Bug Screens

The new companionway screen in place

Before leaving Florida, we gathered the materials to make screens to cover all of our hatches and the companionway.  While we were in the Bahamas, we rarely had problems with insects.  Here in the much more lush Dominican Republic, the abundant insect life made screens essential.

Cindy had assembled a simple hatch cover with screen and vinyl binding tape last spring.  But the project languished while other things took priority.  Now it is finally done.  The hatch screen sits on the deck and stays in place with weights sewn into casings along the circumference of the base. Because the screen is free standing, we can use it for other things, such as covering the food on a picnic table.  Of course, it can also be used interchangeably on the salon hatch or the V berth hatch.  The hatch weights were our own invention.  We constructed them by filling 3 foot lengths of clear plastic tubing with BBs and sealing the ends with epoxy putty.  The result was heavy, compact, and flexible.  With the four lengths folded together and the screen rolled around them, the whole apparatus collapses to an easily stored compact cylinder.

The portable bug screen in place over the forward hatch

The companionway screen is a weighted curtain that attaches to the edge of the sliding companionway hatch with snaps.  We elected to do a curtain as opposed to a cover that was attached on all sides to ease entry and exit.  For the weights, we used BBs again.  The curtain required a more flexible edge than plastic tubing could provide.  We opted instead to construct a weight belt.  The belt is composed of 14 individual packets of BBs sewn into a fabric casing, separated by rows of stitching.  We made the BB packets by measuring 3 ounces of BBs into small plastic bags, then vacuum sealing them.  (Yet another use for the Food Saver!)  The belt fits into a pocket running the length of the curtain bottom.  The edges of the curtain are bound with vinyl tape.  The top is a one inch wide snap placket, reinforced with two layers of vinyl.  One advantage to having a curtain instead of a screen that fastens around the opening is that it can be left in place whether or not the hatch board is in.  We just flip the screen on top of the sliding hatch to replace the board.

Cindy and Gray

Close up of one of the weight tubes used in the portable bug screen

Winch Covers

One of Cindy's Island's new winch covers

While winch covers can extend the life of a winch by keeping it out of the elements, Cindy has to be honest and admit that she made them simply for instant gratification.  They are a simple, yet satisfying project and provided a good way to get back in the groove of canvas work after so many months away from it.

These winch covers are simply two cylinders of fabric nested inside each other and attached at the top.  The outer cylinder is sized to reach from the deck to the top of the winch.  The inner one is about half as high.  The bottom of the inner cylinder forms a casing for an elastic band.  The elastic holds the cover in place.  The inner cylinder can be of a different color or fabric since it is invisible.  Cindy used some of the yellow fabric from the awning for ours.  Since the yellow was not as stiff, the elastic casing was easier to make.

Simple!

Plus, we think they make the deck look nice and tidy.

Cindy and Gray

Watch out, Miss Muffet!

This tarantula was relocated from under the Burro Pass washing machine to the great outdoors using a calendar and an inverted bowl. For scale, the calendar squares are two inches high. The tarantula therefore had a leg span of at least 6.5 inches.

While we were not in the path of Hurricane Omar, we were close enough to be drenched with over 8 inches of rain in two days.  All of the rain led some of the local wildlife to seek out a drier environment, such as the interior of the house we are watching.  In some ways, this made it seem like Halloween came a few weeks early.

The first tarantula we saw indoors was innocently resting on the arm of the sofa when Gray shocked it by jumping up and shouting.  We set a bowl on top of him, slid a calendar under him and let him go in the yard.

We have seen a lot of spiders, toads (the giant zombie poison kind!), lizards, and even slugs in the lush country around Luperón.  But the spider we found under the washing machine made us run for the camera.  It was larger than any spider either of us had ever seen – including the ones in natural history museums and zoos. He was relocated in the same way, which is really the best way to get rid of them.  Trust us, you don’t want to squish spiders that are bigger than your shoe – and spraying insecticide just annoys them.

We have been drying out for the past few days here and we and the spiders couldn’t be happier about it!

Cindy and Gray

Escape from the Mangroves!

Once Hurricane Ike had passed us by, it was time to move Cindy’s Island from the mangroves to a more comfortable spot out in the harbor.

On our first attempt, we got up very early in the morning to take advantage of the calm before the trade winds fill in later. Unfortunately, it was also low tide and Cindy’s Island was sitting in the mud. We made sure the engine would start and readied the washdown pump for use.

Once the tide came in, we decided to try again. The winds were up around 15 knots, less than ideal for moving a boat in the crowded cove we were in. We started the engine, cast off some of the lines from the mangroves and began inching forward to pull up our anchor. Almost immediately, one of the many mooring lines lurking in the murky water wrapped itself around our prop. Gray took Cindy ashore and began looking for ways to kedge (move using lines and anchors) the boat into deeper water so we could move it during the following morning calm. Gray had also resigned himself to hiring a diver to free the prop.

After a very messy job of relocating lines and anchors to move Cindy’s Island into deeper water and away from other boats in the cove, Gray went back to our apartment for a drink. On his way back to his muddy labors, he ran into a fellow boater and whined about our fouled prop. It turns out this fellow was about to put on his dive gear to help out yet another boater with a fouled anchor. He offered to unfoul our prop when he was done. Gray went back to work, gathering our large Fortress FX-37 anchor and attaching a 340 foot rode (300 feet rope, 40 feet chain) to it. When he took the dingy out to set the anchor relatively open water near the mouth of the cove, the diver stopped by and said he was ready to unfoul our prop. Before Gray could drop the anchor off the dinghy and get back to Cindy’s Island, the prop was clear! The diver said that it was only wrapped around the prop, not tangled or knotted. There was no damage and freeing the prop only took a few seconds!

Because there were still several lines lurking in the murky water, Gray left the engine off. By running the rode from the Fortress to a winch, cranking slowly and adjusting the tension to lines still tying Cindy’s Island to the mangroves, Gray was able to move the boat to better position for motoring out of the cove in the next morning’s calm. By the end of the day, Cindy’s Island was in deep water with a single anchor (still the Fortress) and a single stern line to the mangroves. Our primary anchor, a Bulwagga 27, was on the roller and ready to deploy when we reached our new anchorage.

The next morning, we got up early again and went to the boat. To minimize our time in the crowded cove, we tied a float to our Fortress anchor’s rode and tossed it overboard to collect later. We cast off the mooring line and almost immediately ran over another line lurking in the murk. Cindy’s quick easing of the throttle saved us from another fouled prop. Between her careful maneuvering and Gray pushing the stern of Cindy’s Island around with the dinghy, we were able to work ourselves free and make for more open waters. We found a spot to anchor, set our Bulwagga and went back to the apartment for a well deserved breakfast.

Later that afternoon, Gray collected the Fortress anchor and rode as well as the lines we had left tied to the mangroves. The dinghy was again filled with mud, but Cindy’s Island was safely anchored. It turns out we were “safely” anchored in the channel the big fishing boats use to get to the town dock. This channel is not marked by buoys or on the chart, so how could we have known? Our friends on Irie reported that several large commercial fishing boats came very close to Cindy’s Island as they returned to the ocean after weathering Ike in Luperón’s bay. The next day, Gray moved Cindy’s Island to a safer spot that should be clear of the channel. We are now anchored between other sailboats and the mangroves. So far, so good!

Pictured: Cindy’s Island tied to the mangroves after hurricane Ike passed through Luperón.

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Hurricane Update

Since we have been in Luperón, we have not had access to television.  We know that most of our readers do, however, and might therefore be getting a confused and alarmist picture of what the weather conditions have been like here in Luperón and in the Dominican Republic in general.

We have been rained upon by three named storms:  Gustav, Hanna, and Ike.

With Gustav, we got two days of steady rain.  Even though we don’t have glass in our windows, the direction of the light to moderate wind kept the rain outside.

Despite weather forecasts that repeatedly called for Hanna to pass away from us, she stayed right by Hispaniola for more than a day, raining heavily.  We were enjoying the unaccustomed quiet all afternoon – no motorcycles, no barking dogs, just raindrops – when a voice came over the VHF radio:  “Cindy’s Island, Cindy’s Island, you are dragging through Love canal.”  We jumped into action, dashing for the waterlogged dinghy.  In the minute that it took us to get there, other boaters had already mobilized.

Our mooring had pulled out.  Fortunately, we also had an anchor attached at the stern of the boat.  Our boat swung back on the stern anchor and ended up with another boat’s bow pressed against our port side.  We were soon joined by several other boaters.  After putting out our main anchor to help hold us off the other boat, we began to take lines to the mangroves in an effort to tie Cindy’s Island securely against them.  As we moved closer to the mangroves, both our stern anchor and our main anchor got tangled and foul in the maze of lines, pulled up moorings and other debris on the bottom of the canal.  We tied floats on to them and let them drop off the boat.  We led our third and final anchor off the bow all the way across the canal on a rope rode to help keep from drifting all the way into the mangroves.

The next morning, Gray went out early to recover the lost anchors and our mooring screw.  After spending a lot of time following lines, locating tangles and untangling them, he located both the lost anchors and the mooring screw.  With assistance from some employees of the owner of the mooring, he recovered all three.  He then went to work securing Cindy’s Island for the imminent arrival of Ike.  He tied 5 long lines into the mangroves and put out all three anchors on the opposite side.  After some adjustments to get the hull parallel to mangrove shoreline, he returned to our apartment sunburned and muddy (from all the mud – the fragrant, richly organic mud – on the anchors).  Over the next couple of days, he continued his storm preparations:  making adjustments to the lines, lashing things to the deck, removing other things from the deck, etc.  By Friday, he was satisfied with his preparations.  He also removed and cleaned our lines and other hardware that was attached to the mooring screw.

The dinghy got very muddy during all this.  There was about an inch of smelly mud in the bottom.  Gray hauled it up on to the dock and hosed it out.  Now it is dry but stained.  It will take some work to scrub all the mud stains off.

Several other moorings put in by the same people who did ours came out.  They were undersized and not drilled deep enough into the mud to hold in even very moderate wave conditions.  When we move Cindy’s Island away from the mangroves, we will be setting it up with our own anchors in the harbor.

Ike was due to arrive late Saturday afternoon.  On Saturday morning, we split a taxi with Mark from Irie and went shopping in the nearby city of Puerto Plata.  After getting some hard to find provisions and a lot of heavy groceries, we picked Liesbet (also from Irie) up from the airport.  She had been in Belgium for several weeks.  We got the groceries and other things unloaded from the taxi just as Ike’s first wind and rain reached Luperón.  We spent most of the evening watching the wind and rain from the bar in the nearby marina.   In the morning, Gray went out to survey the scene.  From the dock, the boat looked good but the dinghy had about a foot of water in it.

Ike was a strong enough storm that the Puerto Plata fishing fleet and many fishing boats from the Turks and Caicos came in to the bay for protection.  It was pretty wild seeing Puerto Blanco (the name of the bay next to Luperón) transform itself with their arrival.  Around 50 new boats came in, mostly large fishing craft.  They drove themselves bow first deep into the mangroves and tied off.  We have neverseen so many fishermen hanging around at one time!

For us, the worst thing about the storms is that it distracts us from getting any work done on our boat projects.  We feel pretty fortunate that that is the worst thing that we can say.  Our thoughts are with the people of Grand Turk, who we so enjoyed visiting just a few months ago, who weathered Ike’s worst; and with our neighbors in Haiti, who can scarcely afford any more flooding.

Stay safe and dry,
Cindy and Gray

Picture:  Fishing boats against the mangrove the morning after Ike grazes the Dominican coast.

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USA Visit Four — US History Fun

Blennerhassett Mansion

We’ve been back from the US for more than a month and we still haven’t finished writing about it!  Lots of has been going on in Luperón, so let’s finish up the US trip and get back to our tropical adventures. After our loooooong trip to North Carolina from North Dakota, we visited Gray’s family and our friends in Providence.  We had a nice time seeing everyone and saw some interesting sights: Blenerhassett Mansion, near Parkersburg, West Virigina This park and historical site was the scene of scandals in early America.  The Blennerhassets were a rich Irish family that settled on an island in the Ohio River.  Aaron Burr tricked them into financing his plan of raising an army to found a separate country on the western edge of the newly formed United States.  The plot was discovered and the Blennerhassets were ruined.  However, since they were not raising an army to overthrow the US government, both Burr and Blennerhasset were found innocent of treason.  There is a rebuilt mansion to tour as well as a museum and park with trails.  To get to Blenerhassett Island, you must take a “paddlewheel” ferry from Parkersburg. The Greenbrier Bunker, near White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia This super secret Congressional fall out shelter (not a bomb shelter!) located in the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia was exposed by the media in the mid 1990s.  It was built in secret in the 1960s to house members of Congress in the event of nuclear attack.  The facility was not meant to withstand direct hits by nuclear warheads, just to protect the occupants from fall out.  With the advent of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, the shelter became obsolete.  Since an ICBM only gives a few minutes warning (as opposed to bombers dropping nuclear bombs), there wouldn’t be time to evacuate Congress to West Virginia. The bunker was always owned by CSX, the railroad company that owns the Greenbrier resort.  When the government quit funding the bunker, they had to find a way to make it financially viable.  In the aftermath of the Enron scandal, the Sarbanes-Oxley act required companies to keep records in a secure location.  Now, most of the bunker is dedicated to data warehousing and secure intellectual property storage.  Therefore, even in the declassified present, we were still prohibited from taking pictures.  They preserved enough of the original facility to give a good sense of what it might have been like to enter and live in the bunker.  The tour is fascinating and we highly recommend it.  It gives interesting insight into the Cold War mentality of the 50s and 60s.

Picture:  Blenerhassett Mansion

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USA Visit Part Three — Fun at the Airport

The itinerary for our whirlwind trip back to the US included 12 flights on 6 different airlines.  We stopped in cities all over the country and feel pretty confident in defining ourselves as frequent fliers, if only for the month of July.  The air travel experience has changed dramatically in recent months, and was changing still as we flew from place to place.

We flew on discount carriers and traditional carriers, choosing our flights based on how well they fit with our plans, and price.  These included Spirit, United, US Airways, Jet Blue and Southwest.  We also had booked flights on AirTran, but couldn’t take them (more on that later).

We have long been accustomed to marching barefoot and beltless through security lines, feeding ourselves at airport concessions before boarding call, and sorting through our toiletries to remove any products large or pointy enough to be useful.  Cindy has rarely felt discouraged by these annoyances, always excited to take a plane into the sky (defying gravity – what could be cooler?) to a new and promising destination.  Gray forebears, as long as the end is in sight.

Recently, we have experienced some annoyances that even dragged Cindy down.

Baggage charges
With the exception of Southwest, all of the airlines have instituted new fees for checked baggage.  Some start charging with the first checked bag.  All charge extra for bags over 50 pounds.  These fees can be enormous – well over the cost of the flight.  We packed very light, planning on using the maximum outbound luggage allowance with necessary boat parts, books, and other goods not easily available in the Dominican Republic.  Taking on only carry-on luggage is always a good goal, but in practice, it is becoming more and more difficult.  Between us, we had two laptop computers (which have to be unpacked and scanned separately at security) and a heap of things we no longer needed on the boat, but did not want to give away.  The clothes and toiletries actually took up only a small portion of the space.

We plan our travel expenses carefully.  There are enough hoops to jump through without having to pay for seat reservations, reservation fees, soft drinks/food on flights, and luggage charges.  We would not mind a higher upfront ticket price to cover the airlines’ expenses.  The problem is that the additional fees are unpredictable.  The airline can raise or add them at any time, even after the initial ticket purchase.

Delays and Cancellations
We noticed fuller flights and lots of cancellations.  It appears that flights that are not profitable are simply being cancelled.  We were affected by this personally when we arrived late (due to a weather delay) in Denver.  We intentionally started that say with a 6AM flight to minimize potential problems with missed connections.  It didn’t seem like it would be a problem, since there should be 5 flights a day from Denver to DCA on United alone.  Alas, it was not to be.  All of the flights out after 9AM were cancelled or oversold that day, with no reason given.  In our two day odyssey to get from North Dakota to North Carolina, we were affected by cancellations and delays again and again.

Service
We were thrown upon the shores of the service counter numerous times in our trip.  At best, indifferent; at worst, shockingly awful.  Gate agents no longer help with rescheduling; we were rudely told by several to go to the customer service counter.  That would have been fine, if there had been any time over the course of the day that the line was less than 2 hours long.  We tried rescheduling by phone (obviously an Indian call center).  In one instance, this yielded a reservation which was overturned by the local agent – apparently, the call center overstepped his bounds.  In another instance, the phone rep would have sent us to the wrong airport, had we not very carefully reviewed the itinerary on the call.  The most galling thing was that the service desk was so obviously understaffed. Even though our problems were directly caused by flight cancellations out of our control, we were offered no compensation: no food vouchers, no coupons, upgrades, or frequent flyer miles.  We were given a night’s stay in a hotel when an evening flight stranded us in Chicago, but otherwise it is clear that representatives are no longer given any flexibility in compensating their clients.  Cindy wrote a formal letter of complaint to United airlines, and was disappointed, but not surprised to receive only a form letter in response.

WiFi in Airports
One bright spot in our travels was the increased availability of WiFi in US airports.  In many airports, it is free.  A few airports contract with providers like T-Mobile for their wifi service.  When wifi was not complimentary, the charges were reasonable.  Internet service gives us lots of options for communicating changes in our flight itinerary and helps keep us entertained during long layovers.  Some airports, like Atlanta, gouge customers with high daily subscription fees.  Many others do a better job.  It’s nice to see a few positive developments like these.

Thanks for bearing with us, our regularly scheduled travelogue will resume with the next post.

Cindy and Gray

USA Visit Part Two — You’re in Dakota, Who Needs Montana or Minnesota?

Painted Canyon

After spending a mellow weekend with friends in the DC area, we headed to Maryland to visit Cindy’s family.  Just for “fun”, we decided to take public transportation rather than renting a car.  Our first hurdle was that there is no public transportation in the hoity-toity neighborhood where our friends live.  They generously offered to drive us to the nearest bus stop, so we were on our way.  Once on the bus, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it filled up quickly.  We guess the high gas prices are causing people to take a serious look at public transportation.  We took the bus to the Metro (the subway in the DC area) which was also full.  At the end of the subway ride, we boarded a Greyhound bus.  The bus was surprisingly nice.  Once we got through our layover at the Greyhound hub in Baltimore, the ride was almost as fast as driving.  There were only a few stops between Baltimore and Ocean City:  one 15 minute restroom/snack break at a gas station, one stop to refuel the bus, the rest of the stops were quick stops to let passengers off.  All in all, it took only slightly longer than driving and we got to sleep through most of the trip.

We had a nice time visiting Cindy’s parents in Ocean City and were able to catch a ride back to the DC area with her brother.  We stayed at his house for a couple of days.  Our nieces are really growing up!

We got to experience the DC Metro area public transportation system again on our way to Dulles Airport.  We took an express bus from downtown DC to the airport.  The ride was very nice with only a couple of stops before our destination.  With transfers from the subway, the ride was around $2 each.  Much cheaper than a taxi!  If we ever have to transfer from Reagan National to Dulles Airport, we’ll definitely do it this way.

Now to the meat of our story, the North Dakota visit!  Gray had never been to North Dakota nor had he spent much time with Cindy’s extended family.  After a long but uneventful flight, we arrived just in time to collapse (although our host, Cindy’s uncle and and her Mom stayed up for several hours catching up).  We spent the next day making the rounds to visit various relatives and ended the day drinking margaritas with several of Cindy’s uncles and aunts.

The next day, we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park with the uncle and aunt that instigated the margaritas the night before.  They were excellent tour guides.  As usual, we saw just enough to make us want to come back.  We would love to take an extended camping and hiking trip in the park.  We saw lots of wildlife including prairie dogs, elk, and antelope.  The bison were a little shy that day, so we only saw them from very far away.  It was interesting that although the wildlife was completely different, the landscape was very similar to the Humahuaca area we saw in Argentina in 2006.  After a full day of sightseeing, we had a tasty dinner of grilled sausage.

The following day marked the start of the town’s 125th Anniversary celebration.  There were bands all day long all weekend, parades, car and tractor shows and of course, plenty of food.  It was a true slice of small town America.

Some highlights for us include:

Breakfast “Udder” the Cow — The town’s mascot is a large cow sculpture situated on a hill with a commanding view of the town.  The local Lions Club served breakfast under its bovine countenance.  By large, we mean LARGE.

The Parade — It was an old fashioned, small town parade with floats from all the local businesses, the high school band and, of course, cars and tractors.  Many of the cars and especially tractors were antiques in fantastic condition.

Melodrama — The local community theatre did a great job putting on a silly musical about life in old Dakota.  It had everything:  a dashing hero, a dastardly villain and a damsel tied to the railroad tracks.  The line “Who needs Montana or Minnesota?” was from the musical.

Pitchfork Fondue — The way fondue was meant to be!  Steaks are placed on the tines of pitchforks and plunged in a huge cauldron of bubbling grease!

Street Party — The final band on Saturday night played on an outdoor stage.  The street in front of the stage was closed and filled with dancing people (including us, of course).  The crowd and the band lasted until after 1am, pretty late for us!

People kept asking us if it was a culture shock to come to North Dakota after being in the islands all winter.  It was less of one than you might think.  Farmers have a lot in common with sailors, particularly our obsession with the weather.  While we worry about wind and waves, they worry about sun and rain.  They have to pick their weather windows just as carefully as we do, if not more so.  An hour or so of extra sunlight or a particularly heavy morning dew can make a big difference in the day’s work.  Also, the grocery stores in the middle of the rural United States are just as expensive as the ones in the Bahamas!

We had a great time in North Dakota and will definitely be back.  Don’t be surprised if you see more journal entries about the Peace Garden State.  Maybe we’ll even go to the Peace Garden!

Cindy and Gray

Pictures:
Panoramic view of Painted Canyon in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Cindy Udder the Cow
Antique Tractors at the Tractor Show

USA Visit Part One — Getting from Luperón to Washington, DC

We’ve just gotten back from a 5 week visit to the United States!  Sorry for the lack of blogging, but we have been BUSY!  After barely two weeks in Luperón, we boarded a plane from Santo Domingo to Washington, DC to visit friends and family in the United States.  We visited friends and family, saw movies in theaters, ate in our favorite restaurants and generally reveled in the unlimited hot water, fast internet and good company.

We left Cindy’s Island safe on a mooring within view of the mooring’s owners.  They have a large dog that patrols the dock near the moorings and barks if anyone comes around at night.  Our friends from Irie stopped by every few days to check the inside for leaks or other problems.  Other than getting very hot and humid inside, everything was fine.

Our trip from Luperón to Santo Domingo was an experience.  We took the Transporte De Cibao bus which leaves from Luperón and ends up in Santo Domingo.  This bus is NOT an express bus.  It stops for anyone who waves at the driver.  The driver continues to pick up passengers long after all the seats are full.  The cobrador (assistant to the driver in charge of dealing with the passengers) placed planks across the aisle to add an additional 3 seats to each row.  We sat in the front so we were the last row to be jammed with people.  We shared our traditional 4 seat bus row with 5 other people (3 sitting on a plank in the aisle).  At every stop, everyone shuffled around to let people from further back out the front door.  At one point, the man across the aisle had what we assume to be a fighting cock riding on his lap.  The rooster was beautiful with a bright red comb, red plumage and alert eyes.  His owner kept him in a sack with only his head sticking out, every once in a while petting his head.

Once we got to Santo Domingo, we got off at the right street for our hotel and boarded a publico to head down the street to the hotel.  Publicos are privately owned cars and buses that follow specified routes through the city (usually back and forth along a major street).  The one we boarded had been a bus in its former life and was a little worse for wear.  The headliner and light fixtures had been removed, leaving a bare metal ceiling and lots of dangling wires.  The seats were also in bad shape.  The one Gray sat on fell apart.  He carefully put it back together and sat on it more gently.  We were watching for our hotel’s address and thought we had passed it, but it turns out many of the buildings in Santo Domingo have numbers on their facades that are not necessarily their address number.  After wandering back and forth and asking several helpful people, we made it to the hotel and checked in.

The next morning, we took a taxi to the airport and flew to Washington, DC via Fort Lauderdale.  United States Customs and Immigration took a while, but was not an undue hassle.  Since checked baggage incurs extra charges (in this case from Spirit Airlines – but also the case with most others), we managed to compress our travel kit into four carry on bags.  It’s good to travel light!

Cindy and Gray

Picture:  The strange and controversial monument to Christopher Columbus in Santo Domingo, as seen from a cannon in one of the old city’s fortifications.

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Notes from a New Country – Luperón, Dominican Republic

We spent two weeks in Luperón, getting our bearings and preparing for a whirlwind trip (by air) back to the US.  We chose Luperón for Cindy’s Island’s summer berth because its Puerto Blanco harbor is one of the best hurricane holes in the Caribbean.  We knew that it would be well protected with easy access to a town and plenty of other cruisers to help show us the ropes.

The harbor’s safety derives from it’s location tucked in the lush mountains of Hispaniola’s north coast.  The harbor itself is quite large, with room for hundreds of boats.  At first, we dropped our anchor in the middle of the greenish expanse.  Later, we moved onto a mooring down a small arm of the bay nicknamed “Love Canal.”  We are now very close to other moored boats, but also close to our own patch of mangrove which we will tie on to if a tropical storm comes through.  The landscape could not be more different from the flat, arid islands of the Bahamas.   In fact, you can smell the island even before you see it, a rich smell of soil and vegetation.  The water is different, too.  At night, the slightly cloudy deep green water glows a bright neon green with any motion.  When we run the outboard motor on the dinghy after dark, it leaves a trail like a shooting star.  The best part is what we call the “fish fireworks” – as fish streak away from the dinghy in random directions trailing brightly through the dark water.

Most of the hills around town are undeveloped, but there are a few clusters of buildings visible from the harbor on either side.  The small but busy town of Luperón itself is in the flat valley between the north and south hills.  Town is a short walk from the dinghy dock.  At the end of the pier is a permanent government post where armed customs officers keep watch for new arrivals and people bringing in items.  When we arrived, we had four weeks worth of dirty laundry which we brought into town to have washed.  The customs officers insisted on searching it to make sure we weren’t going to set up a “duty free” electronics shop on the sidewalk.  After a brief whiff of the contents, they changed their minds.

Once past the guards, Luperón begins in earnest.  The town consists of small wood frame or concrete block buildings, many of which serve as both homes and businesses for the residents.  The streets in town are paved, but that doesn’t discourage the chickens, sheep, goats, and dogs from using it as their own.  They share it with a large number of mopeds, some cars and some trucks.  People like to sit on chairs outside their homes or businesses and watch for customers or just watch the world go by.  If there is no shady spot on their side of the street, they will probably be on the other side. Luperón has a basic array of services: a few banks, restaurants, bars, small grocery/convenience stores, a bakery, an internet place, and at least a half a dozen places to buy cell phones.  On one side of town is a decent baseball field with bleachers and on the other side, a cock-fighting ring.

Our internet access in Luperón has been slow and spotty.  This means that it is relatively difficult to do things like upload photographs and impossible to use Skype.  We may experiment with taking a laptop to the big city (either Santiago or Puerto Plata) and finding a fast internet café there.  But for now, please bear with us.

The food here is excellent.  While frozen and even refrigerated foods are hard to come by in town (due to the inconsistent power supply), the fresh foods are fantastic.  All kinds of tropical fruits and vegetables are cheap and plentiful.  Cindy has been slurping down fresh juicy pineapples and mangoes at an alarming rate.  Meat is butchered in the mornings and sold fresh.  Eggs are also fresh and unrefrigerated.  A local restaurant will typically serve a meal of chicken, beans and rice, and plantains for $3 or a little less.  Fancier restaurants or non-chicken dinners tend to cost about double that.

Beer is one thing that always seems to be available cold.  We have tried and enjoyed the local Bohemia and slightly higher end Presidente beers.

We will be renting an apartment for a few months starting in August, just up the hill from our boat.  Gray will be able to pull things apart and install a new battery system (details coming soon!) and Cindy will be able to crank out some more canvas projects while we wait for the hurricane season to pass.  It looks like Luperón will be a good home base for a while.  Stay tuned for more stories from the files of Cindy’s Island.

Cindy and Gray

Tags: Luperon, Luperón, Dominican Republic, Sailing, Food