorial in Santiago. Then it was off to Santo Domingo. The first place we stopped at in Santo Domingo was the Columbus museum. It was absolutely enormous. It covered not only the history of the Dominican Republic during Columbus' time, it also covered all of that period in history of all of the major countries and newly discovered lands. There was information there about the Chinese, Japanese, India, Native Americans, Incans, Mayans, as well as much of Europe. It was truly a fascinating place. Next, we headed towards the old section of Santo Domingo where we had lunch at Betty's. Betty is an expatriate who has found a comfortable home in the Dominican Republic. She runs a Bed and Breakfast as well as a restaurant there in the historic section of Santo Domingo. After a fine lunch, Sue, Leon and Sandra went on a tour of the oldest Cathedral in the new world. Mike and I opted to wander around the city central square. On our way back to the Cathedral entrance, a man asked if we needed a taxi. After we turned him down, he asked if we needed a clean room and a good woman! Again, we politely turned him down. We met up with everyone, and proceeded down the Avenue of Dames. The street became famous because the Governor's wife and her friends would dress up in their finery and parade down the street between the Governor's mansion and the Fort that doubled as the City Civic Center. It was definitely a place to see and be seen back then. We stopped in and toured the old fort, before walking up Dames St. towards some of the other historic mansions and churches that have been converted into museums and memorials. We stopped at one war memorial that turned out to be a mausoleum containing the bodies and bones of various historic generals of the Dominican Republic. Mike had to pull his shorts down to cover his knees! Unfortunately, if it wasn't for his long shirt, then the bulk of his butt would have been showing as it was just half of it was showing! Which was fine as long as his knees were not. We wandered around a few more old houses that had been converted into museums before finally calling it quits and hitting a bar for Presidentes. Presidente is a locally brewed beer that is one of the few beers that I (Bryan) will actually drink. You have to keep in mind that you only drink the Grande version at 24 ounces, the 12 ounce one they export and also sell here in a few places are not as good, as at twice the alcohol as US beer one gets you nicely blurred. We headed back to the van and then started back for Luperon. On the way, we stopped at the enormous grocery store and department store in Santiago. This place makes a Super Walmart look small. It was great! We returned home, tired and sore and fell asleep quickly.

Sunday mornings mean swap meet and book exchange time. This morning was no different. We headed in to exchange books, look at what others had and to discuss the bizarre weather goings on with Bruce. After everything was all said and done, we headed back to the boat for some more recovery from our day in Santo Domingo. That evening, we had dinner on Masade with Sue and Leon. On March 19, Mike started out the day badly. He was trying to check the fuel level in Spot, when it upended and he fell out. Immediately, I instructed Michael to go in and shower. He glared at me and told me to get my ass in the dinghy as a counter weight so he could climb back in, and THEN he would go get a shower! That evening, we went into the marina for game night. Tonight's game was basically trivial pursuit without the board. Everyone that was there basically broke up into teams, and the questions were read to us and we wrote our answers on a piece of paper. Our team wound up in second place. On March 20, we checked the boat back into the DR so it's legal, of course, we have been legal all along but the boat was not for a while. That evening, we went to dinner on Masade with Sue and Leon. Sue cooks great Thai, something that we still have not gotten the hang of. It was definitely a special treat. On March 21, Sandra went off to Haiti on a Tour for two days and one night. We had no desire to go, especially since it meant leaving the boat overnight. However, for Sandra it was a once in a life chance to at least see the country since she would never go there otherwise. Blind Date, one of the boats that left without a good weather window returned. They lost their bow sprit going around Cabo Francis Vejo. (See Weather windows in the DR) Mike and I went into the marina for lunch, talked with the folks off of Surprise. Found out about the trouble in Haiti (Port-of-Prince). The DR has had so much trouble with illegal immigrants coming across their border with Haiti that one of the dictators imported alligators and put them into the river border that the D.R. shares with Haiti in hopes of cutting down on the problem. Our pilot house VHF is no longer transmitting properly, so we switched that VHF with the one in the stateroom. Finally, we headed into the marina for Taco night, all you can eat for $5 US. On March 22, we lounged. There wasn't a lot of work to do, so we chilled for the day. We went over to Blind Date for cocktails in the evening. Sandra arrived back at the marina around 9:30 PM AST just as cocktails were breaking up, so that worked out well. On March 23, we headed for another day trip. This time to Santiago. We wandered around the city and checked out the Carnival museum where the prize winning masks are displayed for a year (when we get film developed there will be some pictures put up on the web site). We then hit a McDonalds where everyone pigged out. We then spent the rest of the day wandering the city center and visiting the various open markets there. We ended the day by visiting the same super grocery store and department store that we visited at the end of our Santo Domingo trip. We arrived home in time to go to Lasagna night at the marina. This was interesting. It wasn't quite lasagna, but it was fairly good. Besides, we didn't have to cook it, or clean up after it. On March 24, we spent the day readying the boat to depart Luperon. We expected to leave. However, the weather didn't cooperate. The winds were up to high for us to depart, so we stayed put.

Weather Windows in the Dominican Republic Moving east from this point on is hard since we are in the Carriabean were the trade winds blow out of the East between 15-25 fairly steady. What you have to do is wait & wait for the trades to be disrupted of blowing out of the SE for a couple of days which can occur either due to a cold front, or the natural patterns of the trade winds. This way the land effect at night causes a "calm" for several miles around the island out to sea and then you go as fast as you can to get to the point where you stage to jump across the Mona passage to Purto Rico, where you can move everyday about 10-15 miles between anchorages every morning before the "morning Calm" is disrupted by the trades. One of the boats that left the other day came back in after having lost the bow sprit where there anchors sit, pounding into the seas. There is a guide book ( A Gentleman's Guide To Passages South By Bruce Van Sant) that had been used for years and works for everyone that follows it to the letter. Bruce outlines the weather conditions for when it's good to move. The boat in question left without the right conditions. They knew the conditions were not correct and they got back shaken up pretty bad, knowing they came close to losing the boat with an anchor almost holing it when they lost their bow sprit. Every couple of days we see boats leaving that are just tired of waiting or have somewhere to be on a certain date. We hear about their rough trip on the SSB later. We sit and wait, and will wait until all of the conditions are right. If you have to be stuck someplace this is not a bad place to be stuck, there are about 50 other boats so there is a great social life here, the supermarkets are well stocked, the marina is a hub of activity with a bar where drinks are under $2 if you so chose to have one, or they don't mind you just sitting about all day talking with the other boaters and not buying anything. The dinghy dock does get a little crowded when they have something going on, like Taco night or when they have a band, which is Canadian and not really that good but it's a nice change. So, just as the book says, you need winds 15 knots or less blowing from south of east for three days. What isn't said in the book, but is hinted at is this: Bruce mentions several capes that you have to travel around. On each one he notes that you need to get past them before 8:00 AM. What we learned was that getting around by 8:00 AM doesn't mean get around by 8:00 AM or any time before, but go around them between sunrise and 8:00 AM! That is when the night lee is at its strongest and the seas have had the longest to lay down. That is also the reason that you need 3 days to go just over 100 miles! But this works and works well!

After watching approximately 15 boats leave Luperon to continue on the Thorny path, it was finally our turn. The winds had stayed low all day. To ensure that we would leave, we had 40 gallons of water delivered to us. It worked. At 3:30 PM, we departed Luperon headed for Escondido after spending exactly 3 weeks to the day in Luperon. Masade and Fortitude joined us, so we kept our speed down to 5 knots for the trip. It was a little lumpy as we left, as we left before dark and we should have waited another hour or so, but it soon smoothed out to 3 to 5 foot long swells with a little chop on top of that. We had winds south of east around 10 knots. After hearing about what others experienced, we were pleasantly surprised at the conditions we experienced. As we approached Escondido, we heard reports from boats ahead of us, and from boats headed in toward Luperon that conditions on the other side of Cabo Cabron and Cabo Samana were conducive to continuing on. After discussing this on the radio, we decided to continue on to Samana. We turned the boats out and headed for Cabo Cabron. Between Cabo Cabron and Cabo Samana, the winds started coming up. It went from around 10 to around 18. The waves came up as well, we were in 5 to 6 foot seas. As we turned more south, the wind came in our sail area and the boat steadied giving us a nice comfortable ride. It was a relatively uneventful trip over all, especially given all the anxiety that built over three weeks! We turned the corner into Bahia Samana and the wind dropped from 18 to about 5 knots! We dropped anchor in Samana at 1800 GMT. Before we even got the anchor completely set, the Commandancia was out to greet us and clear us in. While this was a surprise and a change from Luperon, I do wish they had waited until we had our anchor completely set! After that, we spent a quiet evening resting from the passage.

On March 27, we headed into town to look around and have lunch with Masade and Fortitude. On shore, we met one of the people off Raven. She was gracious enough to give us the scoop on town and show us where the local ATM was. After lunch, we headed back to the boat. When we got to the dinghy dock, we discovered that the boat had dragged back a bit due to the soft mud we were anchoring in. We rushed out to the boat and promptly dropped two more anchors to ensure we would hold through the rest of the high winds. After the wind died down, and we were comfortable with how we were sitting, we headed over to Masade for cocktails. It was a fun evening. On March 28, we hauled our anchors up, then reset one with more scope. We decided to stay aboard the boat to make sure that we wouldn't drag again. The boat rode the winds well, and we stayed put. After we finished reanchoring, we noticed a few more boats coming in. Kokopelli, Pamela, Sojourner and Dawn Treader arrived from Luperon. That evening, Masade and Fortitude came over for cocktails on Nightwinds. On March 29, we each took a pair of shorts to the local tailor to have duplicates made of them. The tailor charged 200 pesos per pair of shorts, or roughly $12.50, including the material. Mike and I headed back to the boat while Sandra stayed in town to look around. She wanted to buy a carnival mask like the ones we saw in Santiago. She found several as well as some very nice jewelry. After the winds died down, we headed back into town to take a 'rickshaw' tour of Samana. On the way, we were going to drop Jan from Sojourner off at the bakery. It became complicated explaining until Mike stepped in. He explained that we only wanted 6 people to the bakery then there would only be five of us touring. The driver looked at him and said, "Oh, 6 people to Panderia and then 5 people on Looky-Looky!" The price was 200 pesos for an hour. We all piled in and headed for the bakery. Somehow, we wound up heading to the water falls that were about 3 miles out of town. Mike and I were facing backward so we could see all the traffic coming up on us. This is not a position for the faint of heart, let me tell you! We watched everything passing us because the poor little motor cycle was over loaded! The falls themselves aren't bad, and we enjoyed seeing them. However, the trip back into town was interesting. Half way up the big hill, the rickshaw pulls over and Mike and I are asked to get out and wait while he takes to rest of the folks up the hill. The little guy takes off and returns about 10 minutes later to pick us up in the empty rickshaw. He drops us off at the very top of the hill, and returns to the scenic overlook to pick up Sandra, Sue and Leon! Finally with everyone back aboard, it was a downhill trip back to Samana. We stopped for dinner at the little pizza place, where we ran into Jane and Brian from Fleet Wing. We met them in Luperon; they had come touring by land to Samana. After dinner, we headed back to the boat for a rousing evening of Skipbo. On March 30, we decided to take it easy. We stayed on the boat and had a relaxing day. In the evening, we headed over to Fortitude for drinks. On March 31, we picked up our shorts. They fit great! The only problem with mine was the Dominican Republic does not have elastic! Sandra wanted to wander around again so Mike dropped her off at the dinghy dock, then returned to the boat to track down an air conditioning problem we are having. On his way back, Mike discovered that he could plane in Spot! The 5 HP motor is finally broken in. Unfortunately, it still doesn't plane with two people, as Mike found out when he picked Sandra up from the dinghy dock. We spent the rest of the day marveling at the scene that Samana presents. Mike says that it is reminiscent of a Mediterranean town with the way it is built into the side of a mountain. Whatever the case, it is beautiful.

After taking numerous land trips, and observing the native peoples in their own towns, we do feel qualified to teach a driving course, specifically designed for those going to visit the Dominican Republic. Ready? Here it goes: Lesson 1: Note the road signs. It is very important that you understand what they mean as they are all written in Spanish. Lesson 2: Ok, now that you know that Para means stop and Salida means exit, and you know what all the road signs mean, ignore them. If there is a one way street between you and your destination that claims to be going the wrong way, don't let that stop you. After all, you are headed only one way. Eight lane divided highway that doesn't have an exit for where you want to go? Don't let that stop you, go on the 'wrong' side of the divided highway, against four lanes of traffic traveling 50 mph to take the entrance ramp to the street you want to get to. Driving in the D.R. is not for the faint of heart. For those not wanting to experience this absolute delight (note tongue firmly planted in cheek while writing this), should consider alternate forms of transportation. The easiest is to work with a local guide who will rent you a car and driver. You can get anything from a bus on down to a compact car. For those wishing to tour cheaper, there is the Greyhound bus system. These appear to be pretty good buses. For those brave souls, there are the Gagwas. These are the smaller form of public transportation. Think chickens running loose. Finally, for those brave souls who like motor cycles, there are the Motor Conchos. These are motorcycles that the bulk of the Dominicans use for transportation. We have seen everything transported on them from a family of 5 to a washing machine. We do need to point out here that we never had the nerve to ride one. So, if you take a Motor Concho, be prepared it can get cozy real quick!