Luperon, Dominican Republic
19.54.025N
70.56.934W

We're in Luperon! What a difference in scenery. Where the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands were arid, Hispaniola is lush and green.

Last night was quite the experience. Not the tranquil little sail we had anticipated. The period of quiet weather dissolved while we were mid stream (a full 24 hours ahead of time) and the wind and waves picked up quite a bit. We put a couple of reefs in each of the sails to combat the wind but the swell and current played havoc with our autopilot. We ended up taking it off the tracking feature and just using a course heading. Then we'd adjust our course as to how we were progressing via the chartplotter. About 2/3's of the way here, I started seeing lightening on the horizon. Thank heavens we only got more wind and some rain. Dale and I both stayed up in the cockpit all night, taking turns napping while the other stood watch. There was no traffic but it took both of us to adjust the sails when needed.

For those who have read Van Sant's "Passages South," it was exactly as he described. The wind and waves calmed 20 miles out. You could smell the earth long before you could see it. Then when dawn came, you saw beautiful mountains of green and could smell wood fires burning. It was a very impressive sight. (Someone told us that Jurassic Park was filmed here, to envision it.)

We knew from our reading that the harbor itself is concealed from view until you are just about on top of it, the coordinates given in the books were perfect. We were lucky that a boater inside was taking his dog out for a morning romp and stopped to direct us through the channel itself. Apparently there are some hidden mud banks that you can get stuck in. Nothing dangerous, just embarrassing. Clearly, it's a very popular anchorage. We found a spot to anchor in 20' of water at the end and Doc-No-More anchored nearby near one of the mud flats. We had heard complaints that the water was extremely muddy. Clearly those that complained have never been in the St. Johns River. This evening showed that there is a fair amount of phosphorescence in the water which, in my experience, looks muddy in the day. Otherwise, it's more of a green look to it but I have to admit, you can't see your toes in it either.

For Dale and I, once we latched onto mother earth, we both zoned out for a couple of hours because we were exhausted. Although Roger described the catamaran's action as like being in a washing machine, they apparently were more well rested than we were. By mid-afternoon, Elaine had scoped out the anchorage, met with a couple of ambassadors of good will and had us signed up to go on an inland tour to see some waterfalls on Wednesday. She even had the skinny on a tour of a rum factory (she knew she had our vote on that one) and possibly renting a van to do some errands.

I had been a little apprehensive about coming to Luperon but so far, all of my concerns have been unfounded. Tomorrow we'll check into customs and immigration and pick up some local currency. We figure we'll be here about a week before moving on to Puerto Rico.