Puerto Patillas

We started the day with a plan to head just to Ponce. We would lay over for a couple of days in the marina, rent a car, reprovision and tour a little bit. Then Dave called us on the radio with an alternate plan. There was a little weather heading in on Saturday night and what did we think of doing a big day today, skipping Ponce altogether, anchor for the night then head to Palmas Del Mar in the morning?
We checked it out on the charts and quickly agreed that this looked like a good idea. The marina had really good reviews and had slips for only $1 per foot. We had great weather so why not? Our plans are very flexible and we're up for just about anything. We motor sailed and watched the mountains glide by for most of the day.
The captain prepared us a wonderful lunch of California rolls, which I am now going to refer to as Blue Moose rolls. Their filling totally depends on what is in the fridge on that particular day. Rice, of course, maybe some mango, or avocado, red peppers and perhaps some ham. Accompanied by an icy cold Canada Dry ginger ale. I'm spoiled.

As usual Brian had the fishing rod rigged and ready. What will we catch today? A tuna would be awesome.

This is the Mahi Magnet (my pick)

And this is (was) Brian's favorite. Some fish is no doubt sporting it as a lip ring

And this is a trolling plate to take the lure down deep where the big guys hang out

The Mahi magnet has been very successful. it may be the pink colour or it may be the holes in it's head that make bubbles as it's towed along. The silver spoon has also worked well. That's the one we (OK Brian) caught the snapper on.
After a few lure changes we had a "FISH ON!" We had to consult our fish charts and books for a species check and still aren't totally sure. We first thought it was a Wahoo, but it isn't blue enough so it may be some type of Mackerel. It did have an impressive mouthful of teeth. To keep the blood and guts to a minimum in the cockpit Brian cleaned it on the deck. I watched rivers of gore run down the deck and out through the toerail. A few buckets of seawater and a scrub brush later and good as new.

With the fish in the freezer we continued on and watched the scenery.

A call from Banyan came in "whale just off our starboard". A few minutes later, there it was right beside us. Every few minutes blowing a spout of water up in the air. I googled it to find out what kind of whales they might be, and it looks like they are humpbacks. I think it's a good thing that I googled it after the fact because humpbacks grown to 50 feet and 50 thousand pounds. That's 9 feet longer and twice the weight of our boat. A little scary, don't you think?
A short time later another one appeared off our port side, but closer. I believe Brian said at this moment "Sally! Holy S%#*, it's coming right at us! We have to get out of the way. So....who has the right of way? A mama humpback whale and her baby or a sailboat under power? I don't believe this was covered in any of our training. Ah ha! I know. She was restricted because she had her baby with her and it couldn't swim as fast as her, so she has the right of way. I'm quite sure she heard us and thankfully altered course. It was pretty exciting though.

watch the video here 

Celilo opted to stop before us because they were running low on fuel. They would catch up to us in the morning. Banyan and Blue Moose continued on to our nice little anchorage in Puerto Patillas where we were settled by early afternoon. A wifi signal, nice shelter, a short hop tomorrow, perfect! An hour later, out on the horizon we saw a sailboat approaching. Celilo must have had a power refueling because they had caught up to us. The trio was together once more.
The three of us were anchored in a triangle a nice comfortable distance apart when another sailboat entered the bay and proceeded to head directly at us. We watched, a little curious. Yes, it looked like....are you kidding me? He was trying to anchor right smack in the middle of us. One attempt, and they pulled the anchor up with a big clump of grass. Second attempt, same thing. Brian called over and politely told them that we were leaving at first light and that he was parked right over our chain. They pulled the anchor and tried again...and again. Celilo called over and suggested that maybe behind us might be a good place. They tried that a couple of times with no success and then came back in the middle once more. This is a very big bay with lots of room for 50 boats. Why right on top of us? It must have been the disapproving looks we gave them, but they decided this wasn't a very friendly place and were soon seen heading around the corner.
Dinner.... Yes, food again! was steak...and baked potatoes...and sour cream...and carrots...and sautéed mushrooms aboard Banyan. Oh yum! We haven't had a steak since Florida. It was delicious.

Posted with Blogsy

The Bio Bay and Gilligan's Island

We all decided that a tour of the bioluminescent bay was a must see. For $6 we would go in the Johnny boat. Even better, they would pick us up at our boat! So Alex, Dave, Roberta and Michael came for dinner on Blue Moose first. We had breaded Mutton Snapper, cauliflower au gratin, pound cake with rum, coconut, banana and chocolate and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Oh yum!

The bio tour was supposed to start at 7:30 so we started scanning the dock with binoculars. There didn't seem to be much happening there. Finally we spotted not one, but two boats approaching us. They pulled up alongside and we all piled in. We zigzagged in the dark through the mangroves to the secret bay and our boat stopped beside the other one. Then our captain stripped off his shirt and jumped into the water. As he swam between the boats we could see his hands glowing with bioluminescence. He then said we could jump in too. Dave and Michael and a few of the other passengers did and they actually glowed even more. But, you know...that dark water thing. Nah!

It was worth the price of admission but I was a little disappointed. We had seen a better display off the bows of our own boats while sailing at night.

 

How could we sail right past Gilligan's Island and not stop by? The real Gilligan's Island? We don't know but it was worth checking out.

This looks like a nice resort

Once anchored, we took off for a tour of the island. It took about 15 minutes. There were lots of picnic tables and bar-b-ques and people lounging in the shallows under umbrellas. There wasn't a whole lot to explore because the path ended very quickly.

 

Next we headed to the mainland to see what we could find. Fishing boats bobbing at the shore. A mama dog with a litter of sleeping puppies. A ferry dock and restaurant looking out over the island and barely a person in sight. It would have been perfect except it lacked one main menu item. Beer.

 

 

We continued up the road towards the resort hoping for a cool down. Here we found the Copa Marina Resort & Spa. It had beautiful grounds, a nice pool and most importantly a wonderful open air restaurant. The food took some time to get, but we're fine with that. A very pretty young waitress made sure we had everything we needed.

A somewhat lazy afternoon on our boats and then we dined aboard Celilo. roberta made Mahi Alfredo. Delicious! How many ways can you prepare fish? Lots. almost every day of the week. It's good for you, it's fresh and it's free. It sounds like all we do is eat, but we have really had some amazing galley creations. We can't be eating that much because we're both still much lighter than we were.

An early evening, hoist the dinghy onto the davits and get ready to leave at first light tomorrow. We are looking forward to a marina night with long showers, some land excursions and water to wash the Moose.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Down time

What a refreshing change it was to wake up after about 10 hours of much needed snooze time and feel....nothing. No swell. What did we hear? Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. There was a dog barking somewhere in the distance on shore. Oh, and roosters. That, to me is a happy island sound even if they do start before dawn.

We sat in the cockpit enjoying our coffee and admiring the views of the town. Up on a hill what I first thought were rocks were actually cows. Well, I think they are cows because they started moving. I think they must be built with shorter legs on one side because those hills are really steep.

There are only 5 sailboats anchored here right now. It seems funny that 3 of them are Canadian. The only thing to interrupt the quiet is the occasional fishing or dive boat.

A walk through town looked like a good idea so we all headed to the town dock. As far as docks go here it looked like a very well maintained one. No broken boards and lots of space. Fat chance. This was the dock for the dive charters. The publics dock was a little 10x10 platform on shore and a couple of plastic pilings out in the water. Not to worry, we are inventive. We rafted the 3 dingies together, locked one to another and waded through the water to shore. I did this really fast because there was a biggish crab scrambling along the bottom and I have this thing about the things in the water biting my toes. Don't laugh!

La Parguera is a small fishing village. It was mostly deserted as we walked through a residential area. A couple of stores and restaurants, dogs sleeping in the shade and chickens running in the yards.

Bougainvillea everywhere

 

Ah ha! It was you who woke me up this morning.

We stopped at a local restaurant for a snack. Somebody was thinking because we were also able to get the password for their wifi. Although we used it while eating lunch we also took it back to the boats and have been using it ever since. What a great idea.

The grocery store had just about everything we needed. It was about the size of a convenience store at home, but had a small selection of fruits and veggies, milk, eggs, bread, and ice. Our stores of snack foods (crackers, tortilla chips etc.) are running low. The prices were quite reasonable especially compared to the Bahamas where $7 is not unusual for a jug of juice.

The loading of the groceries

We enjoyed happy hour, nachos, California rolls and good company aboard Banyan and made plans for our next adventures.

Today? We were thinking about a trip to the bioluminescent bay tonight. We could dingy there, but it's about 2 miles coming back in the dark. Or...they offer a trip for $6. Maybe for an extra buck or two they would pick us up from the boat. Hmmmm.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Mayaguez, Boqueron and La Parguera

After clearing customs, we took a walk into town to activate our cell phones. Walking along a fairly busy road we came across several skinny horses. Some were tied up and others just walking free.

We soon came to an AT&T store and got cell service but not wifi. Just like being back in the US we now have unlimited calling within Puerto Rico and the US, and 250 minutes to Canada for another $10.

Time to eat. The closest place was McDonald's so that's where we went. I have been craving ice cream since Florida was satisfied with a Snickers McFlurry. Not real ice cream I know but it did the trick.

Once back at the boats we got ready to leave and get away from that ocean swell. We were in Boqueron in no time at all. It's a small town with a few restaurants, a marina and some beach cottages. There were a few boats anchored here. Some, cruisers like us and others which looked like they been there for a long time. There was a catamaran anchored behind us with long trails of growth hanging off it's hull and some kind of vegetation growing up around it's mast.

After a short walk around town we headed for Galloway's, a cruiser friendly restaurant and bar. The 6 of us were joined by another couple who had sailed from England. 21 days at sea does not sound like something I would enjoy. I'm quite happy with the little island hops that lie ahead of us now. We had dinner, a couple of drinks and shared stories. The restaurant is built right on the edge of the water so each time a big swell came in it almost swamped the floor of the restaurant. Another early night hoping for a good night's sleep.

We did a walk through town the next day. There were crowds of mostly locals walking through the assortment of street vendors who were selling oysters, fried tortillas, beer ans souvenirs. We came upon a little open air bar which looked inviting so stopped in for a little refreshment to cool us down. We had an amazing mohito garnished with a stick of sugar cane. Delicious! It was hard not to drink it all in one gulp.

 

A short stroll later we spotted a sign for 40 cent wings. Too good to pass up so in we went. Im pretty sure they had to go out and find the chickens because it took a long time but it was worth the wait. They were really good. We don't eat like this often, so when we do it's a treat.

A little bit of shopping later and we headed back to our boats hoping to catch up on some much needed sleep. Once back on the boat we found the cockpit full of sooty black ashes. We think it was coming from a fire burning up in the hills and blowing down on us. It sure made a mess of the boat.

As Brian and I watched a movie we thought the swell had settled down. Not so lucky. As I lay in bed I counted the number of waves. 11 big rocks in a row, then a break for about 30 seconds. Another looooong night.

Yesterday morning we made a group decision to head around to the south coast. It was only 18 miles and we could also find a grocery store there.

We had a nice leisurely sail with some pretty scenery. Brian, never one to pass up an opportunity got out his fishing rod. He did a couple of strategic tackle changes. Then, FISH ON!

After consulting our fish identification guides we're pretty sure this one is a Mutton Snapper. A big one too! We (OK Brian) has had some great luck with fish. We sure won't go hungry and Cricket likes a little of the fresh variety too.

We wound our way between the cayos and anchored just off the village of La Parguera. The water is beautiful and clear and flat. There are a few other boats anchored and a couple of fishing boats zipping about. This is more of what I expected it to be like in Puerto Rico.

 

Posted with Blogsy

On to Puerto Rico

Yesterday morning I was awake early. Que Sera Sera was planning on pulling out at 6. They paid the officials to come in early. It's too bad we couldn't have gotten a group rate for all three boats. I kept checking to see if they needed a hand with lines but the last time I checked they were gone and all I could see was their mast heading out the channel.

Brian and Dave headed over to the office to be there when they opened at 8. Soon the boys were back and we waited... Brian told us that the DEA official was not looking very well this morning. It may have had something to do with that case of beer. And we waited and waited and waited some more for the Navy to give us our dispatchio, check the boat to make sure we weren't smuggling out any illegal aliens and take our $20. They finally arrived and never stepped foot on the boat. They did however take the $20 and we didn't get any kind of receipt or paperwork. I wonder where that money went.

Cricket checking out the marina

We cast the lines and were heading out the channel. There was barely a breath of wind. Brian got ready to hoist our main sail, I turned the boat into the wind and throttled down......and the engine stalled. Not good, not good at all. We tried over and over again to start it with no luck. Sailing along at a blistering .7 knots We were both really starting to panic. Brian started by changing the fuel filter in the water separating unit. He did see traces of water and deposits in it. Nothing. Then he changed the primary fuel filter with the same results. At this point we though we were going to have to get towed back into the marina and Dave and Alex would be going on without us. Next Brian checked out the fuel pump to see if any fuel was getting through, and there wasn't. He took it out and installed a new one, ran a temporary wire to it, bled the system and.....bingo! All of this took him 25 minutes. Well, that and about a gallon of sweat.

I am so glad the captain is such a resourceful guy. He never gives up. We're not sure if we picked up some bad fuel or where it might have been from. We do remember emptying the Jerry cans which we had filled in Georgetown into the tank and the fuel looked brown. Maybe that was it.

We revved her up and took off, hot on the trail of Banyan who had just been putted along and waiting for us and hoping for a happy ending to our engine problem. Soon we were heading east along the coast of The Dominican Republic.

This is a big island. The mountains stretch for as far as you can see in both directions. Nice day, light winds, and the sun was shining. 228 miles. This is going to be our longest passage ever.

Banyan flying her spinnaker

In the early afternoon we got a call on the radio from Dave. They were picking up wifi from a hotel on the coast about 3 miles out. I immediately connected, checked our emails, update Facebook and had a chat with Peter who lives in England, but who we met in the DR a few years ago. Isn't technology wonderful?

Peter told me to watch for the Humpback whales near Samana. As we got close, there they were. A few miles off we could see their tails and spouts of water. Just before dawn we had another one surface within about 100 feet of the boat. Another thrill.

The sail across the Mona Passage was easy going. It would have been better if the autopilot had been working. Hand steering for over 200 miles is physically demanding. We can both feel all our muscles complaining now.

We had a pod of little speckled dolphins following us, and then a pod of bigger dolphins racing along our bow. That was enough to give me a second wind. I forgot all about how tired I had been a few minutes before.

In the middle of the passage sits Isla Desecheo. It appeared on the horizon like a big bump in the middle of nowhere. As we came close we could see the shoreline. It was rough and ragged and didn't look like you could land a boat there.

We then heard on the radio a call from the US Coast Guard hailing a Canadian sailing vessel with blue trim. Who, us? Where they came from I don't know, but they were right behind us. We were asked to provide all our documentation, last port of call, destination and such. They then asked if we were with the sailing vessel ahead of us and asked the boat's name. Bravo, Alpha.........(crap, what's N) as I'm trying to go through the alphabet....OK, sorry...Bravo, Alpha, umm, N, Yankee, Alpha, umm, umm, N. it's funny now!

As we passed Isla Desecheo we started to get more wind and bigger swells. At one point we hit our all time top speed, 10 knots. We were flying! Puerto Rico was on the horizon. Just a few more hours.

It always seems that the last few miles seems to take the longest. As we approached Mayaguez it was already dark. We could see lights all along the coast and could smell what we thought was wood smoke. We turned on the radar so we could see any other boats, but the only thing we were picking up was Banyan 3/4 ahead of us. We dropped our sails just before the channel markers into the harbour and made our way close to shore.

We got the anchor down and tried to call customs and immigration without luck. We then called the Coast Guard to announce our arrival. They called into customs for us and told us to check in first thing in the morning. We fell into bed, well I guess we did but I don't remember doing it.

I heard and felt nothing until 5:30 when the ocean swell became too much to sleep through. We got up, made coffee and waited for customs.

Checking in was very easy once we found the office. We had to climb about 6 feet up transport tires onto the concrete pier. So much for being clean and respectable, we were covered in black guck from the tires. Once inside the customs office everything was easy. The officials were friendly and gave us lots of ideas of where to go and what to see. We were cleared into Puerto Rico.

1 week, 666 miles and 3 countries!

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

A stop in The DR

We arrived at Ocean World marina on March 5th. As we approached the scenery was beautiful with mountains and lush greenery. It was surprising how long it seemed to take to get into the harbour. What looked like a couple of miles was in fact over 12 and we were more than ready to stop.

We first headed for the fuel dock to fill the diesel and clear customs. The officials arrived and they included a representative from the marina who also did the translations, navy intelligence, Dominican drug enforcement and immigration. Daniel, the dockmaster was very nice and and spoke excellent English. The navy official was very young and dressed in fatigues. He spent his time drumming on our wheel. The immigration official was even young as well. Probably about 25. He thought it was funny that we had a "cato" aboard and he kept meowing. The DEA had a badge around his neck. Whether it was real or not who knows. We filled out the paperwork and they asked us a few questions about what we were bringing into the country. They never went below but did ask what were in all the boxes. Brian explained that that was our beer stores. All of them immediately said "ahhhh cerveza!". Brian asked them if they liked cerveza which of course they did. I was starting to worry he was going to bribe the officials, which he did. Daniel told us they would like to try some of our beer when they got home from work of course, so Brian brought out the 5 cold beers we had in the fridge. They readily accepted it along with a case of Natural Ice which was coming close to it's expiry date. 2520 pesos later (or about 63 dollars) our passports were stamped, we had cleared customs and were directed to our dock space in between Banyan and Que Sera Sera. Time for a big rest.

The marina is quite nice although it seems mostly deserted. The slip fees were $1.66 a foot which was reasonable and this was our first marina since Bimini. They offer wifi (yay!), a water park which we saw from a distance, a restaurant and dinner theatre, and laundry. There is a strong surge and this combined with concrete docks can chafe your lines very quickly. The docks are also very high which creates quite a challenge for us short legged people when getting into and out of the boat. Not a complaint, just an observation. We were quite happy to be on a dock for a couple of days. After a cocktail and a snack we were out like a light.

Yesterday morning we shared breakfast and a mimosa with Alex and Dave and then Brian and Dave did a few boat chores and Alex and I headed for the laundry. The laundry room in the marina is for guest use and hotel use. There was an employee working there who told us to go to the office for laundry tokens. Once there we were asked if we were doing our own at $3 for a wash and $3 for a dry, or they would do it for $5. We each had 3 loads and we didn't want to spend $30. Back in the laundry we found that our clothes had already been sorted and the mark in my jacket from a melted Halls was being treated in the sink. The laundry worker continued to wash, dry, fold and load our clothes into our bags. Wow! We both gave him a $5 tip.

Once back at the boat with our fresh sheets and clothes we decided to go and explore. There was a beach a few minutes down the road where we enjoyed a mohito, chicken wings and the company of the bartender. There were tourists tubing and swimming and sightseeing helicopters buzzing the beach. Brian showed the bartender how to cut and fiberglas a conch shell and how to blow it. He seemed very excited at a possible new way to make some money.

We then walked through a big resort. Same old story, pretend you know where you're going and nobody questions you. There were VIP golf carts zipping people here and there. Salons, restaurants, spas, the whole shebang. Very clean and nicely maintained. It was very hilly and we were getting really hot so decided to head back, pay our bill and go for a dip in the pool before dinner.

Not quite so easy. We had hoped to leave at first light in order to make it to Mayaguez by dark on Saturday. We had to receive our dispatchio papers before we could clear out and the officials would not be arriving until 8am. We could however pay them each $15 extra to come to work early. No, we would settle for leaving a little later in the morning. We ended the day instead with a cocktail party for 8 aboard Que Sera Sera.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Beyond The Bahamas

As I write this we are 33 miles from The Dominican Republic and we can see the mountains through the rain in the distance.

This trip started on Friday. We were up bright and early, had the anchor up and were waving goodbye to our friends on Majiks and Moonshadow before 7:30. It's sad to say goodbye because have had such fun times together, but we promised to meet up again somewhere down the road.

We left the harbour with hardly a breeze and flat seas. Since we were motoring anyway Brian brought out the fishing rods. Pretty soon one rod went zing, then the other right away. Two fish at once! The water here was a couple of hundred feet deep and brilliant blue. As we brought the fish in it started a feeding frenzy. There were hundreds of Mahi Mahi jumping and swimming all around the boat. This was exciting! While I waited for Brian to land his fish I tried to hold onto mine. Other bigger ones, (4 footers) kept attacking it! You could see down about 30 feet and the blue and green of their skin flashed in the sunlight.

Once we had them both in the boat we threw the lines out again. We each caught another one. Brian lost his but coached me "keep the rod up" "reel, reel, reel!" I reeled so hard I wore the skin off my finger.

I used to love to fish with my Dad when I was little, but none of that touching worms stuff or taking the hook out. That was somebody else's job. I can't believe I picked both of these up!

We radioed to our buddy boats that we had dinner for all. Within seconds, a fishing boat who had been eavesdropping on our conversation (like we all do) called to ask where we caught them. We willingly gave him our coordinates and he was there in a few minutes.

So while I steered the boat while crouched on the seat Brian proceeded to clean the fish on the floor of the cockpit. It's really the easiest place to do it and all the blood just gets washed down the scuppers. He's very good at it which is fortunate because I wouldn't have a clue. The fish was all packaged up in Ziplock bags in the fridge, the carcasses went over the side and we washed the cockpit down with buckets of sea water. Good as new.

We got a few squalls later that morning, but that's fine because The Moose got a much needed fresh water rinse.

As we rounded the northern tip of Long Island Brian and I spotted something. A whale! I'm not sure how big it was, maybe 20 or 25 feet I think. I had no idea there were whales here. It made me think of a meeting we went to for cruisers planning on going south. We were listening to one cruiser who had been all over the Caribbean tell us (in his French accent) that you might run into a whale, but not to worry because it wouldn't sink your boat too much. Exactly how much is too much? Something else to keep in mind. Don't run into a whale.

Now we were heading southeast and it was a little bumpy. All day and all night and all the next day. Brian and I have never really gotten the hang of 3 hour watches. Neither one of us really sleeps so it makes for a looooong night. Brian put in a request for chili for dinner. That wasn't really the best idea because I had to do it one handed. With the boat rocking and rolling, anything that wasn't secured slid all over the place. I had to hold the pot on the stove the whole time it cooked. If there is a way to open a can with one hand, I haven't figured it out.

The sun went down in a big ball of orange and a few hours later the most incredible moon came up in a bigger ball of orange.

The great thing about not being the lead boat was that we could follow Banyan's navigation lights all night. We were happy to see daylight the next morning.

 

Brian decided to throw out the fishing rod again the next afternoon and guess what?Another Mahi! A big bull. I steered the boat around in circles while Brian tried to tame him. He told me to gaff it. Me? Really? I did, after a few failed attempts but without even thinking about it. Where did this killer instinct come from?

We arrived at Mayaguana about 4 the next afternoon. It's a tricky spot to get into so I stood on the bow with the handheld VHF radio watching for coral heads as we slowly made our way in. Our charts were quite accurate and we didn't have any surprises. Coral isn't quite as forgiving as sand on the bottom of the boat.

Because there was a big blow predicted for the night our plan was to spend another night here too.

After a shower, a drink and a feast of Mahi, we were in bed by 7.

The next morning was a little grey and cloudy so we all spent the day on our respective boats catching up. Brian cooked some chicken and I made cookies and bread for he next few days of traveling.

As we looked down into the water it appeared like it was about 3 feet deep but was actually over 9. There were starfish everywhere.

Although the wind had calmed considerably we had a nasty swell for most of the night. That sideways rock get me every time. It throws me off balance and makes me bump into things more than usual. It also meant a bad night's sleep. Not a good thing with another big passage to start tomorrow.

The next morning we started off again with a few possible destination options depending on the weather report that would be coming in later. Once we received this we decided to shoot for the Dominican Republic. This meant another day and night and day.

The seas were about 3 meters, but sideways and really rolly. While neither one of us gets seasick this did make me feel kind of dizzy. I hung onto everything with a death grip each time I moved around until they calmed down. By late afternoon we were 2 miles off West Caicos. We would have loved to have stopped here because the snorkeling is said to be spectacular but we'll have to catch it on the return trip.

Usually thee isn't anything to see in the water. Today there were Jellyfish. At first we thought they were plastic bags. There was garbage as well. Discarded fishing nets and I saw lots of square things floating by. I'm pretty sure nothing in nature is square shaped. The best thing happened after it got dark. Phosphorescence! As the boat cut through the water it disturbed all the little whatever they are's and made them glow. We had a trail of them for hours. Very pretty!

This night was a little better than the first. If the wind could just make up its mind if it was coming from the west or the north. We had our main rigged with a preventer to stop it from slamming around as the wind changed by just a few degrees. We were making really good time.

I don't like sailing at night much. I find looking from the bright instruments to the view ahead really hard on my eyes. Brian needed a snooze and I took my watch. The autopilot was working perfectly. I scan the wind speed and direction, our course, the radar and look around. The autopilot steers us a liitle to the left, a little to the right. Life is good. No problem. All I need to do is supervise. In about as much time as took for Brian to relax into a dead sleep, the autopilot had a hiccup. it took a took a hard left and the Moose was heading for the barn. Since Brian was lying on top of the autopilot control I had to yell at him to help. Not the most pleasant way to wake up. Now I don't trust it.

So here we are just approaching Ocean World Marina. Wow! We sailed to the Dominican Republic. It's hard to believe.

 

 

What a difference from the Bahamas. mountains, green and lush and stretching for as far as you can see.

It's too bad we can't stay longer, but the winds and seas are being nice so we are heading for Puerto Rico in the morning. 2 days and a night. Then we'll slow down. Promise.

 

Posted with Blogsy