Saturday, March 7, 2020

Ocean World, Dominican Republic
19.49.685N
70.43.853W

Happy Birthday Gary!  What’s one more candle when the fire department is already on stand by. 


We made it!!  The winds and seas never did die down as predicted until well into this morning.  At one point, the table in the salon was jumping with every pound and the cabinetry was creaking and moaning with every movement of the boat, so I asked (admittedly in a very catty manner) Dale to slow us down.  I know he wanted to maintain at least a 5 kt average but we also said that it wasn’t to be at the expense of us or the boat.  It’s a good thing too.  Although he had mentioned that his stomach felt a little queasy at dinner time and he asked for the spaghetti with mushroom sauce, instead of something more spicy, I didn’t realize that it was the beginning to a nasty night of seasickness.  I felt really bad for him.  He hasn’t been plagued with this in a long time.  He couldn’t go inside to lay down without the world spinning and then couldn’t find a comfortable place to sit outside.  He was a good sport and still stood his watches, probably because he could sit forward and concentrate on something right in front of him.  In any event, by the time the sun came up, he was doing much better.  Also by this time, the winds and seas finally cooperated and died down to a point where we could once again rev up the engines and make 6+ kts. to make up for lost time.  Also by this time, we were no longer in VHF radio range with the others. 

When we approached Ocean World at noon and saw plastic bottles in a row, I thought I had somehow guided us into a fishing net strung out by a local fisherman.  I put our engines in neutral to keep from tangling our props and then started forward again when we got past them.  I had no sooner started forward motion again when we saw more and more.  Then Dale said that it was all trash in the water.  I would have expected this around Luperon after the rains wash down out of the mountains and anything not anchored gets flushed out to sea, but I was surprised to find it here, something akin to our Sea World attractions. 

We turned into the buoyed channel and was guided into the fuel pier where we took on fuel, had our Coast Guard inspection for weapons and contraband (what they found were tumbling chip cans every time they opened a cupboard) and Dale went in to check us in without the usual “gifts” to be handed out or overtime charges.  That was really nice. 

Never Say Never and Zandolee were already here and both agreed, that was not the transit we had hoped for.  It sounds like Zandolee really had a nasty time of it with water over the deck house and their dinghy swinging wildly.  All crews elected to spend the afternoon napping but Dale and I went up to the marina restaurant for dinner later in the day.  Never Say Never have 2 children, so were told that the kids couldn’t be served after 6pm.  Robin and Louise elected to take showers and head back to bed; they look beat.  At dinner, Dale and I agreed that the nasty front coming down from the north had better make its appearance tonight as it was great motor sailing the remaining portion of the day.  

We sent a quick message to Michelle to let her know that we had made it and another to Gerry and Nicky to let them know that yes were are in the same time zone as they and hope to make it to Puerto Rico during the next window, possibly Thursday-Friday time frame.  

Friday, March 6, 2020

At Sea
21.02.325N
71.19.311W

Both Dale and I were up by 5:15 this morning but were surprised to find the skies somewhat overcast and thus still dark but we were at a high tide; a good time to leave.  So we killed time by eating breakfast and getting out lifejackets and lanyards.  By 5:45 we saw Bob, the marina owner walking towards Winterlude, a large motor yacht that had been in a slip behind us for the entire time we were there.  We had no idea that they were leaving the same day as us, so as they motored by, I asked Susie where they were bound and learned that they were headed back north to Long Island, Exuma.  We waved good bye and then thanked Bob for his hospitality when he came by to help us cast off.  We followed Winterlude out the channel as soon as they had cleared it without mishap and as they turned north, we turned south. 

Crossing the Caicos Bank

As fortune would have it, we saw another catamaran approaching us as we made our way to the southbound waypoint.  Dale spotted that it was another Manta and when they hailed us, we learned that their name was Twocan and they had spent the last season down in the Caribbean and had just left the DR and more specifically Ocean World.  They gave us some advice about Ocean World and reminded us that Luperon was a hurricane hole that might prove a better spot with the predicted 30 kt winds coming out of the north by Saturday evening.  We in turn told them to “hug the reds until you make the turn and then hug the greens” getting into South Side Marina without going aground. 

The rest of the day was without event.  The winds didn’t die down as soon as we had first thought but eventually subsided enough to make a decent transit.  We approached Six Hills island and started hailing Zandolee and Never Say Never with no response.  We made our way through the cut to the ocean and the last island in the Turks and Caicos, Great Sand Cay.  Ahead of us was another catamaran but too far ahead to make out who it might be, and as no one had answered our radio calls only minutes prior, I didn’t think to call again.  They were clearly moving faster than us but as I learned about an hour later, it was Never Say Never.  They told us that Zandolee was about the same distance in front of them, and as all of us were already lined up, we elected to skip the stop at Great Sand and just continue on to the Dominican Republic. 

We’re still waiting for the calm seas that were forecast, so hopefully by nightfall, things will settle down.  As we all know, everything feels worse at night but tonight, we have almost a full moon, so hopefully, it won’t be that bad.