February 15, 2019
We finally found a three day weather window, not perfect but doable and left Oceanworld Marina near Puerto Plata on the 13th at 5pm. The idea is that the winds coming down off the mountains in the evening help flatten the seas but the jury is still out as to whether it made any difference at all. We probably would have been better to leave at about 10pm but we needed to clear the marina by 6 at the latest and the dockworkers leave at 5.
Friends we met during our stay at the Marina came to see us off as we were taking on diesel in the afternoon. Secretly they all thought we were crazy but wished us well and we’ve all promised to see each other again down the line. We checked out with the local officials who didn’t want to leave the boat until we offered them beers. Then of course they came back right before we left with an additional “fee” that we needed to pay. As they left the boat they could be seen divvying up the “fee” between the three of them but at least we could leave. The DR, unlike The Bahamas, is very regimented. You can’t just pull in and anchor anywhere. No matter where you stop, you WILL be met by the Navy and others to make sure you have proper paperwork and pay all necessary, and even some unnecessary, fees.
After being under way for several hours we thought our new friends might just be right. We were facing 5-6′ swells and the wind picked up and things got a little hectic. It’s one thing to be in waves when you can see them coming, a totally different animal when it’s dark and you can’t anticipate where they are coming from or when the front of the boat will be lifted into the air and slammed back down again. At one point I woke up and thought I was inside a washing machine. Not a great feeling but a good test of the stuegeron that we purchased in DR.
Gary and I took turns at the helm all during the night with 2-3 hour shifts and caught sleep where we could. Even tho we’d taken care to put away items that could fall or move inside the boat we still had to respond to several “crashes” during the night. Things that have never moved an inch were tossed on the floor. Nothing broken and the flying coffee maker missed Isabella so everything turned out okay.
After 14 hours we pulled into an anchorage in Samana Bay for a 4 hour break to rest and put everything back together. Of course as soon as we anchored we were visited by the local Navy representative with a customs & immigration fellow and a “barely able to understand English” interpreter. I think they were disappointed to discover we had the appropriate paperwork and were only staying for a couple hours.
By 11am we were on our way again on a circuitous route to Puerto Rico that would take 19 more hours. Samana Bay is a humpback whale preserve and whale watching is a very big thing from Jan 1 thru March 15th. As we left we could see the boats in the distance just floating with whales near them. For almost an hour we were treated to whales popping up in front of us, sending water in the air from their blowholes. One actually breached and another flipped his tail at us. A really nice window in an otherwise long and hard slog.
A couple observations about traveling at night.
– I thought the blackness of the night would bother me as I’m pretty claustrophobic, but that wasn’t the case. We had a half moon and brilliant stars for ambiance. We turned on the outside lights as well as our navigation lights so we were pretty lit up but being up on the flybridge you really didn’t see it. We just wanted to make sure anyone else out there saw us.
-Traveling at night means you miss the scenery. I know we passed some major towns as well as beautiful mountainous areas but all I could see were occasional lights. It reminded me of traveling through the Alps years ago on a sleeper train car. We got where we were going but missed the view!
-The only thing quiet about a night crossing on a trawler is the radio. Between the engines, crashing waves and things crashing inside the boat it gets noisy. The radio on the other hand, is eerily quiet. We only saw two other vessels over a two night period. Both of them were big freighters and no one was chatty.
-At our ages, getting 2-3 hours of sleep at a time really wears us down. I had a headache for most of the trip. We’re taking a day today just to relax, nap and generally recuperate.
I think in future unless we can’t avoid it (long crossing) we’ll travel during the day. After all, we’re retired and shouldn’t have to hurry to get anywhere!
We’ll spend the next few days traveling the south coast of Puerto Rico and make our way to the Yacht Club at Palmas del Mar where we’ll be docked for a couple weeks while Gary flies home for medical appointments and to visit. I’ll stay on the boat with Isabella as someone has to feed and care for the princess! I’ll see everyone at home on our next trip back.