Dreamtime in the D. R. 4/6/2006 through 4/16/2006

Dominican Republic - Well, after a nice break in Georgetown, Exuma,  the flotilla is heading out on the first stage of the southerly trek - onward to the Dominican Republic.  The main group is headed for Conception Island but we are heading south down through Hog Cay Cut and along the west side of Long Island.  Our 4’ draft allows us to use Hog Cay Cut as a shortcut, whereas the others are headed NE into head seas.  We made the Cut at high water and continued to sail southwards in between the Jumentos and Long Island.  We tucked up for the evening about 2/3rds of the way down.  The next day we sailed on and headed out across the Crooked Island Passage - not!  Squally day with short, steep seas convinced us to pack it in and hunker down at South Point for the day.  The next morning the seas were much better so we headed over towards Crooked Island and the Acklin’s group.  The weather window just keeps getting bigger as it is predicted to continue calming down, so we decided to continue across the Mayaguana Passage and make for French Cay in the Turks & Caicos.  Finally had to drop the main as conditions were flat and glassy

Hover over pictures for the description and click for an enlargement

Might as well get the passage in the bag so onwards to Luperon, Dominican Republic.  Arrived the next afternoon around 2PM and contrary to popular opinion (and due in no small part to perfect, calm conditions), entering was no problem (unless you consider the fact that the GPS chart plotter showed us heading onto land!   Once we turned the corner into the harbor what do we see?  A Freedom 39’ and yes, it’s “Attitudes” with Shelley & Marno on board!  We spent much of last summer cruising with them in New England after meeting them in Newport.  What a treat to see them before they take off for the sail to the UK.

We spent just over a week there, and were joined by "Scott Free" the day after we arrived - they too had pushed on during the weather window.  Enjoyed a few visits into town, and purchased a case of the 7 year old Columbus Rum - plus the obligatory cases of Presidente beer!  Went in for the weekly flea market/book swap and ran into Bruce VanSant, who signed a copy of the guide to the Spanish Virgin islands that we picked up.  Leaving at 5PM "Scott Free" and "Dreamtime" decide to head out on an overnighter to Samana, about 90 miles.  We catch a fireworks display offshore of Puerta Plata - Cool.

At the northeastern corner of the DR is Samana Bay.  It is a beautiful and mysterious looking bay, with a village that was settled by American slaves in the early Eighteen Hundreds. Apparently eighty percent of the Humpback Whale population comes in the winter to mate and vacation in Samana's off shore. After spending the night, we head across the bay to the Parque Nacional los Haitises, a small area on the southern shore of the bay.  The park has an extensive cave system that was used by early residents and is fascinating to walk through.  It looks very primordial, and apparently Jurassic Park was filmed there in part. We give a shout on the VHF on the offhand chance that our friends Marlene and Benno on "Diesel Duck" might be near enough to hear us - we heard them on the SSB (in the AM) saying they were headed to San Juan.  Sure enough, we made contact and they diverted to Samana where they showed up at the park just in time for sundowners on "Dreamtime".

A short bit later that evening, 3 other cruiser boats lately from Luperon came in to join us:  "Evening Star", "Rock & Roll", and "Rainbow Rider".  Easter Sunday morning dawned beautifully in the pristine surroundings - marred only by all the styrafoam and plastic trash floating around... Ed got out in the dinghy and did a big trash collection, what a guy! We decided to take the trek up the river tributary to the Cano Hondo EcoResort for lunch.  A big herd of dinghys and people going through the mangroves.  It was a beautiful, rustic setting with lots of waterfalls and pools.  That evening "Dreamtime" and "Rock & Roll" decided to take off across the Mona Passage towards Puerto Rico... that story is in the next log entry.