Dominican Republic to Curacao
14 June 2013 | Curacao, Spanish Water
We arrived in Curacao after a very strenuous 50 hour sail across from Isla Saona on the south east tip of the DR. We knew we would have a boisterous passage with 15kt-20kts easterly winds forecast the entire passage. It turned out a little fresher than expected.
At the start we had 25kt south east winds and 2m waves slamming hard on the nose. Fortunately, after 5 hours the wind moved east and crossing the waves, which got bigger, was more comfortable but this resulted in increased boat speed which translated back to more slamming. We slowed the boat down with a second reef and took it as fast as we could tolerate. On the main leg we averaged a moderate 7kts or though we frequently touched 12kts with sustained gust of 30kts plus. We were taken once by surprise from a quick squall bringing horizontal rain and 41kt winds. The worst came when we reached the last 30NM leg along the lee side of Curacao when we expected flat water and zero wind and a chance to rest before making landfall. Instead we encountered a constant 30kts dead on head wind and a big short sea.
It felt like we had the worst of the weather at night. Since there was no moon and it was pitch black it was impossible to tell the angles we were at. The computer screen tipped over for the first time ever. I am sure if we were on a mono hull it would have been a lethal weapon flying through the air. We didn't feel like eating much the whole way and we didn't get much sleep either.
The entrance to the Spanish Waters harbour where we arrived was a narrow 35m opening in a rocky coast line sheltered from the wind at the foot of a large mountain. What a contrast going from 30kts to 0kts in a few seconds. The tranquillity didn't last long. The anchorage opened up into a large lagoon with many little islands, very flat water but very gusty wind nevertheless, very inviting!