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!
1 Comment
Meryle
7/22/2020 05:00:21 pm
Welcome to the DR! Not sure if you are near La Romana, but there's a cool area near there called Casa de Campo that has a replica of a 16th Century Mediterranean village, Altos de Chavón. Definitely worth seeing.
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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