Wow, what an incredible week we have had aboard Wild Horses. We have gone from Georgetown, Bahamas to Luperon, Dominican Republic in just four days, a 376 nautical mile journey. This was not our original sail plan so yet it is another example of how we must be ready and willing to adapt to the ever-changing weather and circumstances of this lifestyle.
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Planning to make the jump to Luperon started in full force about a week ago, when we could see a good weather window open up. For Wild Horses, travelling on average at 6 knots, we need at least seven days of good weather to make this passage. This allows us to complete daytime jumps as well as the one or two necessary overnight (24 hours or more) jumps. For the long overnight jumps, a day of rest is factored in. Our weather forecast was for a lovely ten-day window but with one very important and critical problem. Halfway through, the forecast was calling for strong winds (near gale at 30 knots) in the Bahamas. Our options were to not go at all (yuck) or, to go far enough (and to a fairly protected anchorage) to be safe and sound (yucky still, but less so).

What was the final plan? We decided to go. We would start on Friday and make about four day hops before finally landing in Mayaguana. This is one of the most southerly islands in the Bahamas and where we planned to wait out the strong winds before continuing south to the Dominican Republic. We imagined that we might be able to do this last jump from Mayaguana to Luperon, 190 nautical miles, only on the following Friday, at the earliest.

That was the plan. That isn’t what happened. Nope.

We did leave Friday, arriving later that same day in Calabash, our planned anchorage on the northwest corner of Long Island. That night was a wonderful happy hour get-together with our buddy boats plus a few other boats coming from other anchorages. We were eagerly chatting about our next steps, especially considering the strong weather that was coming early the next week. A few boats decided to stay at Calabash, while most others (including us) were planning a day sail to Clarencetown, at the western end of Long Island. One boat, however, was doing something a little different. Callisto was leaving first thing the next morning and going all the way from Calabash to Mayaguana, Bahamas. This is a 159 nautical mile stretch which would take about 28 hours. It seemed a bit crazy considering that you could do the same miles over three lovely day trips. To each their own!

​The next morning we were set to wake at 6am and prepare for a 7am departure from Calabash. At about 6:15am, Mike called a family meeting (well, it was really just the two of us being that Ocean was still snoozing the morning away). He put it out there that we should go with Callisto. It would be a slog to get to Mayaguana but we would arrive there early enough to maybe do our final leg directly for Luperon, all ahead of the heavy weather that would be consuming the Bahamas. It took me two seconds to agree. We let Callisto and the rest of our buddy boats know…and then we were off!

Our passage to Mayaguana was uneventfully easy, and in the morning we arrived at the remote Bahamian island and carefully made our way through the narrow harbour entrance to the anchorage beside another boat buddy Mollie Sea. They had arrived at the anchorage just hours before us, having made the journey via another route. A few hours after us, Callisto arrived and anchored close to us.
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There we were, anchored, but just for a few hours. It was now Sunday and the weather was forecasted to start deteriorating on the Wednesday morning. Our next and final leg to the Dominican Republic was 190 nautical miles, about 34 hours. To beat the weather, we needed to leave Mayaguana before midnight so that we were safely moored in Luperon, Dominican Republic before dark on Tuesday.

Mollie Sea and Wild Horses weighed anchor at 11pm that same day, working our way through the coral head strewn anchorage and through the narrow harbour entrance, using only our track on our chartplotter as guidance. It was how we got into the harbour so it was going to be how we got out! I swear Mike didn’t breathe the whole time! Callisto’s plan was to follow us the next day. We would meet again in Luperon.

Although long, the 190 nautical miles was easy. The sea state was about as calm as the North Atlantic gets (3 to 4 foot swells) and there was just the right amount of wind to sail…if you were going another direction. No, the wind was right at our nose so our 34 hours was spent motor-sailing. And that was fine with us as it was all very comfortable.

We arrived at Luperon on Tuesday morning at 9:00am. The sea was calm, we were exhausted and Ocean really wanted to get to shore. I mean, it had been 34 hours! By 10am, we were safely moored on a mooring ball and all three of us were on shore for clearing into the Dominican Republic. We made it!
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This was our longest journey yet. We travelled 376 nautical miles in four days, with just a 12 hour pit stop for fuel and Ocean shore time. Wow.

​For now, we are in Luperon and enjoying our time here. We have run into old friends here and met new friends who are also headed to Grenada. Together we are weather watching and planning our next big jump from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. This next leg is a daunting one and needs the perfect weather to make it easy and comfortable. As we wait for that weather, we are enjoying Luperon and riding the high of our last passage.

​Mike, Victoria, Ocean. Our crazy Wild Horses crew is ready for anything! 😊

Cruisers often joke that “cruising” is fixing the boat in exotic places. It is a funny catchphrase but it is also very, very true. Conversations with our fellow cruisers are often littered with comments about what is currently broken on their boat and how they plan to fix it. They will casually talk about what parts they need, how they are going to get those parts or that they are waiting for a part to arrive. We all nod in agreement. We offer help (if we can) or parts (if we have them). This is the stuff that builds the ties deep in this community. We are there for one another – always – because we know our turn to be the one in need is likely just around the corner.

Well, the turn for Wild Horses came up big recently. Our trusty outboard on our dinghy failed. Yes, that outboard. You know, the one that makes sure Ocean gets to shore several times a day. It is critical gear for Wild Horses. Yikes!

The problems started at Black Point Settlement, in the Exumas. Mike would start up the dinghy motor, let it idle and then it would stop. Huh? Why the problem idling? We suffered through this for a few days, all while checking on the usual suspects (gas level, fuel lines, fuel pump). We could get the outboard going again by quickly shifting it into gear, but the idling issue kept happening. And it kept getting worse.

After chatting about our issue with our boat buddies on Tekana (Dean and Jean), Dean suggested that the carburetor needed to be cleaned. Thankfully, he has done this kind of work before and dove in. He also adjusted the idle screw and the pilot screw (okay, what are these things?) to finely tune our idle. Thank you Dean!

But, oh, the issue reared its ugly head again the next day.

By the time we got to Georgetown, the outboard wouldn’t idle at all. We played around with the adjustments to the idle screw and the pilot screw again. No good. In fact, I think we made it worse 😊. Dean was hailed for help, along with another mechanic friend and cruiser, Joe (on Shamal). It was all hands-on deck. The result? No improvement. Argh!

Then we met Wayne, from the sailing catamaran Gwayne. Wayne is a trained mechanic, among many other things not limited to amazing cook, musician, paramedic and fireman. Needless to say, Wayne is a very handy guy to have around!
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Well, Wayne worked on our outboard for two days. The result? Some improvement. Our outboard would now idle like a kitten purring. Yay! But now it would shut down if we increased the throttle. Yes, that’s right. We now had the opposite problem. Argh 2.0!

Wayne really felt that the solution to our problem was a new carburetor. Did we happen to have a spare? Nope! We would have to order it in and, based on the experiences of other cruisers, we were looking at up to two weeks or more to get one delivered to Georgetown. Yikes! What about Ocean? How would we get her to shore?????

Enter the boat Happy Cat. This is a sailing catamaran that had joined our “trying to make it to Grenada” group at Georgetown. They are a family of six from Australia and truly the most lovely people of all time. They offered that they had a spare 6 HP outboard that we could borrow. The only difficulty with this plan was that they were starting their sail south to Grenada the next day. Their response? “No problem, mate!”. They would just pick up the outboard when we met again in Grenada. What???? This kind of kindness and generosity is off the charts! Although much slower than our 15HP outboard, that little 6HP got us to shore for Ocean, and to town for groceries, and maybe to the bar (once or twice) for a few beers 😉.

Then the best news. The carburetor I ordered on a Tuesday with one day shipping, arrived in time to make the weekly flight from Florida to Georgetown the next day. We had our new carburater in our hands on the Friday. And the wonderful Wayne installed it the following day.

The result? Our outboard is running perfectly! And it is only thanks to this community. We have so many people to thank – people who offered their advice and assistance, people that gave their time and skill, even people who gave us a spare outboard 😊. We are just so grateful. And we can’t wait to pay it back, pay it forward and pay it however so that we lighten the load for someone else.
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Love this cruising community!

​What’s next for us? Our outboard was fixed in time to make a possible window south to Luperon, Dominican Republic. We are hoping to be headed out of the Georgetown harbour, and further south, in just a few days 😊.