Well… yesterday we spent time with Captain Vince discussing route south information… and Eeek… Houston… we have a problem…
Now bear in mind the opinion of any one Captain is not the final word on anything… it is after all an opinion… but Vince is a very experienced guy who knows these waters ahead well. He has been in them for the last 10 years and made this passage many times.
It seems our problem is…
He explains that Haiti is a for sure avoid at all costs… WAAAY too dangerous… and everyone knows this.
I always thought the Dominican Republic though was all happy happy safe safe…. Canadians love to vacation there and we never hear them come back with bad stories. I was under the impression that it was a safe and civilized country much like the Bahamas. So our plan was just to day hop south along the coast of the D.R. and anchor along the coast each night for some sleep and rest…
Well… what I heard from Captain Vince yesterday…
It seems that the official port of entry to check into the D.R. is almost at the south east end in that big bay. That their government check in procedure usually involves bribes and bullshit. That their rules say you have to pay them each time you move your boat… you have to pay to check out of a bay and pay to check back into any other bay. That in any bay the locals are likely to come out for their share of a bribe too… and he has heard of local police coming out to extract bribes from cruisers too.
That apparently there are some wonderful (Safe) resorts and marinas you can stay in pretty cheap… and you are welcome and encouraged to stay in them…. where you are protected by armed guards with machine guns keeping you safe.
I have heard this stuff before though… including in Mexico which many cruisers have enjoyed safely… that this myth of danger is spread deliberately to keep the tourist dollars contained to the big corporations that run the resorts… make people too scared to go outside the walls…
but…. every year cruiser sailboats turn up covered in blood with dead crew on board after getting robbed… In Fact Vince told me that just recently a sailboat in Panama was attacked and the husband killed by a shotgun and the wife beaten and stabbed almost to death.. the boat robbed… she is alive now in a hospital but such a bloody mess she will spend months recovering.
Bad stuff does actually happen out here near poor countries…
WildChild is a sailboat with 2 girls alone on board. We know we are the sheep among the wolves. We know that maybe if we show up off some deserted beach in the D.R. to anchor overnight and the locals figure out there is a big boat with no men on it they might get the idea there is an easy target out there…
Elena and I are very mutually protective… and very conscious of our safety… and very motivated to stay safe… to not do risky things…
The yacht and the ocean are calculated risks we feel we understand and can manage… bad people are not a risk we can manage… we don’t really understand… and do not ever want to face… so our only defense is do not go near unsafe places…
IS THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC UNSAFE….????
IS THE D.R. A BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE FOR CRUISERS…?
WILL WE BE FORCED TO PAY BRIBES IN THE D.R. ….?
Well… I don’t know… but if Captain Vince advises us to avoid it… If he avoids it… he does not risk it for himself…
then… well… maybe… it seems the safe thing to do might be to jump it completely like other cruisers do.
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Well… this means a 5 day offshore passage against the prevailing trade winds. WildChild can totally handle the sailing… she is such a good girl and can point amazingly well… we can sail with a true wind angle of about 40 degrees (apparent wind angle of about 28 degrees to the wind) all day long.
But… 5 days…. means 4 nights… with only 2 people on the boat to rotate the watches… this will be exhausting… very hard.
With my medical conditions… and Elena’s limited sailing experience… hmm… I don’t like this.
I have been deliberately avoiding many night passages… because it sucks… it is exhausting… and I NEED at least 4 good hours of sleep per night… and you never sleep very well on a passage… barely sleep… if at all… it is more like laying down with your eyes closed listening to the sounds of the boat… always semi-alert for danger. It is not restful sleep as you get tossed around in bed.
Now I know many of the old man cruisers out there will go on and on about how they sleep just fine… on how they hardly need 2 hours rest a day… but they are not me… not my body.
Elena is wonderful and amazing… she did great on our last 30 hour passage… but she is the girl who loves to sleep 10 hours a day… when we finished that last long jump she slept for 14 hours the next day. Well if she cannot get her long restorative slumber the second night to recover…. how will she fare with 5 days with little sleep? I already know how I will fare… badly.
BUT… I think we are going to forced into doing this anyway…
Grrrrr….. Captain Lexi no like…
So… maybe we can get an extra crew for this jump..?
Do we need an extra crew?
Should we get an extra crew?
Can we get an extra crew?
Can we just do this alone?
Are we tough enough?
Should we push this alone?
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We need to make good decisions right now about this.
anyone who has personal knowledge about sailing the Dominican Republic’s coast… please feel free to give me advice here…
Cheers Sailors….
Captain Lexi…
……. the stressed out today…
….