We had another week of firsts in the DR learning curve. Lesson one: acceptance that text messaging just never works in the DR....so if you need me, you'll have to download Whatsapp or email me. Lesson two: cars do not rule the road. Lesson three: If you need to be rescued, do not call the navy.
We began the week with a night filled with excitement. There was a boat arriving into Luperon one night that put out a call for assistance. Their engine failed and they were floundering at sea about 3 miles offshore. It did not take long for the other sailors in the bay to organize and begin the VHF chatter. One of the first calls that went out on the VHF: "The navy has been contacted and will be underway soon." Second call: "Problem. The navy boat has no fuel in it." That brought about a barrage of communications about which boat in the harbor could go out and try to tow them into port. A few people went out in their dinghies to check out the situation (which was insane given 8 to 10 foot seas!). Next call: "The navy now has fuel and is on their way." We were sitting on our deck and watched as the navy answered their heroic call....until they didn't. We watched as they trotted past our boat and then suddenly stopped. Next call we hear: "Well, the navy has run aground." At this point, everyone accepted that the navy had never actually been in a boat and they were not going to be of assistance. So, one of the boats in the harbor volunteered to go out and do the rescue. The navy commandant told them that he was not giving that boat permission to go on the rescue. The boat captain told the commandant that he could either give them permission or the navy would have to shoot him on his way out of the harbor. I am assuming the commandant realized that they carry guns that do not actually have any ammunition clips in them so he finally gave his consent. I am happy to report that all boats and dinghies made it safely to port by 3am. Later in the week, we decided to venture over to Puerto Plata the "larger" city that is about an hour away from Luperon. Handy Andy brought us his refitted Hyundai and we were ready to go. As soon as we had a lesson on how to start the car! I had never seen a car refitted with a propane tank so this was definitely a first! We figured that worst case scenario, we could always hook up the grill to the gas tank if we got hungry and desperate. Along the way, we encountered sections of road and bridges that were clearly designed to fit one, maybe one and half cars. We watched in amazement as the locals fit not only two cars but several motorcycles without any issue. The only one causing issues was us! How dare we actually follow traffic rules such as stopping at red lights and stop signs....Bill finally decided that he would just drive and they would just figure out how to miss us. We did take note that one thing in the DR has the right of way....the herd of cows caused even the most persistent of drivers to stop and wait. The highlight of Puerto Plata was the chocolate factory. The factory was closed due to COVID but the sweetest lady brought out samples of chocolate to our car. Needless to say, the milk chocolate made with rum was the best! She sold us A LOT of chocolate and told me she would call me once the factory reopened so we could come back for the tour.....try and get that service in the states! Bill's theory of driving worked very well and we arrived back in sleepy Luperon without one scratch on Handy Andy's car. I must admit I kissed the ground once we arrived back safely! The next week involves several boat projects such as up fitting more solar and wind power on the boat and I will be getting back to my refinishing of the teak. We will see what adventures await us and new "firsts" that are yet to come!
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After starting our adventure in Maine last September, we are thrilled to announce that we have reached the DR and are settling in nicely! I left you at the end of the last blog in Provo, Turks and Caicos. Our week in Turks and Caicos was an up and down event to say the least. We started the week needing to get fuel. Turks and Caicos is one of the countries that remains closed in the Caribbean so we had to call ahead to the local marina for permission to dock for fuel. He gladly welcomed us in but warned us that we needed to be sure to come in at high tide or we would get stuck on the sandbar. We snuck our way past the sand bar at high tide with less than one foot of clearance to spare. Once we docked, we were informed that we had to officially go through customs since we had entered the marina. Basically, that means that they want money. So, I waited for the customs official and he handed me the paperwork and....surprise, surprise.....asked for a $100.00. Then, he stated that as soon as we fueled, we had to leave again. I told him we could not leave because we could only leave at high tide and it had passed. He responded that it did not matter. As I was trying to not so patiently explain high tide to a man who lived on an island his entire life, the marina owner came over and heard the discussion. The owner then gave me a long, meaningful stare and said, "Hi! Didn't you need me to get you some provisions while you were here?" I immediately hid the puzzled look on my face and responded, "Yes!" to which the customs guy then said, "Oh! If you need groceries, then you can stay for the night." I am assuming two dead Americans starved to death in Turks and Caicos was not high on his list of things to have happen on his watch. As I walked away, I heard the marina owner patiently take over the high tide educational lesson.
From Provo, we headed over to South Caicos which is one of the smaller islands in the chain. We were required to anchor in the bay and were not allowed to come ashore unless there was an emergency. So, we sat. For four long days, we sat. Very, very long days. We were sitting and waiting on the wind and the waves to cooperate so that we could continue on our way without me having a heart attack and abandoning ship. For those of you who do not know, Bill is a very patient man indeed! A weather report that met my requirements finally arrived. My requirements are easy wind, no waves and no chance of anything flying around on the boat. Those requirements are generally never met on the ocean so Bill spent two days bolting down everything that could slide or move around so that I would agree to moving again. He did a fantastic job and not one item shifted on our way over to Sand Cay. Sand Cay is a place that very few people on earth will ever experience and that is a shame. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We were the only ones there and had the entire island to ourselves for the night. We swam over to the island and found pristine white sand and beautiful shells. And a lot of hermit crabs! It was one of our best days we have had so far. The next day, all was ready for launch and we started our 11 hour crossing to the DR. We expected it to be similar to the crossing from the states (Sally hell) but it was not even close. Bill did a great job getting us here safely and other than almost running over a local fisherman during our midnight arrival, no excitement to be had the entire crossing! We have spent the last few days trying to find phones and internet that work in the Dominican. The people have been so welcoming and they seem to enjoy teaching us Spanish. We have been doing pretty well so far picking out meaning until I had to get money from the ATM today....that was a guessing game at best but we managed to get some pesos so we felt quite accomplished. There are two locals who seem to run everything in town. Poppo and Handy Andy. Poppo met us the morning after we had anchored and took us over to a mooring ball and helped us get moored (no emergency jumping in the water for Bill this time!). He then brought over the Commandant, the navy and the DEA to our boat. The DEA searched our boat from top to bottom and Bill asked them how often they found drugs. Their response, "Never from the cruisers. But we have to look anyway." My mother said she was surprised they didn't bust me for the amount of Dramamine I have on board! After that investigation ended, we had to go into town for immigration, agriculture and something else that we still aren't sure of but we are finally settled! The cost of living here is amazing! It costs us $45 a month to moor our boat (USA=$650), a pizza and four beers was less than $10 and the prescription eye drops that I have needed are only $60 and no prescription (USA=$700)….needless to say I will add those to my Dramamine stash! Now that we have internet figured out, I should be able to update the blog more regularly. Thank you for reading and I'll be back next week! We have made it to Turks and Caicos! One more jump to the Dominican Republic sometime next week and we will be ready to settle down for awhile. We have decided to stay in the DR for now instead of crossing over to Aruba due to the fact that the DR has an excellent “hurricane hole” in Luperon and that trip will be much easier than the crossing to Aruba at this time of year. We enjoyed our last week in the Bahamas and saw many places that we most definitely would not have ventured if we weren’t on a boat. We spent most of the week in the “Out Islands”. They are named the “out islands” because they are so remote. We determined they are named the “out islands” because all of the young people want out! We spent a couple of days at Crooked Island and met some wonderful people. We had lunch at THE local restaurant on the island. When we walked in, the owner said, “You can eat now because I am having a large gathering at 12:30 today”. We looked around the restaurant at the seating for about 14 people and gathered that on an “out island”, fourteen is a large crowd. We had a choice of fish or chicken. When she brought the plates, we had more food than we had seen since leaving the states! Fish, rice, mac and cheese, salad….and then she brought out pie! Any day with pie is a good day! We then asked where the local grocery store was located and she said, “Just down the street. I will drive you there.” Since the entire town was no more than one square mile, we figured we could just walk but it was a very sweet offer! We then moved onto Aklin’s Island. There was one house on the island that we could see. We had the entire bay to ourselves that night and the stars were amazing! Then….on to Mayaguana. Sigh, Mayaguana. When we checked into the Bahamas on June 15th, I asked the customs person if we could check out of the country at the port in Mayaguana. She said, “Of course”……
When we set out to Mayaguana to check out, we went over in our dinghy. The water was very rough that morning so we were both soaked when we arrived. Even our poor little Covid masks were so soaked that I could wring the water out of them. We were greeted by a large sign that declared that Mayaguana was no longer a port of call. We decided to walk into town to the administrative office because we had been told by other boaters that they would take the checkout papers. We walked down the slightly paved road to the building cleverly labeled “Administrative Office”. When we walked in, the man said, “You have to stay outside….my thermometer is not charged yet.” Bill was a bit confused as to which thermometer he was referencing, but being a Speech Pathologist, I am able to interpret meaning without really having any reference so I immediately realized that he could not take our temperature for Covid purposes so we had to stay outside. He then informed us that to turn in our checkout papers, we needed to go to the administrative offices…..um……So, we were directed down the street. THE street. There were only two streets that met at a crossroads so not to difficult to navigate. As we were walking, we stopped by the local store…..closed. We tried to stop by the local bar to buy a couple of beers (Bill’s supply ran out and since he refused to pay $65.00 a case in Georgetown, he was hoping to be able to get at least a couple for the road!)……closed. When we arrived at the administrative office, cleverly labeled as “District Council”, the woman informed us that she could not take our checkout papers and we would have to go to a different island. Well, we both knew that wasn’t going to happen considering that our check in papers were sitting on top of the filing cabinet stacked three feet high in West End still! Before we left, Bill asked if there was anywhere he could buy a couple of beers to go. “Yeah, of course. Go down the street, turn left and it’s the first house on the right. Ask for Debbie or Junior.” Sounded easy enough…..on the way, we met a man who asked where we were going. “To Debbie’s house for some beer,” Bill replied. “Oh, Mon. You’d better let me come to. Debbie got a mean dog. Don’t want you to get bit, Mon!” Needless to say, we let him tag along! Upon arrival at Debbie with the killer dog’s house, we sadly found that Debbie had gone out the airport for “plane day”. We were informed that “plane day” occurred every Monday and the locals went out to the airport to watch the plane land. Then, Tuesday was “mail boat day” so everyone would go meet the mail boat. I am not sure what they did the other five days of the week but I am assuming they all met at Debbie’s house to drink a lot. Thus, our reasoning for the true definition of “out island”. We decided at that point, Mayaguana had given all it had to give so we set out for Turks and Caicos….if you ever think you can sneak into Turks and Caicos undetected, you may want to rethink that assumption. We arrived in T&C waters around 1:00am. We tried to hail the customs office several times but had no response. We already had written permission to be in T&C so we just continued on our way. Shortly, we were greeted by a police boat speeding out toward us to find out who we were and why we were entering the country without hailing the customs office….it was a far cry from the Bahamian file cabinet system. Once they asked us a few questions, we were all set and ready to enter. So, now we wait for a good weather window to cross over to the DR. I hope you all had a happy Fourth of July! I greatly missed the fireworks! |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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