Weather windows…sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!
We woke up in Fernandez Bay at Cat Island and were planning to make a short leg to Conception Island, spend the night and then on to Rum Cay. Well, the weather man just told us the wind will now shift to the north in the middle of the night instead of the next day. With the wind projected to continue out of the north we needed to scrap the plans to see Conception Island on our way south as there is no protection from a north blow. It did look spectacular through the binoculars though! We made it to Rum Cay with some daylight to spare…which is good because the meandering channel markers, through the coral reefs, don’t light up and are hard enough to see in the daylight!
We turned in early that evening…felt good! The next day we were asked to move our boat to another ‘slip’ as a pretty large motor boat was coming in. They offered to comp us a free night and being ‘cruisers on a budget’ we said, “Sure thing!”. Rum Cay marina could quite possibly be the most dilapidated marina we have seen in the Bahamas but it is a great stop. You get good protection from almost any weather (some surge) and you can fuel up if you have a long trek ahead of you.
The day was spent in preparation. Ed added fuel to the boat and resupplied at the marina. He also changed the engine oil, oil filter and fuel filter. Boats are too small for multiple projects so when Ed was done, I headed to the kitchen to make some clam chowder, corn muffins, chili and cookies for our next few days to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
We are up early and underway. There is a little bit of a swell but the breeze is good and we are actually able to sail most of the day. Around 5pm the winds became light and variable as the cold front started heading toward our direction. The beautiful thing is a diminishing or stalling cold front makes for little wind. Not necessarily a good thing if you want to sail. However, we are first cruisers, then sailors so we decided that rather than be in the Turks and Caicos indefinitely waiting for good weather to cross…let’s motor-sail to the Dominican Republic while it is calm! So, we kept going, and going and going. In all we sailed (and motored!) 99 hours to get to our final destination…all of them pretty darn comfortable. 
So, what do you do when you are out there four days in a row? FISH! We needed to make a steady 4.3 knots to make our landfall in the Dominican Republic (Samana) by early morning. This is a nice trolling speed! We never expect to catch fish so when we hear the fishing rod go whee, whee, whee as the line is going out it is BIG TIME excitement. Ed grabbed the fishing rod while I took the helm and slowed us down. At first Ed just knew it weighed a lot. Then, the fish leapt out of the water in a frenzy. OK, this is going to be fun! After about 45 minutes the fish was finally up next to the 
boat. I tried to gaff the fish in the gills and missed! The next try got the underbelly and the gaff actually bent while I was trying to hold on….which I couldn’t do for long so Ed had to haul the fish in! It was a Mahi (dolphin) which is a beautiful yellow and blue color. It is almost sad to see it turn grey as it dies. Probably not as sad as watching Ed knock the fish in the head 3 times to subdue the fish before it could do more damage to the boat (yes, we have dings in the fiberglass and gouges in the teak floor!) So, we learned a valuable lesson! Remove EVERYTHING from the cockpit next time and close hatches. Suffice it to say, there was quite a bit of cleaning up to be done! (Beth and Wayne...this is why we inquired if there was a more gentile way of doing away with the fish!) ***Thank you Raymond....your homemade lure has landed us two beautiful fish so far!Land Ho! It’s the Dominican Republic! We are not in Kansas anymore! After the Bahamas there is a striking difference in the landscape. Mountains and palm trees everywhere. We made our way into Bahia Santa Barbara, Samana, DR. Lovely….and I will like it even more after a nap!
A side note to other cruisers: We chose to into the Columbus Passage on the east side of the Turks and Caicos. We had mild west winds and the passage is very wide and easy. I am not sure if an east wind would build too much in the passage but if not…we think it beat the heck out of crossing the banks and constantly watching your depth. We put in at South Caicos for fuel. You do need to check in and check out with customs and immigration though which costs around $30. It seemed like a fairly well protected anchorage if you wanted to rest up or wait on weather before going to Big Sand Cay. Leaving the Turks and Caicos we also decided to not land in Luperon or any other northern ports due to the north swell. The swell wasn’t too large but will keeps coming from this direction during the winter months which makes timing a departure eastbound difficult. Plus, for anyone who has read Van Sant, remember he is a solo sailor that likes to stop every night! If you can press on for another day to the east side of the DR passage making gets easier.
When we anchored in Samana we were greeted by 4 hombres that came out in a boat. One was from the navy, another from immigration, one was an interpreter and the other was the water taxi driver. They filled out paperwork and whisked the Captain (Ed) to shore to complete the check in process. All in all, very easy.
We are in awe of Samana Bay. There is a lot to do here in this protected water. There is an island where you can anchor and then dingy ashore for a fantastic beach and reef snorkeling. The cruise ships use it when in port so you might want to skip those days! The locals catch Langouste (lobster) there and let you select the one you want for lunch!
Across the bay, to the south, is a National Park. We haven’t been there yet but you again anchor just outside and take your dinghy in for beautiful scenery and great snorkeling.
Right now we are at the Puerto Bahia marina. Yep, the first one in two months. We wanted to rent a car to tour the island and will need to leave the dogs on the boat. It is warm so we will turn on the air conditioning for them! Ah, spoiled rotten! The other reason is we simply needed to clean the boat. Salt water takes its toll….and then there was the Mahi blood everywhere! The marina/resort may not be in guides and charts as the marina just opened and the resort is scheduled to open December 18th. So, it is brand new and very beautiful. The nicest marina for $.90 per foot we have seen since the USA.
More later on our island tour!
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