After our remarkable time ashore with our Dominican friends and our family, we picked Don and Jody Abbott up at the Samana International Airport. Don and Jody are long-time sailing friends and fellow members of the Rockland Yacht Club. Don was a crewmember aboard DAWN during the Salty Dawg passage from Hampton, VA to Virgin Gorda in November.

Don and Jody joined us for some warm weather sailing and an escape from a particularly "old-fashioned" Maine winter. They, and we, imagined off the wind sailing in balmy temperatures, moderate seas, and sun- and starlit skies. We've enjoyed some of those days, and we've also covered lots of miles in very blustery weather.

The day after the Abbotts arrived, we struck out for the Dominican marina at Cofresi, Ocean World Marina. A morning departure and an early afternoon arrival put us in a beautiful facility clearly designed for boats much larger than ours. The concrete piers were hard to get aboard when the tide was down because they were so high. The facilities were spectacular, the people nice, but the services somewhat less than those promised. Wifi was so poor as to be non-existent, and the pool was not accessible to marina guests. Various queries into the closure led only to grunts and snorts and no explanations.

The very friendly concierge advised us to eat at "Maimon restaurant" saying that people came clear from Santiago to eat there on weekends. That sounded great to us, so we hired a cab (without agreeing on a price) and off we went. When the driver pulled into a little, open-air, roadside restaurant with no customers we were surprised and concerned. Everyone explained that Maimon was the region and not a particular restaurant. After talking among ourselves we decided to consider it an adventure and sat down for meal at "Los Brothers" in the village of Maimon!

We ate two large red snappers, nicely prepared, with fried plaintains, and Presidente beers and counted the meal a successful adventure. The taxi driver returned right on time and took us back to the marina where he extracted more from us than we should have paid. We were reminded to agree to a price before getting in a taxi.

After a night at Ocean World Marina, we got underway for two overnights to George Town on Great Exuma. We discovered that our speed had put Mayaguana along our route in the late afternoon, so we modified our plan and dropped the hook at about 1800 behind the west end of the barrier reef and had a good night's sleep.

An 0700 departure in a stiffening breeze was the beginning of what became a new 24-hour distance record for DAWN. From 0715 to 0715 the next day, we covered 171 miles by GPS under a triple-reefed mainsail and a scrap of jib. The wind and seas were just right to give us a remarkable 7.125 knot average, much of it achieved through surfing down wave faces. We all had good upper body workouts as we steered her along the way and were ready for some rest when the hook went down.

Entering George Town along the recommended route on the chart gave us a bit of experience reading the bottom with its sand, grass, rocks and coral heads.

Sailing across the banks will be an interesting first-time experience for us all. Recommended tracks through waters as shallow as three or four meters will take a bit of getting used to for this skipper who always looks for the deep water.

Over the months, Elaine and I have grown accustomed to occupying all of DAWN. We wondered what it would be like to share our small space with another couple. The truth is, it's been great. The Abbotts are good sailors, good conversationalists, and easy to be with. The decision to share the crossing from the DR to Florida with them was a good one, indeed.