Prior to leaving Ocean World this week, we had one of the other sailors tell us that the Ocean World Marina was much like the Hotel California….every time they tried to leave, something went wrong on their boat….so you can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave. With that in the back of our minds, we readied to leave for our passage to Samana. The trip would be in several legs. First, anchor at Sosua for a few hours to wait for the time window to go to Rio San Juan. Then, anchor in Rio San Juan for the day, then overnight to Escondido and then a final early morning push into Samana. As we waved goodbye to Ocean World and made our way out of the marina, we had almost cleared the final buoy of the entrance when our low oil pressure alarm began to sound. Immediately we began to hear the strains of Hotel California playing in the background. Bill immediately checked all of the oil gauges and then crawled into the engine room to check the oil. He could find nothing malfunctioning so we determined that it must be a gremlin in the warning alarm. We took a vote and decided to head on to Sosua which was just a short jump away so we knew we could turn back if needed. We made it safely to Sosua and threw out our anchor to wait for midnight to leave for Rio San Juan. Sea conditions and wind conditions in the Dominican Republic are unpredictable so it is best to travel at night when conditions tend to be calmer. Once in Sosua, it was our anchor alarm’s time to shine. The alarm kept sounding every few minutes and we were not sure if we were dragging or if the alarm was just being “gremlined”. Dragging of an anchor is when the anchor does not dig into the seabed well enough to hold the boat in place. After a bit, we did determine that we were dragging and no amount of playing with the anchor was going to set it. So, we decided to pull up the anchor and head straight through the night and the next day to reach Escondido instead of stopping in Rio San Juan. It was not an ideal plan as it would be a long sail of about 16 hours but with the anchor not holding, we had to push on and could not stop to anchor in Rio San Juan in the dark as that would not have been safe. As I began hoisting the anchor, the Windlass (machine that hoists up the anchor when you step on a button) began making an odd noise and running in reverse! No matter what I tried, the anchor chain would pull in a bit and then scream back out. Needless to say, I made Bill take over the screaming gremlin in the Windlass. Once he took over, he determined that the anchor had become tangled on something under the water. So, we spent the next 30 minutes, in the dark, having the following fun: Bill leaning over the side of the boat with a flashlight in his mouth watching the anchor chain, then yelling back to me….turn hard starboard, then go forward….now turn hard port, then go in reverse….now port and forward….starboard and reverse….hold there….and so on and so on until he convinced the gremlin to let go of the anchor and he was able to hoist it safely onboard. Finally on our way, we waited for the next gremlin to rear his ugly little head. The night sail was amazing and the stars were unbelievable. I even took a shift on my own while Bill tried to catch a little nap which was a big deal for me in the dark! We were humming along happily until around 6:00am when we were rounding the large cape near Rio San Juan. The seas began to get rough and the ride became much less comfortable so the rest of the morning and afternoon consisted of waves beating on the side of the boat which makes for a very washing machine like churn. With no sleep, my sea sickness kicked in and I was no longer the captain extraordinaire….instead I was lying on the deck bench with my eyes closed trying not to throw up! The worst part was when we pulled into the Escondido anchorage area and the washing machine continued to churn…no rest for the weary but at the least the anchor held! We tried to get a few hours sleep without much luck. We started the final leg into Samana around 1:00am. Luckily, the anchor pulled up cleanly this time…unluckily, the gremlin decided to move into our auto pilot system causing the system to beep loudly for no apparent reason! Bill managed to get the system back on track and as we rounded the last cape, the seas laid down and became as smooth as glass. Seasick Sally managed to get a few hours of sleep while poor Bill soldiered on with no sleep. Pulling into Samana Bay just before sunrise was an amazing feeling….and much like childbirth, the previous miserable 24 hours were soon forgotten as the sun rose over the clouds welcoming us to our new place of discovery.
In Samana, we are staying at the Puerto Bahia Marina….which is amazing! It is a five star resort and once again, due to the Stupid, we have the place almost to ourselves.! I feel like Elizabeth Taylor again and the resort even has an infinity pool that overlooks the Samana Bay! I can think of far worse places to spend Christmas! We are looking forward to exploring this part of the country which has beautiful waterfalls and a national park where some of the scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed. I will do my best to take some amazing pictures for you! In the meantime, Feliz Navidad from the Dominican Republic!
1 Comment
Rebecca Smith
12/20/2020 03:57:15 pm
This looks so amazing! I can't wait to see the photos of your adventuring!!! I hope you have a lovely Christmas ❤
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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