Dominican 2014
Executive Summary
6 days, 3 countries, guilt free, zero homesickness, little sleep, a taste of adventure, easy camaraderie, a ton of laughs, one new crew, a night in a resort, too much cheese, barely enough water, plenty of rum, ample wind, lost the bow pulpit, bent the ladder, celebrated a birthday, survived a squall, scrambled eggs, christened a whisker pole, danced at Foxy's, docked poorly, anchored like a pro, saw a shooting star, ran out of wine, found a missing crewman, lied about our gun, consorted with natives, ate chocolate Easter eggs, crossed few boats at sea, downwind all the way, nothing to fear this time around, remain humble before the sea.
Notes
Departed St Thomas for Foxy's on Yost Van Dyke at 5pm…lost the bow pulpit going in 8 foot waves created by a current around _______ learned Doughterty could sail which was nice.
arrived Foxy's just at sundown, last boat in, found an opening and drank a few red stripe while the anchor set
party at foxy's till midnight, depart 11am for north end of St. Thomas, Magden's Cove, a large protected harbor with a crescent sandy beach….wind blowing 20-25 kts with gust to 30 kts, hit by a white squall, torrential down pour, zero visibility, we are actual cold on deck….happy to pull in and wait a day for the weather to improve.
grilled steaks on deck at sundown, rum and red wine, early to bed for tomorrow we depart….
8am we are off, coffee is brewing, wind is a steady 20 kts marlow sails due west along the north side of St thomas with the wind aft and then southwest into the channel between St Thomas and Puerto Rico…..i slow cook scrambled eggs in 6 ft seas, 48 hrs to the Dominican
we exit the channel and head due west again, south of puerto rico, 20 miles off shore we are in 5000 feet of water which is smoothing out the 6 foot waves we are riding in 20 kts of wind.
night falls, steady 15-20 kts, we put out the new whisker pole to extend our genoa and do a cool 6.5 kts all night
much the same the next day–skies are clear, stars are out, sun is hot and we are moving all through the night, jibing back and forth to stay on course to Casa de Campo.
we arrive at 10am, get into dock, pass inspection–no gun, and start celebrating. it is my birthday, and I am content.
we head to the beach, sip rum cocktails through the afternoon, and then head to the hotel bar for more before dinner.
we go into the city of la romana for dinner, outside of the barbed wire confines of the resort, this island is poor, reminds me of Tijuana, across the boarder from San Diego…such poverty next to such wealth is depressing. the food was terrific, but there weren't many people out on a Tuesday night.
We clean up Marlow in the am, head to the hotel for a swim and lunch and depart at 230pm for our flight home….40 degrees at JFK, long term parking lot is the dregs.