March 2007
Turks and Caicos Islands - Dominican Republic - Puerto Rico
From Atwood Harbour we left the Bahamas and sailed overnight to Providenciales ('Provo') one of the main islands in the Turks and Caicos where were are anchored in Sapodilla Bay waiting for weather to cross the Caicos Bank and move south to Luperon in the Dominican Republic.
We crossed the 90 miles from Grand Turk (where we had to go to check out of the T & C Islands) to Luperon on Saturday night and Sunday. mainly motorsailing on an easy swell but we did manage a few hours pure sailing. later in the evening the wind dropped almost completely allowing Jacky a mid-passage swim in a very dark, moonless ocean surrounded by sparkling bioluminescence.
We motored slowly towards Luperon to arrive at sunrise to negotiate the shallow entrance narrows. We dropped anchor amongst the fleet of cruisers and live-aboards that are feature of this very protected anchorage - the prime landfall for boats heading south.
The town is basic and reminds me of central American small towns. The people are noisy, enthusiastic, friendly and smiley. A vast range of small shops lines the two main streets and you get the impression that almost anything you want would be available if you searched hard enough.
From Luperon we headed east along the north DR coast and across the Mona Passage in company with Paul and Janie on Shian. Leaving at 23.00 hours on a Friday night when the night lee settled in we arriving at Mayaguez on the west coast of Puerto Rico at 21.30 on the Sunday night. This was nearly all motor sailing and we were lucky that this part of the thorny passage had winds light enough to do it in one go. Our only problem was a few squalls with sudden rain showers and some impressive lightning displays.
Early on Monday we rushed to clear in to PR before the ferry carrying 750 passengers arrived from DR! Later in the day we sailed (yes sailed – a wonderful experience) close down the coast to Boqueron in increasing winds under full sail. At one stage we looked back at boats a mile behind on exactly the same heading we were but on the opposite tack.
We made it into Boqueron in great time where we staged, waiting for conditions at Cabo Roco, the south-westerly most point of PR, to be calm enough to make the short hop round to La Parguera on the south coast. La Parguera is a great anchorage, entered through buoyed reefs and tucked in amongst mangrove cays - but the town is pretty grim, all soulless bars.
Next we moved on to Cayos de Cana Gorda (or Gilligan's Island as it's called by cruisers) which is a great little anchorage with a neat drift swim amongst cays to the south.
On then to the anchorage off the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club. Here we refueled, toured the town and visited the Museum of Art which mainly displays grim, Gothic European paintings and a few refreshing newer pictures by local artists.
Towards the end of March we sailed further east along the coast, anchoring off Islas de Muertes before crossing back to the mainland and the shallow entrance (7' ) in to the secure anchorage in Salinas. This is a justly popular stop for cruisers and live-aboards. The yacht club is cruiser-friendly and has a cheap laundry and free water - luxury!
Here we rented a car to get Jacky to the airport for her return flight. It was a sad parting after nearly two months of great sailing, but it gave us the opportunity to drive the back roads over the green mountains to San Juan. In the evening we managed to get caught in a tropical downpour which was like being in a warm shower – with passing cars adding to the fun by drenching us as well.
On the return journey a visit to a supermarket refilled the empty food lockers and while I had the car I also refilled the two empty propane tanks. In retrospect we would have been better off doing the crew change from Ponce as communications are not too good from Salinas.
The last few days March gave me a few day's forced R&R while strong trade winds abated, before I could again sail eastwards once again.
(For a fuller description and more pictures see Jacky's log.)
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