Dominican Republic – Monte Cristi

 We checked into the DR at Monte Cristi, a small town in the northwestern corner of the country, close to the border with Haiti.  Unfortunately, our experience here was marred by the unexpected “fees” charged by the local Commandante of the Marina de Guerra (coast guard).  He actually held onto our boat documentation until we paid him, much to our dismay and the disgust of the local woman who was translating for us.  However, everyone else we met was delightful.  The translator, Soraya, runs a small stand selling soft drinks and beer along the beach road to the town of Monte Cristi, and her husband, Santo, takes tourists out by boat to view the mangroves, or go to some of the nearby islands.  They were incredibly helpful and nice.  Another nice young man was Isael, who was “assigned” to take us around on the local mode of transportation, the motor concho, which is a small scooter.  It was cozy with the three of us (Isael, Anne, and Chris) squished on the seat, but we saw up to five people (an adult driver and four school girls) on one.  And it turns out that Isael is a member of the marine police.  We found this out in an odd way.  I thought it was his cell phone tucked into the back of his pants that was jabbing me in the stomach when we were on the motor concho, but it turned out it was the butt of his pistol.  We certainly felt safe with him!  Isael spoke not a word of English, and we speak little Spanish, but between hand signals and my little dictionario, we got along well.  We were unsure why he had been assigned to us, since this is a tourist area and we didn’t feel unsafe when we were out and about on our own.  Everyone said “Hola!” (hi in Spanish), and one day we got a jovial ribbing by a bunch of guys enjoying a beer at an outdoor bar when they saw us walking by carrying a carton of 30 eggs (they cost 95 pesos, or about $2.50, and we couldn’t pass up the bargain – omelets for everyone!), and they shouted “Huevos!  Muchos huevos!” (Eggs!  Many eggs!).  We climbed El Morro, a cool-looking mountain that descends in cliffs to the water, and had terrific views, though the steps haven't been tended to for quite a while, making for some tricky climbing in areas.

 

An Incredible Passage and A Milestone

Sunrise over the mountains of the Dominican Republic

Steering for El Morro

Sometimes, everything goes right.  We left the Turks and Caicos at 11:00 am on Valentine’s Day, turned off the engine once we were out of the anchorage, and had the most delightful sail to the Dominican Republic.  At dawn I thought I saw dark clouds on the horizon, beneath the pink-tinged clouds overhead, but it was mountains!  The Bahamas are so flat, we’d nearly forgotten what elevation looks like.  We steered for El Morro, a singular, flat-topped mountain distinct from the DR mountain chain farther east.  In the distance to the southwest we could see the even larger mountains of Haiti looming in the haze.  If only all passages were this good.  While underway, our GPS hit the 10,000 nautical mile mark, indicating our distance travelled since we began our cruise: Florida to New England, south to the Bahamas, back north to Maine, and now underway to the Caribbean.  Pretty cool.

Trip log at 10,000 nautical miles, en route to the DR

Interesting Weather on the Caicos Banks

Sun and squall

Edge of the squall line

 The day we sailed across the Caicos Banks to South Caicos, there were rain clouds just to the south of us, though we were in the sun.  We were almost to our anchorage when we passed through a small squall.  After the clouds parted, we saw a disturbance on the water that came closer and closer, and passed less than 20 feet off of our bow.  After it passed, we looked up and saw a funnel extending from the cloud above – a waterspout in the making, though it never fully resolved into a full spout.  A little freaky, it being so close, but certainly interesting.  The day ended with a beautiful sunset.

 

The disturbed water in the center is the bottom of a nascent water spout

Beautiful sunset clouds

South Side Marina, Turks and Caicos

South Side Marina docks

Chris visiting with a couple of Australian sailors

Anne's new friend, who only loves her for the BBQ'd ribs on her plate

We have another recommendation for the Turks and Caicos, in case you’re coming in a boat instead of renting a house.  We went in to the South Side Marina (http://southsidemarina-tci.com/)to spend a night and get wifi, boat fuel, and water.  Simon and his wife, Charlyn, met us at the dock, and never stopped helping us for the time we were there.  Really terrific people.  They were cruisers in the Bahamas and Caribbean, and apparently have instituted changes at the marina to attract cruisers.  So, not only do they provide fantastic marina-based service, but they also host nightly happy hours, and a weekly BBQ.  They’ll even pick you up at Sapodilla Bay if you’re anchored over there.  For the BBQ, everyone brings their own meat to grill, and a side dish to share; the marina provides the gas grill, plate and napkins and plastic ware to eat with, and ice cream with chocolate and/or caramel sauce for dessert.  We met a bunch of other cruisers, and had a wonderful evening.  In addition, Charlyn drove us to the bank, supermarket, and boat store to pick up money and supplies, then gave us a tour of the Grace Bay area, where all the resorts and condos are.  If you want to catch them, be there before May, because Simon and Charlyn have bought an 85’ barge that they’ll take through the canals of France during the summer for the next few years.  How cool is that!

Turks and Caicos Islands

An overview of Sapodilla Bay.  Mr Mac is anchored toward the left-hand side of the picture.

A typical road in the untouristy, i.e., cruiser, part of town

All righty then, it’s been a while since I’ve posted.  When last I wrote, we were approaching the Turks and Caicos Islands.  We were there several days, but not nearly enough time to actually do everything there is to do.  We anchored in Sapodilla Bay, a beautiful spot with a nice beach, and surrounded by pretty houses, many of which are available to rent.  We did some walking around; since this a bit far from town proper (read: the tourist area), the roads aren’t necessarily in the best condition, but they got us where we were going.  One day we decided to go to lunch and, thinking we were taking a shortcut, turned down a side street before we got to the main road.  A couple of miles later, a kind gentleman, Jose, offered us a ride, because our “shortcut” had taken us well beyond the resort we were heading for, and he thought we looked stressed (heat+sun+can’t find the damned restaurant=stressed indeedy).  So here’s a plug for the house that Jose’s parents own, where he is the pool guy who recognizes stress when he sees it: Aqua View Villa, 3 br 2.5 bath, waterfront (www.vrbo.com/165679).  From the pictures on the website, it looks like the house is a sure cure for stress.  We finally found the restaurant, which was in a tiny little resort with just a few smallish houses.  The restaurant was on the water, pretty, great food and service, and inexpensive – what more could you ask for!

Anne trying to decide on what to order for lunch.  Chalk Sound in the background.