Goodbye to the D.R.

We arrived back in the Puerto Bahia Marina on Friday and relaxed in the marina facilities for the weekend with some schoolwork thrown in and made plans to visit a place called El Limon which is a spectacular waterfall in the middle of the Samana peninsula.  We got the marina to organise the trip for us and on Monday we were off.  We drove to the town of El Limon and then switched to horses for the 5km trek up the trail into the hills.  Scott prefers to hike it but we thought it would be fun for the kids.  It was a really nice trek up to the waterfall.  The land is extremely fertile and we saw coffee, and cocoa as well as all sorts of fruits.  Not much in the way of wildlife though.  We left the horses at a hilltop reststop and descended into the forest to the base of the falls.  

Four of the "Five Amigos"

The falls themselves must be about 60m high.  It is very impressive.  Everyone apart from Scott went for a swim in the pool below the falls.  Only disappointing thing was the number of other touristos around.  After an hour or so we returned to the town.  Scott had decided to walk instead of ride - something about an inherent distrust in a mode of transport with a mind of its own - and Calley joined him at the bottom of the trail.  We stopped in for lunch at a local restaurant and then returned to the boat.

The falls at El Limon

One of the lower falls

The base of the falls

For our final tourist day in the DR we hired a car and toured around the Samana peninsula heading for a place called Los Terranos which is a beach area on the north coast.  To get there we had to drive over a short but steep range of hills giving spectacular views across the tranquil Samana bay one way and the rough Atlantic ocean the other.  Los Terranos was a more touristy spot than Samana so we spent the best part of the day there on the beach and in the town exploring and buying up provisions for the trip.  It was a typical beachside area you could find in any number of countries but enjoyable and relaxing for us.

Colourful fruit and veg stand in Los Terranos

Beth relaxing at Los Terranos beach

We had been looking at the weather closely for the week.  We were talking with another cruising couple from Bermuda on a boat called Ayeesha regarding the weather as they were planning the same crossing and we both landed on the Thursday evening for a departure.  The winds have been good all week but a big swell was pushing down from storm activity in the Atlantic and we were waiting for this to subside which was supposed to be on Thursday/Friday.  There is a huge island lee effect here in that after sundown the trade winds subside near the coast.  As the winds subsides the seas calm down also.  We wanted to use this to get a good start across the Mona Passage.

The passage to Puerto Rico represents the last big push east for us.  It is a transit of about 170NM from Samana to Ponce.  After this it will all be shorter hops.  In fact there is only one more long leg (the Anageda Passage) which we will have to do before Grenada and that is only 80NM.  As you can imagine its a big milestone for us.  The Mona Passage can be tricky what with the easterly winds, a northerly swell and a patch of shoals extending off the DR coast.

We completed our clearance formalities and settled our marina bill in the afternoon and waited for the night lee effect to be felt.  At around 1830 we watched Ayeesha depart and within 30 minutes we were following them.  We caught up with Ayeesha just as the swells were making themselves felt at the mouth of the bay and pushed on.  We were motorsailing with the main up and making good progress with the boat pitching comfortably.  Nic and Scott stayed on deck while everyone else went below to sleep.  At around 2000 we got a call from Ayeesha that there was a problem with their auto pilot and they were turning back.  Unfortunately for them they will have to go back to Samana to try and get it fixed.

Last view of Puerto Bahia

Nic and Scott had a comfortable night on deck spelling each other on watch.  Certainly it was a lot more enjoyable than the last trip from Puerto Plata.  At daybreak we were halfway across the Mona Passage and adjusted our course SE to make for the SW corner of Puerto Rico.  The north east wind forecast only blew in for a few hours in the morning and for the rest of the time we had to motor sail in pretty calm conditions with following winds.  It was very pleasant and we watched the Puerto Rican coastline draw nearer.  As usual we had the fishing rod out and had had a couple of strikes during the day with no result to show.  At around 1500 we were about 5 miles from our landfall and about to get into shallower water.  Scott was ready to pull the rod when Sam saw a tuna jump and the next thing we had one on the line.  It was panic stations on deck with Scott grabbing the rod and doing battle with the fish, Beth taking the helm and steering and Sam and Nic getting ready to land the fish.  

The tuna had taken all the line off the reel and it was pretty strong so it took about 15minutes to land.  But it was all worth it when we saw the fish.  Our first tuna and I guess it was around 10 to 12Kg.  We got it on deck, stuffed rum down its gills to subdue it and then killed it and put it aside to clean once we were anchored.  Sam was overjoyed.

Sam and the tuna

A few more miles and we motored into a place called Bahia Salinas and anchored under the lighthouse on some cliffs which marks the SW corner of Puerto Rico in a very peaceful bay.  Sam and Scott cleaned the fish which took a while.  The amount of meat we got will keep us going for a while.

The lighthouse at Cabo Roja

The next day we made an early start and finished the trip dropping anchor in Ponce harbour around midday.  After a few of frustrating hours we managed to get cleared into Puerto Rico and then had a couple of beers on deck listening to the nearby music from the shoreside stalls.

Everyone is excited to be in Puerto Rico.  Scott is especially relieved to be here as it marks the end of the hard slog from Nassau.  We still have to go east against the prevailing trade winds until around St Martin but it will be in shorter hops from now on.  The girls and kids are happy to be here because there is a mall about 2 miles from the anchorage and that will be the first mall since Jacksonville.

All in all we really enjoyed the DR.  We had heard alot of negative things about it but we had had a very enjoyable time.  Even though the place is quite poor and the infrastructure is questionable there are lots of different things to do and see and most importantly the people are very friendly.

Puerto Rican Coastline