CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored in Bahia de Luperon, Dominican Republic

19 53.944' N, 070 57.086' W

Our time here in Luperon has been truly wonderful; however, it is rapidly drawing to a close. As with any departure from a safe haven, there are always plenty of opportunities to engage in weather discussions. People gather weather data from a wide variety of sources, and weather opinions from an even wider variety of potential inputs. All the conversations start the same..."What do you think of this weather window?" The lead photo shows just such a discussion.

Our current weather input is restricted to NOAA Offshore Reports (we have not been able to get Chris Parker on the SSB). With internet, we can download the Offshore Reports easily. When we are without internet, we get the reports on our SSB radio. Because the automated voice which reads the weather on the SSB uses the call sign November Mike November, we have affectionately taken to calling him 'Mike.'

According to Mike, conditions may be favorable for us to continue our trip along the north coast of the Dominican Republic and get to the eastern side of the island of Hispanola. From there, we will be looking (again) at the weather to determine an appropriate time to make the crossing to Puerto Rico, across the Mona Passage. Crossing the Mona Passage is quite a serious undertaking, but we are restricting our focus (at present) to simply getting to a staging point to make that jump, because the north coast of this country is nothing to trifle with either.

For now, though, we have one last trip to town to make in order to ready ourselves for the trip along the north coast. In addition to a few fresh food items (eggs and bread), we need to stop by the Comandancia in order to get our despacho (official paperwork for departure to the next port). Meanwhile, as I write this, the wind is whistling through the rigging, testing our resolve to depart later tonight. We are hopeful that the night lee will exert itself and provide us a safe and comfortable trip around the corner to another anchorage. Therefore, it may be a while before we, again, gain access to internet, or we may still be here tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out, dear Reader, stay tuned.