Ocean World

We left Isleta Marina in Fajardo early Tuesday to begin our trip to the Dominican Republic. Everything was great the first morning, we were enjoying a leisurely downwind sail congratulating ourselves for having picked such a great weather window. We even saw several humpback whales frolicking in the water. But after lunch we found out why nobody ever sails the north coast of Puerto Rico. By midafternoon, the sun has heated up the land mass of PR enough to cause a "sea breeze" which accelerates the tradewinds to ferocious speeds. We had a forecast for 9-13 knot winds, but got 25-30. Fortunately we were sailing downwind so it was manageable. Unfortunately there is no place to hide on the north coast so we had to stick it out for a good 10 hours until the sun set and the winds calmed down.

After the first night things settled down and went pretty much as expected. We saw more whales on day 2, and had to dodge a bit of big ship traffic. The weather was great, not too windy, no rain at all. The whole trip took 51 hours to go 307 miles. This was our longest passage yet, and we shouldn't have to do any more this long for the rest of the trip home.

We decided to stay at the opulent Ocean World marina instead of the harbor of Luperon (the only other option in the area and where we stayed on the southbound trip). Luperon is not such a nice place, and it's hard to imagine we are even in the same country. Ocean World is like a little piece of Vegas dropped into the DR. They have a casino, spa, broadway-style dinner shows, upscale restaurants, and a massive aquatic theme park along the lines of Sea World. You can even swim with the dolphins if you're willing to spend $165. We plan to enjoy the amenities here for a few days before continuing on to the Bahamas.

Location=Ocean World Marina, Dominican Republic
Lat=19 49.671
Lon=70 43.804