The Crossing to the Dominican Republic
Well we made it to the Southern most Island of the Bahamas, Great Inagua, where we anchored just outside the government basin in the early evening and a dingy ride to the dock for a Gypsy walk and to explore a bit. Didn’t take long for word to get out some new folks had arrived and next thing you know we have five new best friends. Just lovely people, friendly and helpful. We bought a few trinkets at a pop-up street side gift store (popped up just for us I suspect) and walked along the main road for while, well until the mosquitos threatened to carry us off. Hint: the natural organic bug sprays are like candy for these critters. Only an agent orange quality cancer blooming salve, slathered on 1” thick will keep them at bay.
The next morning after a dog run on the beach, I called customs who promptly met me at the dock and drove to their office , conveniently collocated with the islands only liquor store, for a quick and easy check out from the Bahamas. This marks the first time we’ve been this far South in Moonfleet and leaving the familiarity of a country we know well….adventure! We promptly raised the flopper stoppers, a clever device used to reduce the rolling of our boat while at anchor, and stowed the dingy on the upper deck for the 168nm passage to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, an approximately 24 hour trek. We chose to leave around noon to ensure we didn't arrive to close to the DR coastline in the dark as many hazards are not charted well.
Once underway we established a 4 hour on 4 hour off helm watch routine that would commence at 2000 (8pm for you sillyvillans) with me taking the 2000-0000, Kirsten 0000-0400 and me resuming the helm for the remainder of the passage from 0400 onwards. as the sunset and the darkness grew it became clear this would be a really, really dark evening, with overcast skies and no moon. Despite the eery, quiet isolation with no land in sight our dual Furuno RADAR and AIS (Automatic Identification System) provides a detection ring around Moonfleet allowing us to have advanced notice of any shipping or other hazards.
With my shift over, Kirsten assumed duties as the helmsman (helmswoman?) and and I converted the Wheelhouse settee into a berth so I could sleep, but also be readily available if she needed assistance. We’ve established Cap’n orders which requires the helmsman to wake me up for any contact with a CPA (Closest Point of Approach) of less than 3nm. CPA is calculated automatically by the RADAR and AIS making this an easy task, however all contacts must be identitied and confirmed visually using the standards set by the COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) night lighting standards. As it turns out my shift was uneventful, boring really, so I laid down to catch my four hours of sleep.… ha! Unfortunately Kirsten had the luck to be faced with multiple cruise and merchant ships randomly (to us anyway) converging on our future position and she did a great job of maneuvering appropriately and only needed to wake me up twice which was exactly the right thing to do. Well done mate (Honey)!
Finally at 0609 another beautiful sunrise and the spotting of land! Always a welcome sight for sailors at sea.
Another 6 hours and we were docked at a really nice resort marina near Puerto Plata called Ocean World Marina, in very good shape, solid docks, resturant and nice facilities. We were excited to have a respite from 18 days of moving each day and to explore a bit of a country neither of us had ever visited. The check into customs was pretty easy but the DR is unique as they have a Naval Command at every port of entry and visitors are required to check in with them as well. Turns out they wanted to inspect Moonfleet so I escorted them aboard and conducted a thorough walk through. By the time it was over we were all friends and shook hands as they departed.
We will stay till Saturday the 22nd enroute Samana where we will tie up at another Marina for a few days working our way to the East coast to stage for the Mona Passage crossing to Puerto Rico. More later…
Thanks for following,
Cap’n SF sends
