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February, 2004
On February 13th, we set sail for Luperon located on the north coast of the Dominican Republic (DR). After motoring past the submerged rock that sank the H.M.S. Endymion in 1700, we sailed close hauled in 15 to 20 knot winds and 6 to 8 ft. seas for 12 hours. Most of the sailing was under reduced sail because we were going too fast (7 to 9 knots) and would reach landfall before light. We motored the last few hours into the wind to Luperon and dropped anchor at 0900 hrs. on Saturday, February 14th (Valentine's Day), or rather 1000 hrs. since Luperon is in the Atlantic time zone, east of the Eastern time zone. There are about 75 boats in the harbor with about a third headed north, a third south, and a third happy to stay here for a while. The harbor is surrounded by forested hills, quite a change from the low scrub islands in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. The failed settlement of Isabella or El Castillo founded by Chris Columbus in 1493 is nearby. The people here appear friendly, although impoverished, and the prices are very low (20 oz beer costs $1.00).
We have been in Luperon for almost three weeks now. Our Spanish is a little better (at least Rankin's) and we've had an opportunity to explore a few "hot spots" in the country. So far, we have attended a pig roast, gone rock sliding (something I highly recommend that everyone do at least once in their lifetime), experienced a mock cock fight, watched and admired soap stone carving, and visited a botanical garden. That's not all, we also spent a day in Santo Domingo, which is approximately 3-4 hours by car from Luperon. While in Santo Domingo, we visited an aquarium, Catedral de Santo Domingo, Cave of the Three Eyes, Columbus Lighthouse, a Fortaleza Ozama y Torre del Homenaje, and the Alcazar de Colón. Then, we went to La Vega on February 27th for the celebration of Independence Day in DR. The Dominican Republic received their independence from Haiti on February 27, 1844, and they celebrate this day with a carnaval. Later, we spent a day exploring the various sites at Puerto Plata. We stopped by the Amber Museum/Cigar Factory (where Rankin bought some fine pieces of jewelry and a box of rich cigars), visited Fort San Felipe and finished doing a little provisioning at the Super Mercado Tropical. Here are some pictures of these events.
Fortaleza Ozama y Torre del Homenaje
Alcazar of Colón (Columbus' son Diego's palace)
Amber Museum/Cigar Factory and Fort San Felipe
After some quick preparation, we left Luperon, Dominican Republic on Monday, March 8th at 5:30 a.m. -- yes, in the morning. Our original intent was to travel at night when the winds and waves were quiet and anchor during the day to rest. This would enable us to arrive in Puerto Rico before our weather window slammed shut on us. We made a quick stop in Sosua, and because our daily weather reports looked so good we decided to motor sail nonstop to Boqueron, Puerto Rico. During our journey, we were actual able to do a little sailing and Rankin caught another mahi mahi. After a little bit of goofing around, it was time to get serious again about making the passage. We had fairly good conditions during our journey through the Mona Passage arriving Boqueron on Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. We only stopped briefly to assist another cruiser into the harbour, then we cruised to Ponce where we checked in with customs and immigration and anchored for the night. At this point, we were pretty beat but we wanted to make it to Salinas before we dropped the hook for a while. So, on Friday, March 12th at 5:30 a.m. we left Ponce and cruised up to Salinas where we anchored, relaxed and explored the town. Here are the photos we took from our trip between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
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