Luperon to Samana

Karen:

In land life, we were heavily scheduled. Each day started at 6.30am and was filled to the brim with school, work, afterschool care, extra lessons, social events. As sailors, we need to learn to slow down. To take things as they come. We always have a plan and we are always adjusting the plan based on weather, boat problems or crew needs.

All that to say, we were ready to leave Luperon. We had a great 3 day weather window with winds under 15 knots from the NE-SE, and waves 2-4ft. So we planned to leave at 6am, and if we went directly to Puerto Rico we could make the 250 nautical miles in 48-60 hours (our longest passage yet). This includes the formidable Mona Passage, a tumultuous stretch of deep trenches and unpredictable currents between DR and PR.

In preparation to leave, Michael ground me up to the top of the mast in the bosun’s chair to check the rigging. What a view! All looks good to me.

We checked out of the DR the day before, careful to report we’d be leaving that night at 5, so they would give us the despachio as paperwork for the same day. We planned to stage in the outer bay in the evening and leave at first light.
Checking out involves presenting our boat papers first to the Armada, then the immigration officials, the harbour master and customs. It took about 3 hours and went relatively smoothly. The biggest challenge we faced was the printer in the immigration office which would need to be shut off, paper tray opened, and then the machine restarted after each copy - a very painful process to watch!
We wandered up the now familiar main street of Luperon to collect our last packages and went for a final lunch at Astrid’s. We ran into many of our friends and stopped to say goodbye, to discuss weather and routes and promise to meetup again. After 4 months there it really did feel like home.
We readied the boat and I began to cook for our passage:
-Breakfast burritos
-Banana bread
-Granola
-Lentil stew
-BBQ chicken (done in our cast iron pan - the valve on the BBQ is corroded and can’t open it!)

The kids went ashore to say one last goodbye to our friends Bruce, Terry & their basset Poppy
Michael readied the deck and stowed all our gear. By the time we were ready we were too tired to move to the outer bay. Oh well.
We woke at 5am and had coffee and reviewed the weather in while it was still dark. As the sky began to lighten, Michael started the engine and I went on deck to release the mooring lines - and we were away! A beautiful start.
The kids joined us in the cockpit as we left the calm safety of the bay and headed out offshore, heading east once again.
We hugged the coast and enjoyed an easy day in 4 knots winds, just off our port beam. Flo had some seasickness initially but got over it quickly. Christian eagerly stood his first official watch, recording our speed, wind, and engine in the logbook. We ate and listened to podcasts and hung out on the foredeck enjoying being underway gain.

To prepare for the night watches, I went down for a nap at 6, and got up at 9.3O to take my turn at the helm. I made coffee and got setup with my podcasts and was quite happy, under a full moon, allowing Michael to get a decent sleep until 2.30. He then came up on deck and I had a good rest. This suits our natural sleep rhythms and seems to be a good structure for us.
At 6.30 I relieved Michael and he could sleep. They had a pretty big rain squall but other than that all good. By this point we had rounded Cabo Cabron and were making pretty good time.
According to our book, leaving Samana is best done in the evening to take advantage of the night lee when crossing the Mona Passage. There are storm cells that leave the coast of PR in the evening and you don’t want to get caught in those. So by leaving in the evening, you sail the Mona during the day and arrive in PR during the following night.
To follow this guidance, we were about 12 hours early. So we elected to go into Samana and anchor for the afternoon at Caya Laventado, have a rest a swim and a meal, and head back out at 6pm.
As we entered Samana bay, we were greeted by the beautiful lushness, and saw that the small sandy island we anchored off has a large high end resort, and is busy with small tour boats taking tourists out to visit. So nice that we almost felt like staying…

Michael checked the engine. He’s monitoring it closely after all the work we had done on it in Luperon. One thing is not sitting well with him - the coolant is not coming down in pressure and he can’t remove the cap to check it.
We lifted the anchor using our windlass for the first time in many months and were sadly plagued by many of the same issues - it’s still not getting enough power and the breaker blows continuously. But it did manage to pull the anchor up.
I was still feeling ‘hungover’ from lack of sleep and had a headache, so as Michael drove us out I went back down to sleep until our shift change at 9.30.
At 8.30 he called me up to help with the sails. We had the headsail up and were being pushed towards a large reef on the south side of the entrance to Samana. We tried to get the mainsail up but couldn’t keep into the wind in order to do that. We took down the sails and with just the engine, we were only making one knot of progress. The angle was just too tight. We needed to bare off and being tired i realized my headache was getting worse, we made the call to head back and regroup. We reanchored off Cayo Laventando at 12.30 am and gratefully went to bed, content with the call we made.

As tempting as it is to race forward and reach your goal and push through the tough times, making the call to turn back is not easy, but so important to do when you are not feeling it.
The next day I awoke with stomach pains and severe diarrhea (thank God we turned back) and Michael discussed our engine coolant issue with his brother - there must be air and/or a blockage in the overflow line (thank God we turned back).
The next weather window is in 1 week- which gives us time to rest, replan our route and sort out the engine. We relaxed and enjoyed exploring the beautiful spot we found ourselves in. Slowing down really does have its advantages!!

After a few days, winds were picking up again and we decided to move in to anchor in the more protected bay in the town of Samana. On the way in we passed in front of a cruise ship. We waved to the passengers, it looks huge up close.

The moment we anchored, a small boat pulled up and the driver let us know we must check in first thing in the morning. Drat, more officials and paperwork.
Another boat had left Luperon after us and had arrived in Samana a couple days after us. They are in the marina and I called them to hear about their trip over. Turns out it was disastrous- anchor loose in the middle of the night during the passage and even a small fire onboard!! They are frazzled to say the least. And on top of that they are having paperwork nightmares with the officials because they have been in the DR more than 3 months and have left the country and returned in that time.
Our boat neighbours came over to say hi , a sailing couple on a 34 foot Hunter. They let us know they are also having issues with paperwork and are being told they need to pay $800usd for the cruising permit (if you stay more than 3 months and want to travel inside the DR, this is the policy).
So, after this discussion, we were a bit nervous to go ashore to see the immigration officer. Then, the Armada showed up at our boat and asked to come aboard! Michael was very gracious and said yes, of course please come see our boat. The 3 men boarded and had a quick look around, including Carlos, acting as interpreter. Michael explained we had engine trouble and needed to stop here to fix it and that we had a despacio for Puerto Rico.
The four of us then got in the dingy and headed into town, where Carlos met us and showed us the way to immigration. Michael was extremely polite, deferential, and explained our situation beautifully, while Carlos helped translate. They called in their boss to review our papers. Once he arrived he confirmed he could cancel our despacho from Luperon and he could reissue it from Samana when we left in a few days. Great. We then visited the harbourmaster and the Armada and everything went pretty smoothly. We were elated!! Michael was on a paperwork high lol. He gave Carlos the few USD we had and a small bottle of rum as a gift.
We walked through town to see how far the gas station was and get a feel for where we are. It’s a much bigger town than Luperon and we walked up the main drag and the back through the charming winding streets in the town. Lots of life in the streets - dogs, motorcycles, laundry, building activities, butcher shops and BBQ chicken. We needed to find a cash machine and would then grab some lunch. As we headed back to the docks, one of the armada came and said he had to board our boat again. So this time, Michael went with him and 5 others. They filmed every corner of our boat. While it feels weird to have people going through your things like that, for a country with so much drug and people smuggling, it really does make sense.

While we waited for Michael, the kids and I enjoyed an ice cream at Bon. It wasn’t long until he returned and we could go for lunch at a cute little restaurant. We enjoyed a Presidente and celebrated another successful entry into the DR!
One Presidente turned into 2 as we began chatting with our table neighbour at the restaurant. Pippa is from Ontario and moved here 10 years ago, and has 2 lovely rescue dogs we got to know. It’s amazing how many people move here on a whim and just LOVE it here!! She has set herself up teaching English and told us more about the humpback whale mating/birthing season in January - March, sounds pretty incredible.
We wandered back to the docks ready to head back to the boat.
Immigration officials were waiting for us and called us back to their offices (were they waiting for us to finish lunch?). The higher level boss was on the phone and asked us - when did we leave Luperon? Why did it take us 8 days to get here? Michael again explained our situation, and luckily found a route tracker that he had saved on our navigation app that showed we had left Samana bay attempting to make Puerto Rico and had turned back. This seemed to satisfy them and we were again allowed to leave. We got back to the boat and rehoisted our Dominican Republic courtesy flag, happy to have been accepted back without additional fees - to be confirmed when we checkout!!

We spent the next few days waiting for a weather window and exploring Samana. We went to a famous chinese restaurant for a fabulous meal with a view of the bay. We wandered through town running errands and met up with our Luperon friends Ray and Kathleen for lunch.

Michael troubleshot our coolant issue - he discoverd the gasket was shot. Ray advised us to find some gasket maker and he successfully made a new gasket. This gives us much more confidence in our engine for the next leg!