Well… WildChild is back in Luperon.
The last blog I told you we broke the boat and made an emergency stop for repairs in Peurto Plata at a great marina called Ocean World.
I have been thinking more about it… maybe the angels were actually nice to us landing us at Ocean World when we came into the nearest safe harbor into the unknown that night in distress. As we were approaching land we had 3 options in the dark… a public looking commercial type port on the left…
(Which we have since learned that if we had landed there… we could not get our boat fixed there.. and would have been turned away)… it is a commercial shipping port only.
We had some unmarked marina looking place in the middle…
And we had a cruise ship hiding behind a mountain on the right where we figured we could easily get emergency shelter from the nasty ocean conditions that night in the dark. We were heading there actually… when I began studying the chart plotter more closely to look at that marina in the middle… should I gamble on being able to make it into that harbor in the dark…?
As you know we did make the gamble on the marina… and found the nicest most helpful friendly marina people we could ever hope to meet. We landed right beside a navy vessel…. and the sailors came out to help us land WildChild and get her secured to the pier. I was completely exhausted and passing out again (from my heart condition). We had a very nasty long scary sail that day.
The next morning I awoke at sunrise to get the lay of the land and explore to figure out where we were. We still did not even know what town or city we were near… no idea if the marina was private… As I wandered the grounds that morning moving towards what looked like a boat yard I was stopped by an armed guard with a shotgun (men with guns are always scary)… Even though the security guy spoke no English… he motioned me over to a nearby boat on the hard and knocked… and we met Jerry. A very cool Dutch/Canadian/American guy who very kindly helped me figure out where we were and what to do and who to speak to.
This directed me to Cesar (at 8am) who is the yard manager. Cesar listened to us patiently explain the problem and that we really needed a stainless steel welder to repair our boat quickly. Cesar took care of everything. By 1pm we had a skilled tradesman at our boat who did a fabulous job making the welding repair and even made our Arch stronger than ever, all for a reasonable price.
Thank you to all the wonderful people we met at Ocean World who helped out the girls on WildChild… everyone was so kind gentle polite and helpful. We really did have a great stay and highly recommend Ocean World as a must see destination for anyone who sails to the Dominican Republic. Fairly inexpensive but very high quality marina with great people.
I wonder why we were so afraid to come to the DR in the first place…? Where did all these scary rumors originate in other sailors…. all the stories of the dangers of the DR… the culture is interesting and the people mostly civilized.
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The sail
Anyway… we left there 2 nights ago just before sunset… the local theory seems to be… do not sail in the afternoons… sail at night.. when it is calmer. Every afternoon the air here heats up over the land and causes very strong winds by afternoon out in the windward passage. Like 30+ knots of wind every afternoon and also the nasty 4 meter waves we got pummeled by.
So our plan was just to leave as close to sunset as the navy would allow us to (the rule is 6pm is the latest they are allowed to check you out of a port)… but the navy guys were cool and did not rush us off the dock. We left around 7pm with winds that were still pretty sporty. Our loose plan was to have faith that by sometime after sunset the winds should die down.
When we motored out of the protection of their break wall we were greeted by 20-25 knots of wind and maybe 2-3 meter waves… but the waves were not white capping as hard as they were earlier that afternoon… so it was calming down a bit.
We raised our sails and set WildChild on course against the wind and waves to begin another long night of poundy poundy smashy smashy East. WildChild can do it no problem and us sailor girls are pretty tough so we just sat there and took the beating into the night.
We were sailing in a beautiful full moon that night and clear sailing conditions. The nice thing about sailing off the coast of the DR is there are very few other vessels out there… so we pretty much had the ocean to ourselves… no worries about a collision.
The problem with our plan… or the slight flaw in the plan…
is… the waves do not immediately lay down when the sunsets and the winds come down a bit from 30 knots to a more manageable 20 knots. The problem is the energy is still in the waves…. so you end up with sloppy confused big waves and lighter winds.
We still had the wind energy to punch thru the waves even though we remained reefed. We were out there doing it… beating to windward… but it was not much fun.
Usually the ocean waves were not that bad.. only 2 meters or so… but you know how there is constructive and destructive wave interference patterns on the water…. well…. those constructive wave interferences really added up to these random 4 meter waves occasionally picking up out of nowhere and slamming into the side of the boat and just washing us in the cockpit with spray… like all of a sudden the cockpit gets a dumping of like 50 gallons of water out of the dark.
I had given Elena the first nap in the cockpit to rest and I was taking the first watch. By the third time I got hit in the face with a huge random splash I began to seriously question… why again are we suffering all this misery..? For what gain..?
At 1am that morning I woke Elena up, we were about 15 miles offshore and it was time to tack back towards land. We made our tack together as a team and we both sat for a while together behind the helm watching the ocean around us… listening to the wind and water. After 15 minutes I asked Elena if she really wanted to keep taking this beating for another 400 miles east…? Was it worth it…?
We both just kind of concluded that although we can do it… we were doing it… the wisdom of doing it was getting lost on us. Personally the getting hit in the face at random intervals with massive waves was highly un-motivating for me.
Although neither one of us really wants to sit around Luperon for the next 5 months… (it seems boring)… we don’t really want to take a beating for the next hard 5 weeks of sailing just to reach Grenada. What is in Grenada that is so special… what is there so worth suffering to see so badly..? We concluded.. well.. nothing actually.
At 1am we just turned WildChild around and headed West back the 25 miles to Luperon. Running with the wind and waves is always much more pleasant sailing than beating into it. So the rest of the night we had an easy downwind sail back to Luperon. We arrived in the dark at 3am… but since we had been here before.. and we did not really want to heave-to outside in the ocean to wait for sunrise… we made our way into the Luperon channel in the dark and came in just enough we could anchor in protected waters to wait for sunrise.
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Princess Elena is turning out to be a great sailor and I can always count on her to help sail WildChild thru the nastiest of conditions… she does very well on night shifts… but… the next day she needs to sleep pretty much all day. So yesterday When we got WildChild onto a mooring ball ($2 a day).. Elena crashed out and left me to do the check in stuff alone.
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Crazy rules in the Dominican Republic
You kind of have to get used to this place. See.. the rules make no sense at all… and when you mention this to any English speaking local they just kind of smile…. they shrug their shoulders… they just accept that is the way it is.
You get a different opinion each time you ask and it also differs from person to person even in the same office.
My understanding was/is (kind of) that when you arrive in a new port you always have to inform Customs and the port Authority (or harbor master) and the Navy. That is 3 things to do when you check into a port.. everytime.
So yesterday I went up to shore here in Luperon to meet with all the officials I had just met a week ago. None of them were there working… it was all new people. Only one guy kind of spoke a little English (very nice young guy though)…
It seems Immigration wanted to see our passports and check us in (again..?) and now we do not have to check in with customs…??? (despite customs being essential in the last port.. but it seems not this port on this particular day). So the special customs paper we had to get at the last port to give to the customs at this port still sits in my purse.
No sign of any port authority and I am assured no worries… it is okay you do not have to check in with them anyway… its good its good…? Well…. ummm… they are not my rules so I don’t actually care… but I feel like they are supposed to know their own rules and they are supposed to care. They don’t care.
I know the navy is a very serious thing in the DR… for sure you have to give your dispatchio (permission paper to move your boat) from the last navy port guy to the new port navy guy. I do clearly understand I have to walk back up the hill to the navy station and tell them I am here and not in Samana (as my Dispatchio says we were supposed to go).
I am assured… no worries… you do not have to walk up the hill to the navy guys and get any (permission to be here paper <like last time>) and they do not need to see… or care about seeing your dispatchio paper from the last place. Its all good they tell me.. no worries…
Now there was a guy there in a Navy uniform in the circle chattering away with the other Spanish guys while I watched in puzzlement. I understand he is the commadante for the navy here..? (maybe..?) he looked at my paper and said okay…. and just gave it back to me. My translator says he says it is fine… no need for any papers.. He does not need to keep my dispatchio like the last place did. He says I do not need any other type of paper from them (my permission to be here paper) like last time.
Weirdly though… the Agriculture guy (whom I was clearly assured last time I would never need to report to again) needed to see my passport and boat papers and needed me to sign some other new form..?
So all in all… I stood around for an hour with a lovely group of nice men… I did check in again with immigration, and Agriculture
and I did not check in with Port Authority or Customs or the Navy (officially).
Am I okay…? is anybody going to yell at me later for not doing the right thing…? meh… who knows… and I am beginning to think that around here the rules are pretty flexible.
We are here anyhow. WildChild is safely on a mooring ball in Luperon where we will relax and wait out the hurricane season in the best hurricane hole in the Caribbean. There seems to be a great cruiser community here… everything is pretty cheap.
So… well… ummm…. I guess we are going to become local residents for the next 5 months. We are safe here… Let’s see if we get bored.
Elena is going home soon I think. She does not want to waste 5 months sitting around here. Her brother is getting married soon and she wants to fly back for the wedding.
I will be alone again… sigh… I really do not want to be alone.
Adventure never brings you what you expect… huh?
Captain Lexi
…. the sweaty hot girl