LUPERON SHOTS.Well i finally made it home to my own sailboat -Prodigal. i sure had fun visiting / sailing with Craig and Angela on their s/v Hakuna Matata on our voyage from the Bahamas down to the Dominican Republic and then across to Puerto Rico. We did a total of about 600 miles and made it across the Mona Passage.
Ross & Fran of s/v Pacific Quest. (we buddy sailed from Luperon to Puerto Rico with them.) ages: 27 & 25 from Australia and New Zealand. cute couple. they met working on a 200' super yacht in the Med, part of crew 16ppl.
Ross & Fran of s/v Pacific Quest. (we buddy sailed from Luperon to Puerto Rico with them.) ages: 27 & 25 from Australia and New Zealand. cute couple. they met working on a 200' super yacht in the Med, part of crew 16ppl.
SAMANA SHOTS
From Luperon we sailed over to Boqueron, Puerto Rico. (it took us several days. we sailed nights and spent an extra day in Samana DR to rest) We got in at about 6:30pm after a VERY FAST 24 hour sail from Samana, Republic of Dominica. It was an easy motor sail over the Mona Passage as we caught a rare ‘fold’ in the weather with calm seas and light winds.
MONA PASSAGEFor two weeks we had been anchored in Luperon, Dominican Republic waiting on a weather window to cross the Mona Passage. (the small 140 mile body of water between DR and PR) it turns out the Mona Passage has a reputation for it’s weather… the entire Northern Atlantic currents, winds and waves rush south through 10,000 foot deep water then it all crashes together into the narrow ‘Mona Passage’ including the ‘hour glass shoals’ where the water comes up to only 200 feet deep. So all this stuff is squeezed together and the strong trade winds help to pile up huge waves and rough seas… something to truly fear. (like riding a toothpick through a toilet bowl flushing) but we flew through with little wind and tiny rolling swells about 4 ft high.
How did we know when to go? every morning Craig listens to weather. At 6:30am Chris Parker is on the SSB radio with a weather report for the Caribbean. (http://www.caribwx.com/ssb.html ) It’s a pay service for cruisers, if you want to inquire about a specific route. (i.e. ‘how is the weather today between Luperon DR to Puerto Rico over the Mona passage?’) Chris answers questions from callers, “sponsors” or members to his Caribbean Weather Net. They pay $200 per year for this service. For this they can call chris and ask about weather from Columbia, Panama Canal and around all the way up to the Chesapeake.
Craig is not a member so we listen in (it’s a radio program) for news about where we want to go. Some mornings we get exactly the info we seek and other days we get nothing useful. (one day a ship in our harbor asks about exactly where we want to sail – we have our answer) other days boats only sailing a few miles ask lots of questions and waste all the time.
It was a great adventure for me. Lots of fun and learning.
(the pirates dream: coconut cream pie)
Thanks craig and angela for sharing.
-pirate skip
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