Adventures with David & Gail

Vessel Name: Wildest Dream
Vessel Make/Model: Caliber 47 LRC
Hailing Port: Dallas, Texas
Crew: David & Gail Dodgen
Home Page: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/wildestdream47
15 June 2013 | Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL
20 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park, Florida
18 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas, Florida
14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico
10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize
05 May 2013 | Guatemala
01 May 2013 | Ram Marina, Rio Dulce, Guatemala
26 April 2013 | Livingston, Guatemala
23 April 2013 | French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras
20 April 2013 | Le Bight, Guanaja, Honduras
18 April 2013 | Vivorillo Cays, Honduras
10 April 2013 | Providencia, Colombia
01 April 2013 | Providencia, Colombia
23 March 2013 | San Andres
22 March 2013 | Off Nene's Marina, San Andres, Colombia
12 March 2013 | Red Frog Marina. Bastimentos
10 March 2013 | Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama
10 March 2013 | Cruiser Casa, Panama City
10 February 2013 | Panama City, Panama
02 February 2013 | Red Frog Marina, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Recent Blog Posts
15 June 2013 | Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL

My how time flies!

My how time flies! – Well, I must confess to being a little overwhelmed and getting mixed up into the real world pace again faster than expected. Here it is mid-June, we have been back in Miami for almost 3 weeks, back in our house for almost a week, and I have not updated the blog. My sincere apologies! [...]

20 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park, Florida

Back in the US, kinda!

Back in the US, kinda! - We are on US soil! There is no immigration or customs office out here so there is no way to clear into the US. So we are kinda' illegal aliens! But we are flying our Q flag and no one seems to care. Or maybe they don't know what it means. Anyway, we are getting closer to [...]

18 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas, Florida

Isla and beyond!

Isla and beyond! - We stopped in Isla Mujeres to officially clear into Mexico, wait out some weather and do some provisioning. Actually US immigration really doesn't care about where we started from to reenter the US, and they don't ask for a Zarpe so we could have gone on to Florida without stopping [...]

14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico

The last flag!

The last flag! - Having skirted along the outer cays and atolls of Belize, we headed north to Mexico. I went to the flag bag that we have been using for the whole trip to store our courtesy flags for each country and it only had one flag left. It was the Mexico flag. All the others had been used and [...]

10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize

Belize it or not!

Belize it or not! - Sorry. I could not resist! We planned an 18 month trip and we are now into the 18th month so it is time to head home. We have about 800 miles to go with Belize and Mexico yet on the itinerary. We could go nonstop or we could take our time. Or we could stop a few places as we [...]

05 May 2013 | Guatemala

Guate!

Guate! - The ride into Guatemala City, or Guate for short as the locals call it, takes you along the Rio Montagua river valley as it winds is way up to the mountains. The Rio Dulce is at sea level and Guate is at about 6000 ft. so the climb is steep at times. Plus it's mostly a rural two land road [...]

Around & about the DR!

18 January 2012 | Ocean World Marina, Puerto Plata, DR
David
1/18/12 – Around and about the DR! We have now been in the DR about 10 days and have seen a lot of the country. We have also seen a lot of the marina! The winds and wave action outside have not been conducive to crossing from here to Puerto Rico, so we have spent the time doing some minor repairs, visiting friends/clients and sightseeing. Here is a quick synopsis of our week.

First thing we had to address was a broken lifeline stanchion. These are the vertical stainless steel supports around the boat that hold the life line. If you remember we also broke one before arriving in Nassau a while back. They are all 16 years old and the welds are slowly breaking. We have had to reweld several over the years. Luckily the marina had a repair shop and a welder on staff that can weld stainless, so we got that done quickly. And we had to straighten a mast spreader that was displaced by the line when we loaded the dinghy forward before the crossing from Big Sand Cay. (Sounds technical and that is the way I planned it because it was kinda’ my fault!) We did that ourselves and again luckily it was not a major job and there was no damage.

My local friend, Barry Terry, here in Puerto Plata came by and escorted us around the town to the grocery and to find some caulk for the stanchion job. I had sold him two boats about 7 years ago and we have stayed in touch ever since. This is my first time to visit him here.

We hooked up with another one of our Provo boats (Bill and Gail Stone on a Hylas 47 named “Another Road To..” had arrived a day after us) here in the marina and did some sightseeing. The four of us took a rental car to Puerto Plata and rode the cable car up to Mount Isabel de Torres. It is a park overlooking Puerto Plata from the mountain which is 2,621 ft. above the city. The day was clear and we had wonderful views of the city and the ocean.

After that we went over to the more common anchorage area for cruisers in the town of Luperon about 25 miles further west. After seeing the anchorage we understood the lure because of the beauty and saw the downside because of the town and surrounding area. It made us glad that we decided to go into the marina even though there were other boats there that we knew.

In fact, we were just stopping at the cruiser’s central meeting place on the main street in Luperon called Steve’s when we spotted another Provo boat (Steve and Jody on “Blue Pelican” from Australia) and we ended up having a late lunch with them. Then we got our first glimpse of driving at night in the DR on the way back to the marina. Bill was driving into the teeth of two lane traffic with an onslaught of high beam, halogen headlights in his eyes. I was glad he was driving and also happy when we arrived back safe and sound. We both swore at that time not to drive again after dark while we were here.

The next day we did some cleaning and engine maintenance on the boat in the morning. In the afternoon, Barry dropped us off at the Brugal Rum bottling plant on the other side of town for a tour where we stocked up on some very nice rum. (If you ask nicely, I might distribute a few when we are back in Miami.) And we found the cruiser’s central hangout here, Chris & Mady’s, just outside the marina proper. A very nice open air restaurant with excellent food and sports on the TV. Chris is Canadian and loves hockey but is also a big NFL fan so he had the playoffs on over the weekend.

By now we had decided our plans for the week and our hopeful departure date. We got our own rental car to drive south for Santa Domingo and Boca Chica to see a client of mine who has a boat for sale. I had sold another of his boats last year but this was my first visit to follow up with him and see the other listing. First we took some time to tour the Malecon (ocean front boulevard) in Puerto Plata and the old fort at the entrance of the port. It used to be the hub of activity, but was destroyed by the pirates and the church at times during its history.

The next day we were off to Santa Domingo. The drive down took us through the center of Santiago where we got off the main road. Technology saved the day as Gail noticed it on the GPS map that was working on our iPhone! We got back on the road and arrived at the marina in Boca Chica about 2 pm.

We met the marina manager, Tony, who took us to a local colmado (street kitchen) for lunch. See the picture in the photo gallery. Not a place we would have gone on our own but we had an excellent cold seafood salad for a starter and mahi and rice and beans for lunch, while sitting on a 2x4 bench up in the shade of a thatch roof. After that, we spent some time looking at the listing and relaxing in a local hotel.

In the evening, we met my client, Ramon Prieto, for dinner and to celebrate Gail’s birthday. Dinner was at the Boca Marina restaurant on the beach in Boca Chica. Talk about a difference from lunch! 5 stars! We met the owner, the manager, the chef, the bartender and of course a host of waiters! The table talk was about sailing, boats, and the DR! There is a presidential election coming up in May and it generated a lot of opinions. We finished off the night with birthday cake, singing and a cordial! Gail was the center of attention and well deserved.

Then, it was off early the next morning to La Romana to the east along the coast to find the Garcia Tabacalera and buy some Partagas cigars which I like but had not found in the DR even though they are made here. The factory is located in a Zona Franca area which is for manufacturing of product to be exported. I didn’t even know if the guards would let us in but, lo and behold, we were waved through and found ourselves at the company store and tour center where the guy explained that of all the brands made there, Partagas was not one! They were made in another factory and not for sale in the DR but only for export. Ugh! So we took the tour with a guide named Bienvenido. He explained the process and finally showed us a humidor made to hold over 10,000,000 cigars for aging before the final packaging! Very interesting but still no Partagas. I bought a few Monte Cristos and we were off. Now I need to call my cigar lady in Miami and order some. Go figure!

The next leg was back to Boca Chica (because there was no road to the north side of the island from La Romana) and north on Hwy 7 which is a toll road. Now this was traveling. Almost no traffic, through beautiful country side, farm land, rice fields, mountains, and a national park. We continued on to a small town called Cabarete which is famous for its beach and the perfect waters for wind surfing and kite boarding because of the protected bay and consistent trade winds. They hold the world championships for these sports here.

So, after traveling across the beautiful country twice and slogging through traffic in big city and small, we find ourselves back to Ocean World today. Winds look good for departure tomorrow. We will be leaving with “Another Road To..” so we will have company across. It’s about 240 miles to Boqueron, Puerto Rico so we will be out over two days. Time to move on. Check back later! Adios a Republica Domincana!
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