Luperon, Dominican Republic
30 May 2012 | 19 54.06'N:70 56.95'W
Gary
After a 22 hour (just over 100 miles) sail, we motored into Luperon Harbor in the Dominican Republic at 8am on Sunday (5/27). We had left our South Caicos anchorage just after 10am on Saturday and followed Minx (a Logoon 40 cat) out of the harbor. We sailed for almost 3 hours, but on a course that would take us too far west. So we dropped the sails & motored eastward towards our intermediate destination - Great Sand Cay in the TCIs. As we got east, the wind also "backed" (veered counter-clockwise from what it had been) so that it was not coming so much from the south. We were then able to hoist the sails & revert to running a single engine mostly to provide power to the autopilot & instruments. The seas were not big (3'-5') but they came in different directions, sometimes combining to form a 6'-8' wave, which made it an uncomfortable ride compared to many legs. Still, we were going 7+ kts (8-9 mph) so making good time. However we did not want to come into a strange harbor at night, so we pulled in the jib at & used just the main sail after dark. That slowed us down to 4kt & put us at the harbor entrance about 2 hours after sunrise.
We came in & anchored in a good, open area only to find ourselves slowly sliding backwards. The Luperon harbor bottom is very soft mud, so it takes a couple days for an anchor to "settle in." Just after getting settled, a very nice guy motors up in a dinghy/workboat. He introduces himself as 'Papo' and that he's lived there for over 30 yrs and he has gas & diesel fuel and if we want a mooring, we can use his for $2/day (this is before we realized the anchor was sliding thru the mud). Papo told us he also does boat-sitting if we needed to leave it for a trip back to the US, cleans hulls & props and a few other services I didn't catch! He did tell us where to get laundry done (there is no laundromat as such). And also arranges trips into the countryside/mountains to waterfalls. That is one thing we're planning on doing while we're here.
Looking back, S Caicos is a nice, small town but without much to do except drink very expensive beer and eat expensive food. You can sit in the shade, let the wind blow past and be perfectly comfortable. But to move anywhere under the beating down sun made even short walks usually not worth the effort. There were 2 places that had wifi - both free. The Western Union office is very close to the docks but has no facilities. The only place to use that access in the shade is sitting on the pavement in front of the grocery store next door! There is a fancy restaurant that had AC power & wifi, but it's almost a mile walk. So consequently, between nothing happening but waiting for the winds to improve and difficult at best wifi, there's been no blog posts for a while.
The trip over was interesting, although somewhat uncomfortable. Being out on the water and no land in sight creates an introspective mind-set. With a boat, the sails are set, the throttle is set, the autopilot is on to hold the course desired and so whomever is at the helm just needs to be alert to any other traffic. We stayed in contact with Minx most the night (lost them around 1 am when they got too far ahead of us). We saw one small freighter during the night - it passed a comfortable ways behind us.
And now we're in a foreign country where English is rudimentarily understood by some of the population but is not the dominant language. The streets are totally different than in the Bahamas or the TCIs, yet in some ways they are quite similar when looking at old, run-down store-fronts & houses mixed with newer, fancier ones.
Clearing in was interesting. We took the kayak into shore as we had collapsed the fold-a-boat and stored it on deck for the crossing. We came across a man in an official looking shirt sitting under a shade tree snoozing. He is the Customs guy. After going thru paperwork & paying $63 he sends us up the hill to the Harbor Commander (Comandarcia). We find 2 guys under a gazebo in hammocks. Starting to head for the building, they waved us over - to the picnic table which was the Comandarcia's desk. More paperwork, no $ and much gestulating trying to understand each other & we're done. Almost. On Monday we had to stop to go thru Customs & get our tourist visa ($10) and visit Agriculture for another $10. Considering the Bahamas charged $300 for 6 months and the Turks & Caicos charged $100 for 7 days, this was cheap & painless.
So we spent much of Sunday sleeping (without bouncing and slamming) and then clearing in followed by a brief walk into the town. Monday, we went in the Mike & Cynthia from Minx who have been here before. We went to a bank (almost across the town - close to a mile) to get dollars changed into pesos. We then got a short "tour" of the town - what is where - as we went back towards the docks and someplace to eat. The meals here are about half of what I would expect to pay for something comparable in S Fla. And the beers are 650 ml (about 32 oz?) for $1.80! Compare that to $4-$5 in the Bahamas or TCIs.
On Tuesday, Mandolin (Bill & Mary) showed up in the early morning. Then a few hours later Free Fallin (with Travis & Leegion) got here. While they crashed, Minx & us went into Luperon for lunch and then running our individual errands. I did find a place with AC & free wifi too. Unfortunately, the wifi availability comes & goes.
Tomorrow (Thursday) we are taking a trip into the mountains to visit (& play in) waterfalls. That will be an all-day excursion. On Friday, we're sharing a vehicle (with driver) for a provisioning trip into Puerto Platta. It's 20 miles but an hour drive each way. Should be interesting.