Fond Memories

Here's a blast from the past: Ron and Evelyn brought with them the pictures from our farewell party at the curling club last October. It was so much fun going through all the pictures of the folks that came out to help us celebrate and while I can't post them all here, if you were at the party and would like to see some of the jollity, just let Ron or Evelyn know.

Other than the tan and having shed a few pounds, I feel so different from that night just four months ago. We have learned so much both about living on the boat and exploring different places, but also about ourselves and our abilities. I definitely feel more relaxed (most of the time) and more connected with the natural world. On the other hand I haven't a clue what the latest headline is that's making the rounds of the news channels and since they don't really affect us it's not a worry.

The cake and the decorations were perfect.

Lots of good friends came out to help us celebrate.

And in particular, this whacky group of good friends both put on the party and have been part of the adventure for the past five years.

Thank you all for continuing on this adventure with us, both from afar and in person!

It's a Wrap

Before we wrap up though, here's another glimpse at some of the fun we had, courtesy of a photo swap. It's always fun to look through another's lens.

In Bayahibe we were able to lock the dinghy to a pillar with an embedded chain. The shoreline is a nasty rocky ledge that has been concreted over to make it a little smoother. We still needed to make sure of the stern anchor's set so we didn't rip up the front of the dinghy on the rocks.

Checking out our "car", but not talking about an impending dunking of one of our adventurous mates. *

Taking a stroll around the nicer side of Bayahibe. *

On the beach. ***

The bay is crazy full of fishing and excursion boats. *

On Tuesday night and Wednesday we had to ride out a very rough anchorage. *

All checked into the resort for 24 hours of pampering.

Yep, I think we're having fun.

My new favourite shot of us, and look my bathing suit matches the drink of the day. *

Euchre winners...

And losers, but still having fun.

What would a night be without some good old Canadian curling?

Absolutely stunning! *

Farewell folks, come back soon. **

As is always the case, we had good times, swapped lots of stories, caught up on the happenings back in Richmond and at the curling club, and played Euchre, curling and charades. The curling game came to us courtesy of Caitlin and Jamie at Christmas and was a big hit - thanks guys!

Photos above courtesy of *Dave Greenwood, **Greg Lean, ***Ron Dullemond.

Dominican Dreams

Been rather quiet on the blog front lately, sorry, but with good reason... We've kinda been on vacation!

Good curling/golf friends from Ottawa all arrived on Sunday at the Dreams Resort at Bayahibe and we've been kicking back and enjoying the time with them.

Just another February day at the beach.

Our day pass access worked out very well and we are going to finish up the visit by actually staying on the resort for Saturday night, being Valentine's Day and all. To add to the fun we also celebrated Ron's birthday here and then yesterday and today we were able to get on the boat and go for a sail with all eight of us!

Happy birthday Ron! This was one to remember.

The birthday boy getting in some time with the ladies.

The only fly in the ointment in the whole plan was when the weather turned completely on its head and the wind blew from the west for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Unfortunately there is no protected anchorage for winds from this direction within about 60 miles and the marina was all full, so we rode out a couple of rough days and were quite thankful when the winds turned back to the east on Wednesday night. We are reminded time and again how happy we are that we purchased our Rocna anchor and once again it held us secure. Unfortunately a few other boats in the anchorage weren't so lucky and we even made a deal on our old anchor with a fellow who lost his in the blow. He was very happy since one of the local Dominican guys was looking for a chance to make a very profitable deal, but we came along and scuppered his plans with a more fair exchange.

Once all that excitement was over it was time to get everyone back on the boat and out for a sail. With the winds out of the east to south-east, the bay provides beautiful sailing with flat waters and consistent winds. It was near perfect for an afternoon of sun and fun. Lots of smiles on these faces!

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us we had some intruders at the back of the boat. Our little travelling gnome was learning the ropes with his new friends!

Bayahibe Bound

Just as expected, Casa de Campo offered up a beautiful refreshing sleep and we both felt ready to tackle various challenges in the morning.

On our list: find out if it's possible to get the bottom of the boat painted in the next couple of weeks, get a SIM card for our phone, call and/or visit the Dreams resort to get access sorted out for next week and get some pesos for our wallets.

Attached to the marina is a large boat yard with a travel lift that can lift our boat, so we went into the office and the long and short of it is that yes, we can indeed get the boat painted at a reasonable price and they could do it as early as next week. The only hitch is that we will have to find somewhere else to stay while the boat is in the yard. More on that later...

The pesos was easy as there are 5 different banks right at the marina, and it turns out they give a very competitive rate at 44.5 pesos per USD. The SIM card was going to be a bit more difficult since they were all out of them at the Claro kiosk so we put that one further down the list.

However, things then got a little more complicated since with no phone we couldn't call the Dreams resort and earlier emails had gone unreplied. A taxi ride to Bayahibe would cost $40 each way so we took a look at rental cars. Here's a good lesson learned: we did our research on the internet (free at the marina!) and found Avis had a car for $32/day. Avis is right at the marina (did I mention it is very full-service here?) so we went to the counter where the same car had a rate of $65. We pulled out the phone and did an online booking for the lower rate and the attendant promptly handed over the keys. For less than a one-way taxi ride we now had wheels so we took ourselves off to Bayahibe.

The road system here is very impressive.

And just like at home, accidents happen on slick rainy roads.

Last item on the list was to figure out our access to the resort for next week. With all the security that is set up around the resorts we couldn't just drive up and ask, so we ended up in the little town of Bayahibe where we found a tourism office. Funnily enough it turns out this is not really a tourism office as you and I would think of it, it was a sales office for the Dreams resort, and in exchange for 90 minutes of our time to listen to a sales pitch we would be given a free day pass, each. We are all set now to go and smile and nod at their presentation, which will include breakfast on Monday morning, and then from there we can work out the rest of our access for the remainder of the week. It will be so good to see Diane & Dave, Ron & Evelyn and Greg & Robin and I think we are in for some very good times!

Now we turned our attention to Bayahibe itself and some lunch. This used to be a sleepy little fishing town with no paved roads until a few years ago. The resorts have arrived and it is also used as a base for the day charter fleet that takes bus loads of tourists down to Saona for lunch, a snorkel and a rum or two. We wandered around the town turning away multiple enthusiastic requests to buy, visit or come see. Lunch was typical Dominican BBQ chicken and rice & beans and we checked out the anchorage and harbour with it's colourful bustle of tourism and working boats. And finally, we had a big win with finding a Claro kiosk tucked in the back of a mini market and we were able to get a SIM card in our phone so we can stay connected once we leave the marina.

Unloading the coconut boat; yes, those are bags of coconuts.

The town bay has a nasty sharp edge of rock, which has been concreted over to turn into a makeshift pier.

Definitely need to use a stern anchor when tied up, but there are numerous places we will be able to leave our dinghy.

These guys, stripped to their underwear, we're loading palm fronds onto this boat. Not sure where they are taking them.

Two of the much smaller buses - at home it think we might have called these pimp-mobiles, but here it is just high fashion.

Our explorations of Bayahibe turned up a thoroughly charming little town that calms down once the tour boats leave and I think our time here next week will be very pleasant. We have decided to bring the big boat down here and use the bay as home base since we have heard from other cruisers that it is comparatively a very safe anchorage.

With the afternoon winding down, we headed back to the marina, but decided to carry on down the highway to see what La Romana has to offer. This town is the sugar-cane capital of the DR and the vibe is completely different - busy, dirty, bustling. I think we will have to get out on foot to explore further but for now here's the view of the craziness out the car window.

Sugar cane train rumbling through town.

Dominicans are crazy about baseball and will play anywhere.

The roads were crazy busy and somewhere in the mix is a policeman directing traffic. Everyone followed along.

There are motoconchos everywhere, weaving in and out of traffic. We saw them with 3 people, carrying crazy loads, and lots with children like this.

This guy was having a "truckload sale" at the side of the road.

I thought it rather ironic he was parked under the HD television ad.

What a difference on the resort - all manicured and planted palm trees.

23 Hours Later

We began our departure from Puerto Real with good-byes to Jacques, Raphaelle, Gaetan & Sylvain. Our paths will cross again and I am sure.

We put Puerto Rico behind us at 1:30pm and set course across the south end of the Mona Passage, skirting just south of Mona Island with a plan to be rounding the south-eastern end of Dominican Republic at day-break and then running up to Casa de Campo marina by lunch-time.

I had a plan of taking a photo on each hour of our planned 22 hour crossing, somewhat as a point of interest but also as a way of occupying the time. I did well through the afternoon but with nightfall once again a bit of a queasy stomach set in so doing anything with any level of focus was difficult. Will that ever go away or will it always plague me on night-crossings?

2:30- is Puerto Rico crying at our departure? These clouds drenched us for the first hour and then chased us halfway across the passage.

Henry sure is focused on setting our course.

3:30- an hour later and I have 8 gallons of fresh rainwater.

4:30- freighter crossing our path.

Jacklines are run - we tether our harnesses to these so we can't go overboard and get separated from the boat.

5:30- starting to think about a very simple dinner.

Our approach to Mona Island at the half-way point of the open water passage.

6:30- Mona Island now visible in the distance.

The last of the sun over the horizon.

No idea what time it was - just needed to eat... Stew and a bagel went down well, and thankfully stayed down.

It was about 9pm when we were directly south of Mona Island.

The moon rose behind us and the clouds finally started breaking up around midnight.

With alternating watches through the night I went down to sleep and apparently so did the camera.

There was a bit of excitement over night on the radio as a freighter bound for Jamaica was turned around by the coast guard just before Dominican waters (we crossed the boundary around 1am). The coast guard then got on the radio and requested a tanker and a cruise ship to alter course to maintain at least 2 miles distance from the ship they were escorting. We remained on our course as they maneuvered around us and were thankful that with our AIS we knew they could see us, our course and our speed. In the dark, watching a large cruise ship approach and knowing that they would pass just under a mile in front of us was a little nerve wracking but it was all executed to plan.

Right on time at about 5am we arrived at the DR coast, rounded Saona Island and learned firsthand just how poorly the area is charted. Our charts all show the area as having 400'-500' depths south of the island but as the depth suddenly came up to 30', 20' and then less than 15' we made a quick turn away from shore and out to deeper waters. We will be taking extreme care not to trust our charts, that's for sure. We later had a chat with another cruiser who has spent over a month on the south coast and in all that time has been completely unsuccessful in obtaining any good charts of the area.

As we pointed our bows north to head up Bahia Bayahibe, the winds finally came along as well and we had an absolutely perfect sail - beam reach up to 7 knots with lovely flat waters.

The morning parade of day sailers going from Bayahibe to Saona Island. Glad we stayed off-shore and off the 'highway'.

We're quite excited to cruise through this lesser (sailboat) travelled area but firstly we have a group of six friends from back home in Ottawa who will be staying here for a week. Looks like it is going to be a great spot.

A sneak peak at the Dreams resort.

A sneak peak at the Dreams resort.

The Dominican Republic is an interesting place with respect to customs and immigration. We have read and heard horror stories from people who have been "requested" to pay extra on top of the normal fees and situations where it has taken days to get properly checked in. Rumour and speculation abound and it is very difficult to get accurate and complete information since so many different agencies are involved.

We decided to simplify our experience and opted to check in through the services of a marina. Casa de Campo is just that - the largest marina on the south coast of the DR and attached to a massive resort community consisting of hundreds of condos and not one but four golf courses. They even have a helipad and a polo field - where polo actually gets played, really, we saw the sign with the time for today's game! The docks are solid and wide, to accommodate the golf carts that whip back and forth and for every sailboat there are probably 50 huge sport fishing boats. Twenty-three hours after leaving Puerto Rico, we were greeted by Felix who handed over our paperwork and then a cart with all the officials arrived: customs, immigration, port authority, navy & the sanitation man (we have international garbage). By the time we were finished we had parted with $170 in official fees, $10 for the customs officer's "lunch", but that was it. They did a cursory inspection of the boat but didn't go through and remove any of our food and were gone within the hour. All in all much smoother than we expected.

Our home on the dock.

Sun sets on another day, but this one presages a good night's sleep.

Our plan is to stay on the dock for two nights while we sort out our arrangements for the next week, and also investigate the possibility of getting the bottom of the boat painted while here. For now, we're both just ready for an early night.