Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands

Not sure this beats flying?

 

 

Thursday 24^th May

We go ashore again to download yet another weather forecast – which again gives us winds out of the E. or E.S.E. somewhere between 10 – 20kts. Nothing new.  We collect our clearance papers from the Navy, have another coffee, then, return to SHAMAL.  Our plan is for a mid-afternoon departure.  According to our cruising information this should be a 36 hour run following the Dominican Republic coastline, crossing the Mona Passage, then running down the west coast of Puerto Rico. It is overcast and humid as we raise the anchor from Samana Harbour in the D.R.  A huge thunderstorm is passing just to the south of us.  As we head out of the bay, and start the run following the coastline, the seas are short and sharp, and on the nose.  By the next morning we start our tack out to sea to round the Hourglass Shoals. We can tell already this is going to be a long slow trip. By evening we are sailing with a reef in the main and full jib. I have been trying to fish, but there is just too much Sargasso Weed about. It gets very frustrating having to wind my line in every few minutes to clear it.  The clumps of it seem to be getting bigger and thicker.

A Small patch of Sargasso Weed!

Evening – I have just come on watch.  We are still under sail with the good old auto pilot on. Then just before midnight we have yet another squall line passing through. The winds are all over the place.  Then they drop completely.  Unbeknown to me we have also sailed into a humongous patch of Sargasso Weed. The current is now pushing us backwards, and the weed is starting to pile up on the back steps. I wake Alec who can smell the weed.  He says we will just motor out of this, then be on our way again.  He starts both engines but the weed is so thick the Port engine stops pumping water. We turn that off so not to do any damage, and ever so slowly edge our way out using the STBD engine only.  I tell you it was like a scene from a horror movie. I thought we were going to be engulfed by the stuff. When it is daylight Alec has to clean both salt water inlet filters to the engines, which are clogged with weed. This is something he now keeps an eye on and cleans out regularly . Also when motoring the weed gets caught around the props which slows us down and causes the props to vibrate. To clear it we have to put the props into reverse. In certain areas this was quite often.

Boqueron

By dawn we have crossed the Mona Passage and are running down the west coast of Puerto Rico. It is midmorning when we finally dropped anchor in Boqueron Harbour on the south western corner of Puerto Rico.  Log 185nm. Here I am able to make a phone call to Customs and Border Patrol to say we have arrived. This is a USA territory. They take our details and tell us we will need to go back to Mayaguez – back along the coastline we have just come along – to complete the paperwork.  It is now Saturday and everything is closed till the Tuesday as Monday is a holiday being Memorial Day. Thankfully it is not too far, and we can take a cab there. There is no way we are backtracking in SHAMAL. This beating into the wind has truly lost its glamour!!! Also they have told us we can go ashore over the weekend thank goodness.

The Dominican Republic - D.R.

 

 

Farewell Jamaica

Hello Again,

 

Monday 7^th May 2018 Time to say farewell to Jamaica

 

We wake early, and it is still raining.  Low cloud hangs over the hills around the bay.  It is 29.6deg.c. Rather humid.  But the winds are forecast to be easterly to south easterly, just what we need as we head up towards the Windward Passage which will take us between Cuba on our Port, and Haiti on our Starboard. This stretch of water is known for fluky, or, extra strong easterly winds, and strong currents.  Let’s hope we time it right. We have the Sierra Maestra mountain range rising to 1,972mts along the Cuban coastline, then dropping dramatically into the sea with depths reaching to 7,239m in the Oriente trough.  Close to the coast one can take advantage of the katabatic effect of the winds in the early hours of the morning if we strike the calms.  On the Haitian side we have the Golfe de la Gonave.

 

Shamal in Luperon
 

Luperon

Even though we are ashore early to collect our clearance papers, the boys don’t arrive until 1045.  By the time all is completed, we arrive back on Shamal, take down our shades and make a coffee while the last of the rain passes through. It is  midday when we lift anchor and move out of Port Antonio.  Three other boats were going to leave with us, but have decided to wait another day.  By 1300 we are sailing along very nicely under full main and jib, then a line of squalls shows up on the radar, so we reef down.  They don’t affect us too much, and we are still moving along at 6kts. Our run through the Windward Passage turns out to be a broad reach with wind gusts only to 22kts.  The tide is in our favour and by early morning we have turned the corner and are running along the north coast of Haiti. A few hours later the winds have come around to be on the nose again.  This makes for a long slow passage for the last 60nm towards Luperon on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.  It is not till the following morning that we slowly motor into the wonderfully sheltered harbour and pick up a mooring buoy.  We are surprised by the number of yachts in the bay. Many have been closed up for the coming hurricane season, but we soon learn there are others like us, just stopping off for a few nights before heading out again.

Jamaica



Jamaica

Hello Mon

 

Da mon on da big tourist boat, he talk too dam quick to understand. Da reggae music blast too dam loud for ya to talk, and da smell of da jerk chicken wafts across da bay make ya hungry.  Yes this is da Jamaica, home of Bob Marley, dreadlocks and beach partying till the wee small hours of the morning. Lively to say the least.

 

The Island was first populated by the Arawak Indians.  Christopher Columbus discovered the Island in 1494.  The Spanish arrived in 1510 and introduced sugarcane using the Arawak as slaves.  By the end of the century the Arawak Indians had been entirely wiped out from ill-treatment and European diseases. New slaves are now brought in from Africa.  In 1654 the English arrive on the scene, and take control of the Island. Autonomy from Britain was granted in 1947, and full independence in 1963.

Return To Cayman Islands

Hello Again To You All At Long Long Last

Beautiful Caymans
 

Well, this is our third visit to this beautiful corner of the Caribbean, George Town, Grand Cayman. Yes it can be glitzy, commercial - say like a mini Florida, and, very expensive, but it is an excellent stop for yachts to take that break after a rather hard slog here, as we were  against the trade winds on this leg.  It also makes a great break for those traveling on to Central America. Check in is free, the waters are crystal clear, and one can have those spare parts flown in from anywhere in the world knowing they will arrive – yes we are waiting on some!!

Easter on the Rio
 

 

Easter on the Rio

 

Firstly back to our last days on the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. As we waited for that weather window to depart, Alec and I filled in time making “SHAMAL” ready for her first ocean passage of the season – well so we thought!  Also  we had the Easter week break.  We watched as the locals gathered on the Rio for what is considered one of their most important festive seasons of the year.   Things got a little crazy on the water.  Villages arrive in Frontares by boat and whatever means they can to join family and friends.  The rich, famous and stupid arrive on the river and out come all the water toys.  Easter here was a week of craziness.  There was one accident, which Alec and I did not see, where two local lanchas ( they are the local motorised small boats about 7mts long with an over powered motor on the back) hit each other, one cutting the stern off the other!!!  On Good Friday morning the local Priest came around the river with a flotilla of boats all dressed in purple cloth, to bless the boats.  They stopped at twelve marinas – stations of the Cross - to give the Blessings. It was rather a grand site watching the parade and see the spirit of Easter celebrated here.