Costa Caribe Golf Course

Tuesday 6 Feb - The kayak was delivered this morning.  Carol and I played around for a couple of hours on where to store it.  While we are passage making it will fit on top of the dinghy davits under the solar panels and be completely out of the way.  The downside of this location is that it can be a hassle trying to get the dinghy up and down with the kayak on the davit lines (will work out some type of bracket).  So while we are coastal cruising we will leave it on deck attached to the life lines so we can have easy access to launch and recovery. 

Kayak on the front deck

That afternoon we rented a car and did some shopping as this will be our last opportunity to get bulk items at such places as Sam’s Club or the Pueblo.  Also I located a vet where we were able to purchase 20 more cans of prescription diet food for Fancy. 

Wednesday – We have had a nagging little water leak in the port engine compartment.  I finally traced the culprit down to the swim ladder bracket on the top of the sugar scoop.  That area sits about 2 inches above the water line.  It only leaked while we were under way or during periods in a rough anchorage when water would splash up on the lower portion of the platform.  Since it is pretty calm here I was able to remove the ladder brace, clean, and re-caulk the area.  Hopefully I have finally stopped the leak.

Several of the cruisers are leaving Friday (as are we) so we hosted a party on our boat to say good bye and exchange cruising notes and email addresses.  Everyone brought drinks and snacks and we enjoyed 3 hours of great company.  From one of the east bound cruisers I traded dollars for Dominican Pesos and one couple gave us their Dominican cell phone that just needs time to be replenished by phone card.  Cool, we already have a phone number in the DR.  Another couple gave us some charts and a Lonely Planet guide for the DR.

Thursday - I dug out 10 x 5 gallon jerry cans and will take on an extra 50 gallons of diesel fuel for the trip home.  Also fuel is cheap here at the yacht club, only $2.20 a gallon.  Our internal tanks hold 54 gallons and the extra 50 should be all that we need to get back to Florida.  Carol spent the morning washing closes and Fancy.  Tomorrow morning we will top off the tanks and be underway to Cayos de Cana Gorda, or as the locals call it Gilligan’s Island because it reminded the PR folks of that famous location from the 60’s.

Happy Camper

 Friday, February 09, 2007 - We are underway.  The seas are relatively calm, the wind is light and variable (less than 6 knots), the spinnaker is set, the tanks are topped off, the sky is clear, a Bloody Mary in hand, and a good looking girl at my side……Ahhh, life is GOOD.

Yesterday afternoon Dennis and Cindi, aboard the beautiful yacht Sea Bear (68’ Gulfstar), arrived from the Dominican Republic and tied up in front of us.  We met later for drinks and they invited us on board for dinner.  We got some more great information about the DR and another must stop location at Punta Cana.  It really is very cool not to have any schedules as it is now simple to just add a couple more stops.  At this rate we will may make Florida by June (not sure which year?).  Looking back we have covered only 200nm in the last 10 weeks. 

News Flash!  This afternoon T Howell & Lovey arrived at Gilligan’s Island, also known as Cayos de Cana Gorda.  The area is a nice protected anchorage and we were able to sneak up close to shore because of our shallow draft.  After I cleaned the bottom I kicked back and enjoyed the scenery, and a few beers.  I BBQ’d chicken on the grill and we watched a cool movie entitled “The World’s Fastest Indian” (thanks to Dennis, Cindi, & Russell from Sea Bear).  For the biker crowd it is a must see.

Saturday – In our usual pattern we are just laying around.  After breakfast Carol and I went exploring in the dingy.  Ashore on Gilligan’s Island we met several Puerto Rican families out for a day at the beach/picnic.  These people are very family oriented and it is obvious that they enjoy each other and have a lot of fun.  The island is a park and has several nice beaches, lagoons, pavilions, and grills set up for anyone to use.  The park closes at 5:00 so it is deserted at night.

 

Mangrove Langoon at Gilligan's Island

Sunday – Today is another pleasant day.  We sailed westward heading for La Parguera where there is a bio-luminescent bay.  We stopped at Playa Santa for lunch.  The area was beautiful with a nice public beach and several large condominiums.  I was hoping to catch an internet WIFI access but no luck.  The bad news here is tat it seems like the Jet Ski capital of  PR.  We ate lunch and proceeded on our way.

From Playa Santa we weaved through the maze of little mangrove islands to our destination.  The Bahia Fosforesente is like a small mountain lake that is about ¼ mile long and 1/8 mile wide with a small 100’ entrance.  From the lagoon there are several mangrove canals that wind back another ½ mile into mangroves.  Shortly after anchoring we saw a pair of large manatees and 2 dolphins.  The Bay has a nice breeze so it looks like it will be a good anchorage.  Carol and I went exploring through the little channels to lay out tonight’s trip to find those illusive little bio-luminescents.  

After sunset we were off in the dinghy for the evening’s entertainment.  The phosphorescent light was created by the dinghy propeller creating an underwater neon light show.  Every now and then we would cross an area and where there was a large saturation of phosphorescent that created mini explosions of light reminding us of fireworks.  Later in the evening several tour boats from La Parguera entered the lagoon to go swimming in the total blackness.  No thank you! 

Monday – We got underway early.  On the south coast there are numerous reefs to navigate around and most of this is done by eye sight with the sun above or behind your back.  Traveling westbound you must use the morning to noon sun and when proceeding eastbound you take advantage of the noon and afternoon sun. 

La Parguera is a beautiful little town hidden behind a ½ mile row of tiny mangrove islands.  Being unfamiliar with the area I bumped bottom several times passing between the mangroves and the town.  I tried to convince Carol that I was merely just trying to clean the barnacles of the keels, no luck.  The water front homes here are very pretty.

La Parguera home	La Parguera home

The cruising guide pointed out that this is a grassy bottom and it may be hard to anchor, found that to be true.  We went ashore to wonder around and grab some lunch.  Most of the businesses were closed (typical for Monday’s in PR resort towns).  We found a little local place and had a late lunch and returned to the boat for more lounging.

Part 3

Tuesday – We spent most of the day hanging around waiting for a canvas man to show up for a small job, never showed.  Oh well, as they say here tomorrow.

Wednesday – We left early for Boquerón.  As we were leaving La Parguera you can see why this is the diving capital of PR.  Between the town and outer reefs (3 miles off-shore) there are hundreds of small shallow reefs.  What makes these reefs so special is the water between, and right adjacent to the reefs, is anywhere between 50’ to 75’ deep and rises steeply to the reef creating what is called “walls”.  Unfortunately it has been windy this last week and the water has not been very clear.

After a lunch stop and swim we arrived in Boqueron at 3:00pm.  Carol and I went ashore to explore and find some ice cream.  There were lots of bars, tiny boutiques, a small grocery store, and no ice cream.  As a substitute we bought a bag of ice and went back to the boat for a couple of frozen pina coladas.  The rest of the day was reading and nap time.

Thursday – We left at 0530 for Mona Island, 45 miles east of PR.  Mona Island is a Puerto Rican national park and wildlife refuge.  The island is un-inhabited expect for a few park rangers.  Since neither of my paper or electronic charts had any details of Mona I wanted to make sure to get there while we had good sunlight to navigate through what the cruising guide called a tight fit through the reef to the only anchorage.  By 0800 the wind picked up to 12 knots from the port quarter and under spinnaker we were making a nice 7 knots.  By 1100 and with the island in sight the wind dies to less than 5 knots…..ugh.  We end up using a motor for the last 2 hours and arrived at 0330.

While I was lowering the sails and getting ready to enter the small cut in the reef we hooked a 3’ barracuda.  I left him on the line until after we were secured to one of the moorings.  To my surprise when I came back to free the cuda a persistent turtle kept coming up and trying to take a bite out of the fish.  The turtle and I battled it out and fortunately for the cuda I won.  The release program was successful and the last I saw of the dazed cuda was him swimming away with the turtle in pursuit.

Mona Island is beautiful.  The little harbor has room for 5 moorings placed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).  We are the only boat here, very cool.  The water is crystal clear and the beaches are a bleached white. 

Carol and I were enjoying an evening cocktail and several young men from a Coast Guard cutter came in by dinghy and asked if we have ever been boarded by the Coast Guard?  Nope, I said (mistake).  The lead Coast’y says well this is your lucky day.  Two of the men came aboard while the other 3 stayed on the dinghy.  These guys were armed and looked serious.  After some routine questions, a review of our boat documentation and passport numbers check they determined that we were not a threat to the USA and decided to only do a routine inspection of the boat systems and hardware.  Our deficiencies were that we did not have a sign posted in the engine compartment that states we are not allowed to dump oil overboard, another sign by the garbage container about garbage disposal policies, and the head holding tank valve did not have a lock.  We got a violation for the holding tank lock (not sure what the fine is) and the rest were warnings.  Busted by the US Coast Guard!

Friday – Carol and I went ashore for some exploring.  We met several of the friendly park rangers that are stationed here.  They stay here for one week and then get one week off.  Nice duty I may apply for a job.  These guys were very friendly and welcomed the opportunity to practice their English.  We hiked up a trail to get a picture of the boat from above but could not find a location for a suitable shot.  We saw several large iguanas near the beach.  Also wild boars roam around everywhere and don’t seem to be afraid of people. 

The island has some of the largest hermit crabs I have ever seen, the size of softballs.  We were walking up a steep trail and these large hermit crabs kept rolling down the path like rocks.  For some reason these crabs spend the day trying to crawl up the hill.  Whenever the crab slips it rolls quite a ways down hill.  Talk about one step forward and ten steps back.  There must be a big prize for who ever gets to the top, maybe they get to mate with the big queen crab (ha). 

Large Hermit Crab

 The reefs surrounding the harbor are beautiful and the water very clear.  We took the new kayak out for a little exploration.  The glass bottom is very cool and like dry snorkeling. 

Saturday – We left Mona at daybreak for the 40 mile sail to Punta Cana.  The seas were flat and no wind, looks like we will be doing some more motoring.  Thankfully at about 1100 the wind picked up to 8 knots and we were able to launch the spinnaker.   It turned out to be a very pleasant sail and we arrived at 2:00pm.

Punta Cana is a growing area and hosts its own international airport.  At the resort complex there are two large condo type hotels, about 100 sea side villas, numerous estate homes, golf and country club and about 10 restaurants.   They presently have an excellent golf course and two others under construction. Another resort type project is under development immediately south of the marina and it consists of 4 large high rises and they will have 2 more golf courses.

I started chatting with a gentleman (Pierre) on the dock and invited him on board for a beer.  Pierre is here with his boss for the next 3 months taking a break from New York.  Pierre filled us in on the plans for Punta Cana, instructed us how to get around, and even offered us his car if we need one.  One of the south bound cruisers in Ponce gave us a pre-paid DR cell phones and I asked Pierre about where we could get a refill card.  Pierre said we would have to go to town and that he would be happy to have someone do it for us that evening and he would bring it to us Sunday.  Our lucky day to have met Pierre, he is a very nice person.  Pierre is a chef by profession and works for Oscar de La Renta.  The next day we got an information pamphlet on Punta Cana and found that De La Renta’s name is all over the place and he probably has a financial interest in Punta Cana.

Sunday - The primary means of transportation in the complex is by golf carts and we plan to rent one for the next couple of days.  The cart rental office is at the main lobby about a mile away and is supposed to be open from 0900 to 1200.  They have shuttle buses that usually run every 15 minutes and take people anywhere in the complex.  Sunday must not be a normal day because after 60 minutes we gave up and decide to try again or walk over to the hotel Monday.

The marina where we are staying offers cable TV, unfortunately we don’t have a cable.  Again, our new friend Pierre to the rescue.  He talked to one of the maintenance men in the complex and was able to come up with a 30’ piece of cable and 2 connectors.  That evening while enjoying cocktails we watched the Daytona 500, cool.

Sunday night an employee from the hotel guest services came to our boat and asked if we could help a 50’ motor yacht trying to enter the marina.  In his broken English the employee explained that someone called the hotel from their cell phone (on the boat) and asked for help locating the channel for the marina entrance.  The marina office is closed at night and the harbor channel entrance is not lit.  I contacted the vessel on the VHF radio and told them the situation (no one here from the marina to help) and that there are numerous reefs, the channel markers are not lit, and the cut is a tight zig-zag and is challenging even in the daytime.  The boat did not have any charts and explained he was having trouble steering and needed to get the boat into a safe harbor.  About this time the port comandancia showed up and gave permission for the boat to come ashore.  After a few minutes of discussion (through a translator) the comandancia and I lowered our dinghy and went out through the dark to the channel entrance and flashed a spot light for the vessel.  Unfortunately the vessel hit a reef before he got to the entrance and bent a propeller.  About this time sanity starts to settle in and he decides to just anchor outside until light (good decision).  The vessel had departed Puerto Plata earlier in the day en route to Punta Cana.  That was his first mistake trying to come into a strange harbor at night and without charts.  His mistake will probably end up costing him several thousand dollars and it will be a tough job trying to get some one from around here to help. 

Monday – Carol and I walked the half mile to one of the restaurants in the compound for breakfast.  The entire complex is ocean front and most of the bungalows, bars, and eating establishments are open air.  After breakfast we found out that all the golf carts are reserved or in use until Thursday, bummer.  Monday afternoon the weather has turned crappy.  The wind has picked up and it rained most of the afternoon.

Tuesday – The weather is still poor.  After breakfast we walked to the hotel lobby, to use the wifi.  While I was doing some internet stuff Carol went over to the cart rental office was able to sweet talk us a cart for that afternoon.  We wondered over to the golf course to take a look.  Tuesday afternoon Pierre took us off the resort grounds sightseeing and stopped at a couple of grocery stores to replenish our fresh produce.

Wednesday – This crappy weather is getting depressing.  We were invited to diner by a couple we met the previous evening at the marina.  Robert and Lilia are here staying at one of the estate homes along with their 2 teenage children, Lilia’s parents, another couple that are their close friends, and their adorable 7 mo old puppy Coco.  Robert and Lilia purchased a golf course lot and will be building a retirement home in Punta Cana.  They have a Dominican cook that prepared an excellent Dominican meal of chicken, rice, beans, pasta, salad, and desert.  We had a super evening and enjoyed becoming part of the family.

Thursday- The weather is still bad but is supposed to improve.  Of course I have been hearing that for the last couple of days.  We have been told that the resort complex grows its own organic vegetables and they may be purchased buy the residents.  For us to get to the farm it entailed walking about a mile, and a stretch of that through the woods.  For those of you that know Carol you will appreciate her perseverance of spider webs, insects, and mud.  At the end of the trail and across the street we found the produce farm.  After some wondering around looking for the market we finally figured out that you must get one of the farm hands and show them what you want from the fields (no English here).  The helper then cuts or pulls the produce from the ground.  Carol is now very happy and the trek thought the woods is all worth while with the fresh produce.  We got 4 heads of green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch of arugula, and bunch dill all for $1.80 (great deal).

Friday – We got up early to get underway.  The weather is still yucky, but not bad enough to cancel the departure.  We had planned to break this up into 2 legs of about 7 hours each but the forecast for the next day (Saturday) was high winds so we pressed on non stop to Samana.  We departed the marina at 0830 and after an hour the winds died down to less than 5 knots, no sailing here as we can’t even keep the spinnaker full.  We ended up motoring most of the way which is really frustrating since we are supposed to be going downwind.  We dropped our anchor in Samana harbor at 10:30pm and enjoyed a refreshing cocktail and toast to King Neptune for another safe trip.