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!