Photo: 5.30 a.m. and the local fishermen have been out for hours already

Finally, after our first attempt to leave Luperon and our third "goodbye" to Wind of Peace, we cleared the harbour and motor-sailed to Big Sand Cay in the Turks and Caicos, favoured with one-metre seas but not quite enough wind with which to proceed under sail alone. We passed about a dozen local fishermen on the way out of harbour who all smiled and waved hello and goodbye. We will definitely remember the genuine warmth and friendliness of the people here. We also passed a few sailboats on their way into Luperon and we relayed our experiences to them, half-wishing we were still there ourselves, and we watched the mountains of the D.R. fade into the pale blue horizon.

We anchored just after dark at Big Sand Cay and couldn't help but notice that the boat had felt sluggish throughout its passage today. The first order of business tomorrow will be to dive on the boat and check out how much of Luperon Harbour we have brought with us and is still growing on the hull...