Georgetown
From Emerald bay Marina we said ‘adios’ to Kathryn, utilized the wonderful free facilities, (laundry, showers, and movie rental, WOW!) From there we staged Fowel Cay and left the next morning. Sailing through the Bahamas we passed Long Island, and Conception Island, making our way down to Rum Cay. On our way down we ended up in a parade of sail boats that just happened to be going in our same direction. Andemanie, Iato, and Jackster.
Rum Cay
We anchored in Rum Cay and spent two nights there. The island didn’t consist of much. Richard and I took the dinghy in for a look. Population: 60. Not much, however, it was interesting seeing buildings and plantations that were once the home of slaves in the 1700’s. And interestingly enough, all of the people on the island were direct descendants of the slaves that were brought over from Africa. The ‘town’ was rundown, poor, and filled with warmhearted people.
From Rum Cay, we, Blue, along with the tree other sail boats waited for the best weather we could get inorder to make the long trip down to the Turcks and Cakoe’s Islands. The decent weather arrived, wind from the East and we made for an early departure. We sailed for almost 48 hours, taking turns sitting at the helm and sailing the boat. The first day the seas were pretty big, 3-5ft, choppy, and a few swells came our way. We held on to the boat most of the day as if we were riding a bucking broncho. The next day the wind slowed down, along with the seas. The four boats made it to the Turks and Caikos just in time for a brilliant sunset. I had slept wonderfully that night, seeing how I had not slept for more than 4 hours in a row. The next day we took off at the crack of dawn for another long trip, this time crossing to the Dominican Republic. The other captains of the sailboats we were will all told horror stories of this particular crossing, huge seas striking the boat right on the nose. I don’t know what happened but we had the most spectacular weather. Perfect wind, calm seas, sun; what more could a sailor ask for. We ended up motor sailing for only 10% of the time; this was practically unheard of for that passing. Once again Richard and I took turns at the helm, he got the graveyard shift, while I covered the late night and early morning shifts. The stars were amazing, breathtaking in fact, the moon had set early making for star-filled skies.
Land-Hoe! The DR!
At about 5:30am the sun began to rise, and right in my face. We had the nose pointed straight East. My first view of the Dominican Republic in the daylight was thrilling. Lush green hills, low mountains, dark blue oceans, all lit up by a glorious sunrise. We motored into the anchorage at 7am, and about half way through one of our buddy boats, Jackster, owned by a couple from England, ran a ground, basically they were in water that was too shallow for their boat. We attempted to help them get out, connecting a line between the two boats, but we didn’t have enough power. Thank goodness a local fishing boat helped them out. It was a HOT day, 85 and sunny, and now being in a 3rd world country, and in a very small town, there would be NO fans, or air-conditioning for that matter. We anchored and were boarded by immigration. It had been a while since I had last used my Spanish, so peaking to them felt pretty good, let me tell you! Dominicans have a very unique Spanish, very closed, so it has taken mw a while to get used to. From there we took the dinghy over to the customs office; which had one tiny window. By the time we were done, I was one big sweat ball! After adding one more stamp to my passport, it was time to explore the town. Luperon, as it is called, is very poor, little kids running around naked, people selling fruit, clothes, and what not on the street, a bank that could not change Dollars to Pesos, for some weird reason, and ubiquitous dogs around. I guess the town grows on people, I have meet many sailors who have been here for years, a “casa Blanca” style town I guess.
We’ll see what else this tiny eclectic town had to offer.
Hasta Luego!
