North Coast of Dominican Republic
19.39.673 N
69.52.735W

We kept saying we weren't leaving, right up until we hoisted anchor at 7am and left. What can I tell you? When we went to bed, the wind finally died down and the wind generator did not come back on for the remainder of the night. This morning we got up at 5:30 and pulled up the weather information; no change; a window of favorable conditions for about 48 hours.

We saw signs of everyone else getting up and making preparations but no movements. Edgar over on Nine-Twenty-Four radioed to let us know that his brother called from Puerto Rico to say that they were predicting 12' waves in the Mona Passage by Saturday; they weren't going. We knew about this and reminded him that the plan was to be in by morning on Friday. Gate over on Nicolino asked that we call them when we went out and let them know what the sea state was. Still no one made a move. It was going on 7am, the Commandante had not appeared. Everyone kept asking us what we were going to do. Finally, we said let's get this over with! We'll go out, if it's bad, we'll come back in.

Obviously, it wasn't that bad. The sea was calmer than the first time we tried a week ago and we knew that as soon as we cleared the point, it would calm down even further. Which it did. We've motorsailed all day and have made good time. We've learned that the Van Sant cruising guide was right about the cape effects but we haven't hugged the shore as closely as he suggested and have been doing quite well. We just head towards shore until the seas and wind subside a bit and then tack back and forth until we get around the point. So far, this has paid off for us since we point higher than our catamaran buddies and use the extra wind to our advantage.

We've also noticed that our main sail is starting to show a pucker at the bottom of the sail which would indicate that the sail needs to be hoisted up. This probably means that my attachment repair is failing and it is starting to fall. Since we need our sails for as long as possible, we have elected to tack as quickly as we can until it either completely fails and collapses, or the winds subside to the point where we can try to roll it back in.

Hispanola is a massive island. Sailing along its northern shores showed us more of its natural beauty. The subtropical greens of its mountains reached down to the cliffs that bordered the Atlantic Ocean along this shore. We saw several mansions along this coastline that we imagined must belong to the Dominican baseball players that come to the US to play professionally. Several areas looked like they might be golf courses overlooking the cliffs but then they could have been meadows simply seen from a distance. It only proved to us that there is much more to see on this beautiful island.

This will be one of the longest passages we've ever made and, of course, through the Mona Passage which takes a full 24 hours to transit by itself.

For background information, the Mona is very much like the Gulf Stream, only wider. It has its own current/currents and with two good sized islands (Puerto Rico on the east; Hispanola on the west) with huge mountains channeling their winds and thunderstorms down and around through the passage. If you don't wait for a favorable weather forecast, you'll get your clock cleaned pretty quick. We've waited for one that predicts less than 15 kts of wind and seas of 4-6'. If anything, wind and seas have been less than what we were expecting. I guess all of those weeks waiting is finally paying off.