Salinas, PR -- Caves and Radio Waves

Our second road trip took us up to the north central part of the island, through the Cordillera Central mountain range, to the caves at Rio de Camuy and the Observatory at Arecibo. There was no direct route from Salinas to the area, so we took twisty mountain roads that were in some places only one car width wide. Standard practice in such passes is to honk your horn repeatedly while continuing full speed ahead to let the people coming the other way know that you're not gonna back down. The scary part was that since there's no other way to go, the truckers use the roads on their routes and occasionally we'd turn a corner and see a big Mack truck bearing down on us. Also Puerto Ricans are nutjobs in general when it comes to driving their cars; we'd be coming down the road where there would room for both cars to get past each other easily IF we both moved a little to the right side of the road. Sounds reasonable, right? But no. For whatever reason, some people here just seem to enjoy playing "chicken" and making you slow down to a crawl and pull way over so that they can drive down the center (the mountain roads had no yellow lines in the middle), horns blaring all the way. So getting to the caves was a white-knuckle ride.

The Rio de Camuy caverns were pretty awe-inspiring. The tour took us down through a sinkhole over 400 feet deep, overgrown with lush jungle foliage. Then we entered the main room of the cavern through a small tunnel in the rock. There were huge formations under a massive domed cavern stretching 170 feet high -- clusters of stalactites clung to the ceiling like one of Chihuly's pointy spiral chandeliers, only made of rock instead of blown glass. And because the area gets so much rainfall, the cave is still "live" and water continues to build the formations up with the passage of time. At one of the cave entrances it's like standing under a shower nozzle (albeit with very weak water pressure); the drops come down like rain.

After a quick lunch we took more twisty back roads over to the radio telescope observatory. This is the largest single radio telescope in the world at 305 meters (1006 ft) in diameter, dwarfing the competition (the next largest in Bonn, Germany is only 100m, and the one in Charlottesville, VA a mere 42m). The dish is immense and is built right into a natural depression in the karst rock surrounded by hills. The disk part is stationary and they've worked it out so that only the Gregorian dome moves to receive the radio waves. It's quite a feat of engineering. James Bond fans will recognize it from "Goldeneye" where Pierce Brosnan is climbing all over the huge dish. When workers walk over the dish they use special snowshoe-type shoes that don't damage the aluminum panels. It would have been fun if that had been part of the tour. I would have settled for just walking out over the catwalk, but visitors only get to view it from the platform at the visitor center.

Where we are:
Location=Salinas, PR
Lat=17 57.653
Lon=66 17.549

Salinas, PR -- Rainforest Road Trip

While we're in Salinas we have rented a car to do some inland exploring around the island. Today's stop was El Yunque, the Caribbean Rain Forest in the north part of the island. (It is practically across the street from the Westin Rio Mar, so while I'm thinking about it: hello to everyone at Starwood!) El Yunque is overseen by the US Forest Service, and it's the only tropical rainforest in US jurisdiction. The Forest Service has done a lot of work putting in nice trails to all the waterfalls and interesting areas of the park. We did one of the more challenging hikes down to Mina Falls and we were rewarded with a spectacular waterfall cascading down the rock face. There was a swimming area at the base of the falls, but we had absentmindedly left our swimsuits back at the car. That was okay though, because there's a reason it's so green and called a "rainforest": it rains every day. Hard. We got doused while we were on the trail and it actually cooled us off pretty well. We hiked back up to the car and got to hear the native Coqui (ko-KEE) frogs chirp; we didn't actually see any of them though. However, we did see some other wildlife: massive iguanas. And not in the rainforest, either -- these were huge lizards hanging out by the roadside in town, walking down the sidewalks, everywhere. The first time I saw one it was starting to cross the road right in front of our car but luckily Kevin avoided it. There must be plenty more of them because there were tons of carcasses on the road that hadn't been so lucky. We even saw a schoolkid pick a live iguana up and literally throw it at a girl he was walking home with. Boys, especially at that age, are so stupid sometimes.

On the way home we hit rush hour traffic in San Juan. We were starving and the car was low on gas so we got off the freeway to look for a gas station and maybe some cheap food. As I was paying the cashier at the Shell station, I glanced out the window and saw a mall with all the typical American chain restaurants -- Chili's, Johnny Rockets, and most importantly Macaroni Grill. See, we received a generous gift certificate as a wedding gift and yet every time we've been back in the states we forget about it until we get back to the boat (neither the Bahamas nor the Dominican Republic had a Macaroni Grill, go figure). So I've been carrying this card around for a year and finally we found our chance to use it. Much better fare than McDonald's, that's for sure. Plus, while we were eating one of the other tables had a birthday and all the waiters gathered around to obnoxiously sing the chain's signature birthday chant. Judging from the birthday guy's reaction, it's just as embarrassing when they sing to you in Spanish.

Salinas, PR -- Free At Last!

So it has been a running joke between us and our friend Jim that our dinghy is the "Beast". For starters, it's usually the longest dinghy at the dock (13 feet vs most are like 8-10 ft). Secondly the outboard is 30 horsepower, while you see most other dinghies with something less than 10hp. But what really makes it a Beast is that it revs up with a huge roar and a big belch of smoke when you start it. When we first started cruising, I tried to start the damn thing and ended up hurting myself and cussing up a storm. So for the past two years Kevin and I have been kidding that I'm his "prisoner" because I can't start the outboard and go ashore by myself. So we've been joking with Jim from Adventure Bound about how we'd be willing to trade in the Beast and finally he just had me come onboard their dinghy and start it to see how easy it is to start most outboards. Piece of cake, started up no problem. Meanwhile his wife Amanda, a triathlete who is in way better shape than me, had a go at starting up the beast and had no trouble. So then of course I had to go over to our dinghy to prove that I couldn't start it, except -- I did! It took a two-handed pull, but it sputtered to life! So this morning Kevin had me try to start it cold (the "Beast" doesn't like waking up early in the morning). After 10-plus pulls, I was able to start the thing, and Kevin had me practice steering it all over the anchorage. I feel like a 16 year old who has just learned to drive!

Salinas, PR

We were up and at 'em early on Saturday morning, motoring over to Salinas. We had our mail shipped there and since it was a good couple of miles to the post office, we hauled out the bikes and took a ride down there. So far the bikes have held up pretty good for being non-marine-grade made-in-China models. They both had lot of superficial rust on the surface, but other than that they worked just fine.

As the sun set we headed over to meet up with friends on "Sol Magique", where Ginette and her husband Paul hosted a quesadilla dinner for six (Jim & Amanda from Adventure Bound, and Kevin and me). Everyone brought a little something to share and we all had a good time. By cruiser standards we were out pretty late (9:30!) and we were pretty tired out from the long day. Our guidebook says that Salinas is the cockfighting capital of Puerto Rico and we realized that this morning at 4:30 am when all the roosters in town decided to start cock-a-doodle-dooing at the same time. The sun wasn't even up yet. What a racket.

Where we are:
Location=Salinas, PR
Lat=17 57.653
Lon=66 17.549

Isla Caja de Muertos, PR

On Wednesday and Tuesday we shared a rental car with Amanda & Jim on Adventure Bound to do some provisioning and run some errands. High up on the priority list were some fast-food runs (our first since leaving the States) to Pizza Hut and Burger King. Most importantly for me was renewing my passport. Since you have to send in your current passport, I figured I'd do it while we're in Puerto Rico so that I can still fly back to the US in March using my drivers' license. Hopefully all goes as planned and we get my new passport back before we have to go to the British Virgin Islands when my dad comes to visit. I have my fingers crossed anyway.

This morning we headed over to Isla Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island - because in profile and on a map it is somewhat coffin-shaped). The water here is so clear we both jumped in with our snorkels to try to dislodge some stowaways (barnacles) that we must've picked up in the murky waters of Luperon. The hull was covered in baby ones, the big kind are harder to scrape off so we were lucky in that sense.

We then hopped in the dinghy and headed over to the beach and ranger station. Coffin Island is extremely popular on weekends -- there's a ferry that leaves the anchorage in Ponce several times a day on weekends, complete with twinkle lights and vibrant music, packed to the gills with partygoers. But today is Thursday and it is all peace and quiet, in fact there's only one other boat in the anchorage. There are three rangers here full-time and as we walked up the beach one of them waved. His name is Orlando and he's been a ranger here for over 10 years. The rangers do rotations where they spend a whole week on the island and then are relieved by the next week's crew. Just looking around the island you can tell that these guys take their job pretty seriously -- the trails are well maintained, there are signs showing points of interest, there's no sign of trash anywhere, and there are some beautiful picnic areas with nice resort-style gazebos. I can see why people come here by the ferryload on the weekends. During May-November, the rangers help out by protecting the sea-turtle spawning habitat on the Eastern side of the island. We hiked up the hill to take a look at the lighthouse which dates back to the 1880's. On the trail we saw lots of lizards, and when we came across a couple of small snakes I'll admit: we BOTH screamed like girls. The lighthouse was all locked up and there was some vandalism so it wasn't much to look at, but the view down to the bay was breathtaking, a green oasis surrounded by crystalline blue water and our boat just a white speck in the water. Hopefully in Salinas we'll be near an internet connection so we can post the photos.

Where we are:
Location=Caja de Muertos, PR
Lat=17 53.173
Lon=66 31.844

Ponce, PR -- Carnaval

We have moved the boat back over to the anchorage near the yacht club. It's much more convenient to go ashore here plus there is free wi-fi so that clinched it for us. We put together an interesting anchor combo since it's so deep here and we don't want to drag: we put out our Fortress (an anchor with really good holding power) then 50 feet of chain, then our Delta (a heavy plow shaped anchor) then another 100 feet of chain. The delta acts as a kedge to keep the fortress buried (or so we hope). There is supposed to be a front coming today with strong winds from the northeast so we'll see if our trick works.

Our friends on Adventure Bound arrived on Saturday afternoon from Luperon. Despite having just finished a killer 50 hour passage and having to hand-steer the whole way, they were up for going out for beers at the boardwalk. The boardwalk seems like a scene for tourists and locals alike. They have a bunch of little take-away places selling empanadillas (fried meat-filled pastry) and pinchos (meat skewers). Plus Medalla Light, the local beer, is only a dollar and you can walk around with it. Just like everywhere else we've been, it seems like only the tourists drink the local brew. In the Bahamas and Turks instead of Kalik and Turks Head, the locals were drinking Heineken. That's understandable since Heineken is kind of internationally known as a "good" beer. Here though, instead of Medalla Light the locals drink Coors Light, which costs more and isn't as strong. Can't really figure that one out.

This week is Carnaval in Ponce. There have been parades every day, but Sunday is supposed to be the big day so we went downtown to the main square (called the Plaza las Delicias) to check things out. We could hear the music from the band onstage before we even got to the square (click on the link below to see the video). The streets were crowded with people, vendors selling ice cream and empanadillas, and teenage kids dressed up in brightly-colored Carnaval costumes with scary masks. Some of them wore the traditional elaborate papier-mache masks while others were wolfmen, monsters, and even Jason from Friday the 13th. They have an interesting tradition: the costumed kids (primarily boys) carry around these papier-mache balloons on strings, and when they walk past a girl they whack her booty as hard as they can with the balloon. I don't know if it hurts (I wasn't whacked) but it makes an incredibly loud noise. Most of the girls just keep walking and ignore it, so it can't hurt too badly. The religious theory behind the tradition is to "beat the devil" out of you before the Catholic season of Lent, but I think the modern theory is that adolescent guys have an excuse to smack the butts of the girls they like. The parade began with some guys wearing tall costumes rigged so that the huge papier-mache hands were on sticks so they could move them like puppeteers. There were a few more pretty costumes, then the parade started to resemble any small-town parade -- classic cars, high school bands, beauty queens, etc. The parade moved at a snail's pace so that the floats would stop, wait for 20 minutes, then eventually move on. There was crowd-control tape to try to keep people off the streets but it was pretty much ignored and bystanders could walk right across the parade at will. So as the afternoon wore on and the parade got slower and slower it eventually dissolved into total disorganization, with the crowd intermingling with the local high school bands as the band kids wandered around drinking bottled water and chatting with their friends on the sidelines.

Where we are:
Location=Ponce, PR
Lat=17 58.681
Lon=66 37.518

Ponce, Puerto Rico

The past couple of days we have just been taking it easy. We get up at 4 or 5 in the morning, motor east for a few miles in light winds, and drop the hook before the trade winds kick up from the east. Yesterday we were in a spot nicknamed Gilligan's Island (really called "Cayo Aurora"). In the morning just as we got into the dinghy to ride over to the mangrove island, we saw a ferryload of pasty white tourists arrive with plenty of pool toys. The island is a state park "manned by rangers" (meaning we saw a guy lounging around in his boxer shorts at the ranger station) and it is hugely popular with locals and tourists. There were picnic tables, fire pits, and a picturesque shallow lagoon where people were swimming and snorkeling. We took a snorkel through one of the mangrove streams and didn't see much in the way of aquatic life but it was cool to look at the mangrove roots underwater. We then tried to walk around the island to the beach/reef side but there was no path -- guess most of the appeal of the island is the lagoon and picnic spots.

This morning we arrived in Ponce (PONE-say), Puerto Rico's second largest city named for Juan Ponce de Leon. There's a small anchorage near the Ponce Yacht Club, but the depth there is 30 feet and there were already several boats anchored and many more on fixed moorings. In order to put enough scope down you'd want to put at least 150 feet of chain out and things could get a little too close for comfort if the wind shifts. So we just tucked around the corner near the industrial dock (where the big ships tie up) and found a nice spot where we dropped the hook in 15 feet of water instead. Not much scenery to look at though -- in one direction we have the shipyard and two lovely landfills and in the other lots and lots of urban sprawl. Perhaps there's a reason we are the only ones anchored out here...

Where we are:
Location=Ponce, Puerto Rico
Lat=17 58.681
Lon=66 37.518

Cabo Rojo, PR - Telemundo

We motored about 8 miles south of Boqueron to a small bay called Cabo Rojo. The trade winds have picked up and it's been blowing a pretty steady 15-20 knots out of the East each day. We are just at the southwest corner of the island of Puerto Rico, so once we turn the corner and start heading along the south coast we will have to make small jumps along the coast in the early morning before the wind pipes up.

Just for grins we tried to catch the national news on TV last night. We figured that we are in US territory, surely they broadcast the major channels right? No such luck, just Univision, Telemundo, and a whole host of other Spanish-language channels. We had great reception, but some of the programming that they show is pretty crazy. They have these variety-entertainment shows that give "Wallace & Ladmo" a run for its money -- grown-ups dressed as pirates and clowns and god knows what. I kept expecting to see the bumblebee guy from the Simpsons wander onto the screen. On their version of "Entertainment Tonight", one of the co-anchors was a puppet. A puppet, I kid you not. Take that, Mary Hart.

Where we are:
Location=Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
Lat=17 56.564
Lon=67 11.828

Boqueron - Nightlife

Today the first order of business was to get ourselves checked into Puerto Rico. We'd been told we had to go to Mayaguez, but it was Sunday so we thought we'd try calling in since we are registered with a US Customs Decal. We got the number for San Juan, who told us to call Mayaguez, who told us (only in Spanish) that they were closed and to come in Monday. Not satisfied with that answer, we called San Juan back (each call was at a minimum 50 cents so I had to keep going into a liquor store to get change -- the clerk thought I was crazy) and after answering their questions about home port, last port, people and food on board, we were finally given our clearance back into US waters. We used up our stock of laundry quarters ($6) but we saved the $30 cab ride to Mayaguez, so it worked out well. People here have been very friendly, one lady overheard Kevin asking "habla usted ingles" on the payphone and asked if we needed help translating, and we met Ida who is a bartender at one of the pubs and she gave us some info on where live music would be playing and where we could get free internet. Not to mention the nutty, Spanish-mumbling elderly gentleman we met in the park who kept making baseball motions and showing us baseball cards while pointing at himself. We finally got it when he pulled out his wallet and showed us a black-and-white photo of his younger self in a baseball uniform, had to have been more than 60 years ago since the guy looked to be about 80. After it was clear we understood his pantomime, he hopped on his bike and rode away. Surreal.

Went for a walk along the beach and a swim in the afternoon and then dinghied into town around dinnertime. Even for a Sunday night, the place was hopping. Boqueron is a resort town and college kid hangout so it's chock full of bars and restaurants. We had dinner at one of the waterfront places and watched the birds flitting to and fro after the sun had set. Birds? Wait, no...not birds -- bats. It took us awhile to realize it because they were flying by so fast. Guess there's a reason the Bacardi emblem is a big bat. After dinner we wandered into a couple pubs and clubs and it also took a few moments for us to catch on that the guy to girl ratio in most places was way off. Also a dead giveaway: most of the guys were extremely well-groomed and had nicer highlights in their hair than me. Anyway the music was loud and fun so we just kicked back with a couple Medallas (local beer) and people-watched for the rest of the night.

sunset over the DR

Boqueron, Puerto Rico - Convoy!

Well we left Luperon a little less than two days ago. Two other boats left around the same time (Sol Magique and Mi-Lady) so we kept in touch while we were underway. As we approached the Samana peninsula on the DR's east coast, we caught up with several other boats who had left Luperon a few days before and so we all trucked along across the Mona Passage, keeping in touch via VHF and SSB radio. We have never really traveled in a group with other boats before, usually we do these crossings solo, so it was nice for a change to keep in touch with other boaters as the nights passed.

We had some great luck with sea life on the passage. First, Kevin caught a 20 lb mahi-mahi. This time we were smart: while it was still fighting in the water, we dug out the fish scale so we could weigh it. Kevin also did a fantastic job of filleting and flaying it so very little of the fish was wasted -- we should be eating lots of fish in the coming weeks. Man, cleaning a fish that size sure makes a mess on the deck. Ick. After we'd cleaned up we noticed some humpback whales cavorting off on the horizon. They were slapping their tails and jumping clean out of the water. It was too far away to get any great photos, but Kevin did manage to catch some of the action with his telephoto lens - we'll see how good those pics turn out. And just before sunset a big pod of dolphins came racing through the waves to ride our bow wake. They were in such a hurry to get to our boat they were getting their entire bodies airborne like torpedoes.

We crossed the Mona Passage early this morning and conditions were very calm. We had heard this could be a rough crossing so we specifically chose a window with very light wind and waves. We were both able to get some good sleep and when the sun rose we could see Isla Desecheo (a part of Puerto Rico) towering above the water. Around 10 am a big US Coast Guard cutter came up on the boat behind us (Mi-Lady). After some discussion they sent a boarding party, armed of course. Jim on Mi-Lady said that they were very courteous and it was just a routine boarding inspection. He didn't even have to slow down or change course. We later heard that several boats had also been boarded this morning, so it sounds like the coast of Puerto Rico is well-patrolled.

Anyway, we are in Boqueron (boke-eh-ROAN) which is on the southwest coast of PR. We are pretty tired but we have to run into Mayaguez (a nearby town) to check in with Immigration. More later.

Where we are:
Location=Boqueron, Puerto Rico
Lat=18 01.194
Lon=67 10.746

En Route to Puerto Rico

We left Luperon last night at sunset and are about halfway to Boqueron in Puerto Rico. Two other boats left about the same time so we have been chatting with them on the radio a bit. The coastline of the Dominican Republic does weird things to the wind since it has such high mountains. Some of the capes can accelerate the wind up to 10 knots, and changing the direction all over the place. So far everything is going fine, we've got two fishing lines in the water and are watching for whales. Right now we are rounding Cabo Cabron which is at the tip of the Samana peninsula on the DR.

Where we are:
Location=Cabo Cabron, Dominican Republic
Lat=19 23.000
Lon=69 13.000

Luperon, Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic landscape

Luperon - Puerto Plata day trip

On Wednesday we got together with two other couples (Roger and Andy on "Oma & Opa" and Mike and Gail on "Wild Rover") to rent a van to head into Puerto Plata, a larger town about 30 miles away. Our first stop was the Fortaleza, a well preserved fortress overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. While we were there we saw huge waves crashing offshore. At least we thought they were waves until we saw a massive body fling itself out of the water. Turns out they were humpbacks! Of course Murphy's Law dictates that they jump out of the water to attract our attention and then refuse to surface once we finally have a camera pointed at them. So no pictures, but hopefully we see some more while we are in this area - it's the mating season and the majority of the whales have migrated to a spot just off the northeast coast of the DR.

Next on our list was a tour of the Brugal Rum Factory. In Spanish the word for rum is "ron" pronounced just like the English word "run". The sugar cane is harvested and distilled elsewhere on the island, but they bring it to the Puerto Plata plant to be diluted and bottled. The assembly lines were something to see -- in a space of about 200 feet the bottles go from being completely empty to full of rum, capped and sealed, labeled, and packed in cases of 12. I half expected one of the Dominicans to put his glove over a bottle and wave at it a la "Laverne and Shirley". And of course after the tour you get to sample the product. It was still before noon but we didn't let that stop us.

Those were the two highlights of the day. There was an amber museum that wasn't super exciting, and then we stopped off for a really nice lunch at a restaurant near the beach. We also hit the fruit market and the supermercado which was just like a supermarket in the US (the stores in Luperon are much smaller with less selection). After lunch we attempted to ride the cable cars that go up the mountainside and are supposed to give a great view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately the cable car was closed for maintenance. Of course looking on the bright side, I'd rather they close the thing and not let us on than defer the maintenance so that we could have a ride to the top.

Today (Thursday) we are planning to depart Luperon bound for Puerto Rico. The forecast is for mild conditions for the next several days so we are planning to go all the way to Boqueron on the SW coast. It's about 250 miles and should take us 40-48 hours, making landfall Saturday afternoon sometime. It's a long passage, but we will be within sight of land most of the way for a change. (our return from the Bahamas last year was 335 miles) The first 150 miles we will travel along the north coast of the Dominican Republic, then we will cross the Mona Passage which is the body of water between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Luperon - Las Cascadas

Yesterday we spent the afternoon changing the oil and fuel filters in both engines. We also had the local handymen bring us 20 gallons of diesel to top off our tank. There are two local guys who work together to take care of all the boats in the harbor: "Handy Andy" (not sure if that's his name but that's what he's called) and Papo (pretty sure that's his name). Recently a boat in the harbor sank because of a leaky head, and they were the ones who managed to get it afloat again. There are two marinas in Luperon but neither has a fuel dock, so we were happy that we didn't have to jerry jug the fuel ourselves.

This morning we had made plans to rent a car and caravan with the folks on "Adventure Bound", "Sol Magique" and "Eleytheria" to the "Cascadas". Cascada means "waterfall" in Spanish and the waterfalls here are really something. There are 27 levels (counting each waterfall, even the smaller ones) and they twist and turn through the rock just like the waterslides at a waterpark. As it turns out, that's exactly what they are -- natural waterslides. We arrived at the base of the mountain and were given life jackets and a helmet. We then had to decide how many waterfall "levels" we wanted to do. We all decided to do the first seven falls since that seemed to be the most popular. It was a twenty minute walk to the base of the falls and then we followed our guides wading through and climbing up the first seven waterfalls. Then they had us turn around and go down all the falls one at a time. Most were like slides, but there were a couple where you had to jump. In fact, Jim and Amanda (Adventure Bound) had already toured the falls once before and they convinced the guides to take some of us up one extra level to "Numero Ocho" which turned out to be at least a twenty foot jump into a deep pool of water below. Of course I am somehow first in line and Tyra (the guide) keeps telling me "es seguro, es seguro" ("it's safe"). Right. Looking down it was very intimidating but I couldn't back out, and when he counted to three I just jumped. It was actually pretty cool and it was nice to be able to turn around and watch the rest of the group jump as well (only two people didn't end up jumping). Of course our other guide, Jacobo, dove head first. Show off. Really, the guides were great, and the "Cascadas" was definitely a not to be missed experience.

After the waterfalls, the group split up and Kevin and I had our driver Titico take us over to La Isabella, the site of Columbus' first settlement in the New World. Titico was a great guide, but he spoke only Spanish for the most part, so I tried to translate what I understood for Kevin. I'm glad to know a little Spanish, but I'm pretty sure I sound like a small child (no prepositions, broken sentences only in the present tense). "Dominican Republic is country pretty. Many people is nice here friendly. I happy to speak small Spanish. Me talk pretty one day".

Luperon, Dominican Republic

[Kevin's Post]It seems like every conversation here starts with, 'So how long are you staying here in Luperon'. And the answer is always 'till the next weather window' or occasionally, 'we have no plans to leave'. There is a large community of expats here and the harbor is filled with unoccupied boats of people who came and never left. Some of them have even married Dominicans and have started businesses and families here. The cost of living is so low here that the cruisers can really stretch their cruising dollar. Plus the harbor is one of the best hurricane shelters in this part of the Caribbean due to the surrounding hills and mountains, so people can stay here year-round in relative safety. People say the longer you stay the harder it is to leave. Well, we'll be here at least another week since the tradewinds are relentless and there doesn't appear to be a weather window on the horizon.

Since returning from Santo Domingo, we have spent quite a bit of our time socializing with the other boaters and have made many new friends. Friday night we stopped by 'Oma & Opa' to thank Roger for his help securing our boat the previous day. Roger and Andi are a retired german couple, Andi was with us on the trip to Santo Domingo, Roger stayed behind. They invited us aboard for drinks and we stayed for a few hours before inviting them over to our boat for more drinks (a popular activity in Luperon). They have traveled extensively and we enjoyed hearing about their cruising experiences in Cuba, a place American vessels cannot go. Saturday night another boat decided to have a hot dog roast and bonfire on the beach since it was a full moon. So, Amanda made up some baked beans and we headed over to that. There were about 20-30 people there and it was a good time. We chatted for several hours with 'Eleytheria'. They have cruised throughout South America. Until now, the vast majority of the cruisers we have met have only been in the US or Bahamas, so it is exciting to hear about more distant waters.

Sunday is a big day at the Puerto Blanca Marina here in Luperon. In the morning there is a cruisers swap meet where everybody brings stuff they are trying to get rid of. We brought one of our 3 outboard gas tanks (containing fuel more than 2 years old) and sold it for $10. We also brought our 3 volume Atlantic light list publication which is about the size of 2 large phone books. We have never used them, so ended up giving them away. There were other cruisers selling baked goods, jams and jellies made with local produce, charts and cruising guides, dvds, etc. The swap meet was followed by a wonderful Dominican barbecue of chicken and steak served with rice, beans and vegetables. It was pretty pricey at $6 per person (ha), but we splurged.

There was just an announcement on the VHF that one of the local restaurants will be showing the Superbowl tonight. No guarantees that it will be in English though.

Santo Domingo, DR

Well we have re-anchored and we backed down on the anchor with both engines at 2000 rpm for 40 minutes. So I think we'll hold here. Sounds like several other people have dragged in the last few weeks so we're not the only ones.

Anyway, on Thursday we were up before dawn and took an organized tour down to Santo Domingo, the country's capital. Luperon is on the north coast of the country and Santo Domingo is on the south side of the country. It was a four hour bus ride but at least it was air conditioned. In fact, driving through the countryside was one of the highlights -- the country is lush and mountainous and pretty much anything they put in the ground will grow here -- pineapples, mangos, citrus, bananas plus in the lowlands they can grow tobacco and rice. Every so often the bus would pass through a small town and you'd see roadside stands hawking vegetables or pork (from an entire roasted pig). So on the bus ride there and back our eyes were just glued to the window taking it all in.

Originally the Spanish built the first settlement in the new world at La Isabella in the north part of the country, but after many of them began dying of malaria they moved on to the south and built Santo Domingo. Our first stop was the cave called Los Tres Ojos (the three eyes). This is a series of three immense caves, two filled with freshwater lakes and the third is fed with saltwater from the Caribbean sea. Our first stop was also the first of many encounters with Dominican hucksters trying very persistently to sell you their necklaces or limestone carvings. I don't know if they realize that some people would be more likely to buy if they could just have a quiet look at the merchandise themselves without being hassled with constant patter about how these are the "best quality handmade (necklaces, carvings, statues, whatever) you can find". We kept saying "no, gracias" and the guys followed us nearly all the way back to the bus. Our guy spoke excellent English and it made me want to ask him why he didn't use his language skills to become a tour guide or hotel concierge or something instead of hustling tourists selling necklaces. But maybe necklace sales are more profitable than I think. Anyway it was a relief to get back to the bus after having run the gauntlet.

Our tour bus made a very brief stop at the "Faro a Colon", which translates to "Columbus Lighthouse" but really is a monument not a navigational lighthouse as we know them. It was built in 1992 to honor the 500th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage. Our tour guide told us that we had 5 minutes to get out of the bus and take pictures but that we weren't going inside because "there is nothing in there". I found that funny because our National Geographic guidebook says not only is there a museum inside with the anchor excavated from the wreck of the Santa Maria (yes, THAT Santa Maria) but also Columbus's tomb where they have a pretty strong case that the ashes kept there are really those of the explorer although they can't be 100% certain.

After the bus stopped at another tacky tourist trap (gift shop) for 40 minutes, we continued on to the historical district. Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone is chock full of historic buildings -- Catedral Basilica Santa Maria la Menor (the first cathedral built in the new world finished in 1540), the Alcazar de Colon (where Chris Columbus's son Diego lived with his wife Maria Toledo), and the Calle de las Damas (the street where Maria's ladies of the court walked around in search of husbands). We enjoyed the tour of the Alcazar, especially since our 22 year old tour guide kept touching things! He would say, "this painting is a triptych dating back to the 15th century" as he caressed the paint itself with bare fingers while some of the folks in the tour group leaned up against the tapestry woven in the 1470's. So it was interesting to be able to see all the artifacts up close, and we were glad there weren't any American or European museum curators in our tour group -- they would've had a heart attack.

Luperon, Dominican Republic

Wednesday night's post:
We did a little more exploring today, walked over to the all-inclusive resort to check out the beach. Getting there was interesting; we'd been told that if you try to get to the beach via the resort they turn you away if you aren't wearing a wristband. So we went the back way instead and wound up walking along a cow path (the cows graze within sight of the beach -- isn't that funny?) We walked along the beach to the resort part and it looked like your typical resort - banana boat riding the waves, deck chairs, palappa umbrellas, etc. Rather than risk getting caught checking out the hotel we just turned around and went back the way we came. We stopped at a tourism office and signed up to do a tour of Santo Domingo tomorrow, then we hung out briefly at the marina bar before heading back to the boat. Jim and Amanda from "Adventure Bound" came over for dinner, and we had some pizza, salad, and delicious brownies that Amanda had made.

Thursday night's post:
One of our worst nightmares happened today. Our anchor dragged while we were not on the boat. Let me back up a little: when we first got here, we set our anchor but felt we were too close to several other boats. So we picked it up and re-set it in a different spot, and this is how we met Adventure Bound in the first place because just after we dropped it Jim and Amanda came by in their dinghy and warned us that the area we were in held about as well as teflon. When we backed down on it, we seemed to hold pretty well so we decided to keep an eye on it and maybe back down on it again after it had had time to settle some more. But complacency set in and since we were still exactly where we were supposed to be after three days, we thought the boat was fine. So we got up at 5am on Thursday and went on the all-day Santo Domingo tour (I will have to save that for a different post). We were gone until 7pm and as the bus returned to Luperon we could see from the trees swaying that the wind had picked up considerably. We headed back to the boat and my heart just about stopped when we realized that the boat wasn't where we'd left it. So we knew we had dragged and immediately I started praying that we hadn't hit any other boats. Just as we were tying our dinghy to the boat, Jim came by and told us the story. The wind had picked up to 25 knots and by noon it was obvious that we were moving backwards. Miraculously we managed to miss every other boat, but it was clear to Jim that we were heading towards a pretty shallow spot and would end up aground in the mangroves. So he and Amanda jumped aboard and started our engines and tried to re-set our anchor. Fortunately Jim was familiar with catamarans so he had no trouble with the helm controls, but I just felt awful when we found out that poor Amanda had to haul up our anchor and chain BY HAND because we stupidly left the windlass breaker in the off position and because the boat was locked they had no way to turn it on. It is a tough job for Kevin to pull up the chain by hand even in light winds, but here she was hauling it up in 25 knots! Plus -- it didn't set the first time (the anchor got fouled in some junk on the bottom) so she actually hauled all that chain and the 44lb delta up TWICE. And this is not a sand bottom; it is some of the foulest muck we've seen not to mention that we have doubts about the sanitation level of the water. After hauling it up the second time they decided to put us on an empty mooring ball in the harbor. At this point Roger from another boat "Oma and Opa" had dinghied by and was able to help them get Solstice secured on the mooring. We are just so grateful. Not even sure how to begin to thank them, as they basically saved our house and our cruise.