Friday 26th January
At sea
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!
TO EVERYONE THAT WAS IN KATHERINE 9 YEARS AGO TODAY, WE ARE THINKING OF YOU!
Gerry was up early – couldn’t sleep or something, of course if he was up we all have to be awake! He took the dink off the deck, fixed the outboard and fuel supply to it, emptied the last of our jerry can fuel into the tank and then announced he was going to see if the fuel station was open. I dragged myself out of bed and made coffee, sausage, biscuits and a batch of muffins. Gerry returned with full jerry cans – we now had enough fuel to get us to Puerto Rico even if we motor all the way. The next job on the list was going to see the comandancia to make sure we could leave with no problems, Gerry left me onboard with instructions to listen to the weather report at 08.30 hrs if he wasn’t back by then. I got out all the gear we would need for the day and waited for the weather report – which as it turned out we couldn’t pick up in the harbour. Gerry returned at 09.45 hrs with our paperwork, $11 harbour fee, $20 interpreter fee and his coffee mug lighter (the interpreter took a fancy to it so it was handed over as a “Gift”) We repeated our packing up of the dink etc. ready to head out and hauled our anchor up just as another boat from Luperon made its way into the harbour, we exchanged greetings and info and off we headed. There were quite a few passenger day trip boats going out of the harbour as we left and Gerry told me that the interpreter said they were going out whale watching as the hump backs come here to mate from December to March, he ( the interpreter) was also quite scathing about Bruce Van Sant – saying he has put cruisers off of visiting Samana with his book which is very pro Luperon. The interpreter told Gerry that Samana has lots to see – a national park, waterfalls, whale watching, beaches, resorts, mountains and a civilized township. I have to say we regret not stopping here as it looks to be a good spot from what we could see. As we made our way out of the harbour yet another boat from Luperon was heading in, we chatted with him and heard about the night passage then said goodbye and continued on our way. As we cleared the harbour Gerry suddenly told me to look out to the port side – there in the near distance was a pair of hump back whales. I grabbed the camera and snapped off a few shots, we weren’t really close enough for good pictures but at least I got a couple. They were amazing to see and we were the only boat anywhere in sight so their show was a very personal one. We hoisted the sails and managed to motor sail for the next couple of hours – avoiding the hundreds of fishing pots, floats and lines that were in the water. The water was like glass – flat and clear, such a contrast to the previous day. We managed to make at least 6 knots for a good while. We had the sails up until we had to make a slight change of direction which put the wind right back on our bow. As the day progressed the winds increased slightly but our entire trip was quite pleasant for a change. We ate dinner and then began the night watches at 21.00hrs, taking it in turn to do 3 hours on watch and then 3 hours sleeping.
Gerry was up early – couldn’t sleep or something, of course if he was up we all have to be awake! He took the dink off the deck, fixed the outboard and fuel supply to it, emptied the last of our jerry can fuel into the tank and then announced he was going to see if the fuel station was open. I dragged myself out of bed and made coffee, sausage, biscuits and a batch of muffins. Gerry returned with full jerry cans – we now had enough fuel to get us to Puerto Rico even if we motor all the way. The next job on the list was going to see the comandancia to make sure we could leave with no problems, Gerry left me onboard with instructions to listen to the weather report at 08.30 hrs if he wasn’t back by then. I got out all the gear we would need for the day and waited for the weather report – which as it turned out we couldn’t pick up in the harbour. Gerry returned at 09.45 hrs with our paperwork, $11 harbour fee, $20 interpreter fee and his coffee mug lighter (the interpreter took a fancy to it so it was handed over as a “Gift”) We repeated our packing up of the dink etc. ready to head out and hauled our anchor up just as another boat from Luperon made its way into the harbour, we exchanged greetings and info and off we headed. There were quite a few passenger day trip boats going out of the harbour as we left and Gerry told me that the interpreter said they were going out whale watching as the hump backs come here to mate from December to March, he ( the interpreter) was also quite scathing about Bruce Van Sant – saying he has put cruisers off of visiting Samana with his book which is very pro Luperon. The interpreter told Gerry that Samana has lots to see – a national park, waterfalls, whale watching, beaches, resorts, mountains and a civilized township. I have to say we regret not stopping here as it looks to be a good spot from what we could see. As we made our way out of the harbour yet another boat from Luperon was heading in, we chatted with him and heard about the night passage then said goodbye and continued on our way. As we cleared the harbour Gerry suddenly told me to look out to the port side – there in the near distance was a pair of hump back whales. I grabbed the camera and snapped off a few shots, we weren’t really close enough for good pictures but at least I got a couple. They were amazing to see and we were the only boat anywhere in sight so their show was a very personal one. We hoisted the sails and managed to motor sail for the next couple of hours – avoiding the hundreds of fishing pots, floats and lines that were in the water. The water was like glass – flat and clear, such a contrast to the previous day. We managed to make at least 6 knots for a good while. We had the sails up until we had to make a slight change of direction which put the wind right back on our bow. As the day progressed the winds increased slightly but our entire trip was quite pleasant for a change. We ate dinner and then began the night watches at 21.00hrs, taking it in turn to do 3 hours on watch and then 3 hours sleeping.
Labels: Dominican Republic
posted by SV Orpailleur at 5:04 p.m.
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