Noah figures out how to operate the dinghy – freedom!
We’re still here in Luperon. The first weather window was small and we opted to pass, since it wasn’t favorable enough. Time to enjoy more of the Dominican Republic by land. We rented a car for a couple of days and set off.
La Isabela archeological dig site
Our first excursion was out to La Isabella. When Columbus was touring the Caribbean back in the 1400’s, he decided he to settle in the Dominican Republic. Luperon was his first choice with its protected harbor, but the bay was too shallow for his boats. Instead it was around the bend to La Isabela (he named it such after the queen). What a beautiful bay! A colony was set up and locals rounded up, as Columbus was determined to find gold. Unfortunately, the gold was further south, Columbus grew bored after wiping out the local Taino population and moved onto Santo Domingo. The village was abandoned and later completely razed during the Trujillo dictatorship in the 1940’s. Universities from Venezuela and Florida came back in the 1990’s and did a massive archeological dig, reconstructing the location of the building foundations of the village. Today, the remnants of the village have been preserved/restored and a museum added to the space. We were the only visitors that day and had our own private tour.
Human remains from La Isabela
After that we were off to Punto Rucia, a resort town just past La Isabela. Or – should have been just past. Our maps app sucked, the bridge was out, the only ferries were a piece of plywood strapped to barrels hand towed across the river that couldn’t take more than a motor bike. Two hours later we limped into Punto Rucia. It was fun, but wildly touristy. My favorite part was watching the local boat guys (who take tourists out on banana boats and other inflatables for the day) run their boats up onto the beach – gunning a 75 HP engine and letting things rip.
Dominican Republic traffic jam
The drive back was less than desirable. The roads in the Dominican Republic are rough at best, and we managed to hit two massive pot holes (actually more like large sink holes), cracking the struts on the car. Luckily, we later found out that the repair cost was a whopping $60 and could we contribute? $30 tossed in and the car rental guy was thrilled. Can you imagine how different that would be in the US? I can’t imagine how much money the rental company would have come for.
Luperon yoga poses
Since we still had the car another day we headed in the opposite direction to Sosua, another beach resort town. We first stopped at Playa Alicia and had a quiet if expensive lunch at a resort restaurant looking over a quiet beautiful beach. Later, we drove down to the main beach. Packed with restaurants, bars, shops & vendors, the beach goes on forever. We stopped and had a drink, stopped again to buy postcards and a piece of larimar jewelry (locally mined on the island), and left. Frankly, the number of old white men and young DR women was a bit creepy. I later found out that prostitution is rampant on the island.
Gui, Benny, Trip & Tobias
The next weather window was fairly small – only 24 hours or so – to move onto the Bahamas. Winds were still going to be strong (blowing high teens, gusting high twenties), but they were at least going to be behind us (in our favor) and seas were going to come from behind as well. But oh, the squalls. Squalls were projected for the entire region which would push those gusts in the high twenties to the high thirties. Can the boat take it? Absolutely. Can we take it? Not as well as the boat, but sure. Did we need to? Hmmmmmmnnnn. 180 miles of uncomfortable sailing is something to think twice about. We had already done some similar sailing last year (Maine to Boston and the NJ shore) and we made it, but it certainly wasn’t fun.
Luperon caves
Tuvalu, new German friends on a catamaran were making the same decision. Sandra left Tobias on board, scooped me up off Kalyra (Trip was working on the outboard, which had died again) to go ashore. We huddled over our tablets looking at all the weather and passage routing apps. Everything looked doable, nothing looked pleasant.
Trilobite at the water’s edge
Sandra and I were clearly undecided. Willing to go, but not wanting to make the decision. Coincidentally Trip and Tobias simultaneously but separately decided to stay. And the tension rolled off our shoulders, the decision having been made. As we talked to others in the marina, we felt better and better about our decision, especially talking to one new friend who had gotten stranded in one of the outer islands of the Bahamas for a month. It’s one thing to move on in big weather, it’s another thing to not have a comfortable anchorage waiting at the end for you. If there’s one thing that Luperon has going for it, it’s a comfortable anchorage with lots to do, even when the wind is howling outside the harbor.
Cambioso – imagine having this entire beach to yourselves for the day
Trip kept working on the outboard Monday and finally got it running again. We made the rounds visiting different boats as well as Wendy’s Bar to celebrate a local cruiser’s birthday. Wendy’s already has good memories for us, as Trip has greatly increased his karaoke repertoire (Chantilly Lace, Jailhouse Rock, Sunday Afternoon).
Nele and Domingito on Pepe
The winds have continued to rise all week and with every day we’re happier and happier we decided to stay. Last week 3 boats limped into the harbor with torn sails after a nasty passage from the Turks/Bahamas. Another tried to move east and came back 2 days later, acknowledging how bad the conditions were. Other boats have come in, but have managed to drag anchor in the high winds in the harbor, so things have been a bit exciting.
Playing in the trees
Cambioso was our next exploration. We rented a car with Tuvalu and fellow cruiser Claude was kind enough to take Noah on his motorbike. Imagine the ear-splitting grin on the face of a 10 year old boy on his first motorbike ride. Cambioso didn’t disappoint. After the touristy beach towns, this beach was completely empty except for us. There’s a small grouping of local homes at the edge of the beach, but no development beyond 2 restaurants and one bar. The restaurant owner greets you as you arrive, you order your lunch, and it’s caught & prepared an hour and a half later. We opted for grilled lobster and fried grouper and headed for the water.
A couple of local boys joined us in the water and soon we had some royal games of chicken going on, followed by back flips off shoulders. We headed back to shore and sat in the shade to dry off, drink a beer or two, and enjoy the watermelon that Sandra brought along. First the local boys taunted Noah into climbing the trees, and then they brought both a horse and a burro around for rides. Noah and his sister Nele were in heaven if the smiles on their faces were any indication.
Fresh garlic grilled lobster
Claude & Nele on the motorcycle adventure
After a couple of hours we moved over to the restaurant where we tucked into a huge tray of grilled lobster, whole fried fish, cabbage salad and rice, along with fried plantains. Not a bad way to spend the day when you’re ‘trapped’ by weather.
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