A couple of weeks have gone by and we have fallen woefully behind in keeping the written journal up to date! Having our laundry done by someone else was a treat, especially since it cost only $7.00 US for 22 pounds – cheaper than any laundromat.
Luperon was our first experience with culture shock, being in the minority by being gringos and not speaking much Spanish, but we survived and even learned some phrases and words to get us by. We walked around the small town trying to stay out of the way of the many motorbikes whizzing around. The people were friendly, the children happy, and the weather hot. One night we had an unusual April shower that dropped 6 and ¾ inches of rain in about five hours. The water in the harbor turned a muddy brown that lasted for days afterward, being none too clean to begin with.
Side trips included a day excursion to Puerta Plata where we visited the Amber Museum, a mountain called Loma Isabela de Torres, and a big supermarket; Cabo Isabela where one of Columbus’ first settlements was built in 1493; a three-day jaunt to the capitol city of Santo Domingo. All this sightseeing is a real change from spending most of our time on the boat, and it’s very educational, too.
The excursion to Santo Domingo with friends, Linda and Mike (S/V Casa del Mar), took us by taxi from Luperon to Imbert, by guagua (local bus) from Imbert to Santiago, and by A/C motor coach from Santiago to Santo Domingo. We left at 9 AM and were at our B&B by 2 PM…pretty good for rookies. More forts, botanical gardens, cathedrals, old buildings, and narrow brick streets comprised much of the visit. The return trip was a little easier as we took the A/C motor coach from Santo Domingo to Imbert. We ate a late lunch at a local restaurant where we had eaten the week before. This is a little place with three tables where the owner, Rosa, took us into her little kitchen to show us what was cooking, and then served us a family style meal of rice and beans, chicken, and cole slaw. After eating, we caught a ride back to Luperon with Genci, the van driver who had chauffeured us around the week before. This time it wasn’t just us…at least 12 other people were picked up and dropped off at various places on the way back to town.
Watching the weather so we could leave for Puerto Rico became a daily activity. Finally several boats left one evening, and a couple more left the next morning. We left on Friday, 4/28, along with Casa del Mar. Forty-six hours later we arrived in Boqueron, PR, after crossing the dreaded Mona Passage in pretty calm seas with not enough wind to sail without motoring. We took our turns standing watch. It wasn’t all that easy to sleep for a couple of hours at a time and try to be alert for a couple more, but we made it through.
We thought we could call Customs and check in with our US Customs Decal, but we had to find a ride into Mayaguez, and visit Customs and Immigration in person. Boqueron is a small village which is “party central” on weekends, and fortunately we missed that! We met more boaters there, people going both north and south. We did some laundry at a little open-air laundromat, and relaxed. Our third buddy boat, S/V Nereia, arrived a couple of days later, and at 4 AM on Friday, 5/7, we all left for Salinas about 60 miles to the east on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
And that was the beginning of an adventure! We were out about 5 minutes when we heard a new noise, not a good one, and our smoke alarms started going off with smoke coming out of the cabin below. Roland quickly shut down the engine, and discovered that the muffler pipe had fallen apart in the engine compartment. Instead of turning around and going back to the anchorage, we decided to sail all the way. Now, when there’s not a lot of wind, we only go about 2 knots per hour, and there wasn’t a lot of wind! We told our buddy boats to keep going, and that we would eventually catch up with them. They arrived in Salinas by 3 PM that afternoon. We finally sailed into the anchorage at 11 AM Saturday morning. It was a long night by any standard, and the first time we had anchored under sail since the old days in Lake Erie.
So we’ve been in Salinas all this week. We visited Old San Juan City on Sunday, made two trips to provision on Monday and Tuesday, and did more laundry! The most amazing thing was that Roland found a local welder who repaired our muffler in one day and asked only $10 for the job. Roland told him it wasn’t enough and gave him $20. We thought sure it would cost $100 or more. We also decided that since we wouldn’t be able to use our folding bikes anymore down island, we would give them to Mickey, the welder. Hopefully, he and his children will get plenty of use out of them.
We’re planning on leaving early tomorrow morning (May 13th) for the island of Vieques, approximately a 60 mile trip (49 as the crow flies).
