After careful consideration we decided we were ready to leave the Bahamas and sail directly to the Dominican Republic. If we could get a long enough weather window we would bypass the Turks & Caicos. We wanted to see the Turks & Caicos but we were ready to make our way further towards the Caribbean. Another storm just pass us while we were in Clarence Town, Long Island that meant a strong NE clearing wind. We waited for the storm to start clearing out and decided to leave the safety of the harbor. This was difficult at first because the wind was blowing 25 mph plus and the seas were running about 8.5 feet with short intervals. The good news it was moving the way we wanted to go. But before we could get out of the shallow reefs surrounding the Clarence Town bay we needed to motor into the wind and seas out around a small island. The new friends we made stood and watched us leaving wondering if we were crazy. Four Points plunged through the worst of the wind swept seas and we made it out into open sea turning downwind. With our reefed main sail and jib let out Four Points quickly hit 7.5 knots surfing down big swells. We were on our way ..... leaving the Bahamas for Dominican Republic. We sailed for the next 48 hours downwind not seeing any other boats or ships. As we passed the Turks & Caicos on our port side and headed out across the channel to the Dominican Republic the wind started to die. The landmass of Dominican Republic/Haiti affects the wind during the night hours and many times the wind will calm, as you get closer. We arrived at Luperon, Dominican Republic at ten in the morning after sailing 310 miles averaging six knots. We both had smiles on our faces happy to make this big passage.