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! 😊

At first glance, Luperon is not that appealing. The harbour water is dirty, garbage sits lumped at the side of the street, skinny dogs bark as you walk alongside the shack-like housing near the docks, venders in cars selling fruits and vegetables yell indiscernible Spanish through loudspeakers, motorcycles zoom in and out of streets and alleyways. 
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Dirty, loud, confusing. There is no mistaking that it is a third world country.

On Wild Horses, we say quite often that the best parts of a place are the people. Luperon is not an exception to this rule. In fact, it may be why the rule was created.  The community here is lively and fun, and it is a blend of all sorts of people - true locals, “locals by default” (i.e. they sailed or flew in and never left) and transients like us. Everyone has been more than welcoming, sharing the best of their town with us yachties in transit. They know we are catching the first weather window out of Luperon but they still take the time to help us get oriented and to feel comfortable.
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We arrived last Monday February 5th after a long overnight passage from Samana.  Immediately, friends we had met during our first stint in Luperon greeted us. We definitely felt the love! Even the Armada and Customs & Immigration remembered us. Okay, okay, I know. They remembered Ocean. Our “So happy to see you back!” fanfare was absolutely because we were standing alongside our unforgettable pup. 

We have now been here a week and it has been fun and full!  Here are the highlights of our week in Luperon:

• We got to witness, and help recover, several boats that dragged in the harbour during a very rare 33-knot west wind that blew through Luperon and challenged some of the older mooring lines. Yes, damage was done to boats but, thankfully, not to Wild Horses. 
• Me, Mike and Andrea (from Caretta) got to volunteer at the Luperon Cats & Dogs monthly flea, tick and deworming event. We participated at the clinic last spring and were delighted that it was being held this past week while we were in town.

• Many a meal was eaten in several of the local eateries in Luperon.  The North, Astrids, New Amsterdam, Wendy’s Bar, TKs Cafe and D’La France, to name a few. Each and every one of them served up fresh, yummy food at a price point that was impossible to resist. A dinner for two with drinks (okay, several drinks), rarely topped $25 CAD.

​When you look at the week we had, you can see why some people never leave Luperon. It is affordable, there is lots to do and the Luperon community is second to none. It is easy to stick around! 

Yes, the week was great, but we were itching to get to the Bahamas. Our first plan was to leave Sunday, February 11 at 7am.  The winds were perfect to make the 167 nautical mile trip to Great Inagua in the outer Bahamas.  We went to the Armada on Saturday afternoon to get our Despachos so we wouldn’t have to wait for officers to arrive on Sunday morning.  Only, the Armada would not issue “Despachos” on the Saturday. Or the Sunday. Or the Monday.  Yikes! We felt a little stuck.

We finally got our Despachos on Tuesday morning and left Luperon at 10am. We are now just an hour from arriving at Matthew Town, Great Inagua. We will be spending a full three months in the Bahamas and are excited to finally be here. ​

Check out where we are today and where we are going next by clicking the buttons below.

Last weekend we took a taxi to see the 27 Waterfalls, a tourist attraction about 40 minutes from Luperon.  This was an awesome time with our good friends Barry and Andrea from the boat Caretta.  Our pup Ocean also came along for the ride, which made for quite the clown car experience in the Camry that served as our taxi.  And on the way, our taxi driver helped me with my Spanish, especially with my accent which is severely lacking.  I got a pretty weird look when I asked about the big onion walking in the field (the word for onion and for horse are very similar!!).

​At the waterfalls, Barry, Andrea and Mike all enjoyed sliding down and around the waterfalls.  Barry and Mike were even adventurous enough to jump off a few!  Dogs weren’t allowed at the waterfalls so Ocean and I stayed in the main tourist area.  No worries though, we still got to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

​Not surprisingly, it is the people that are making our stay in Luperon so special.  We have become chummy with lots of our fellow cruisers who are also awaiting a weather window to travel south.  Wherever we go, there is a friend or two hanging out, enjoying a beer or watching a baseball game or ready to go snorkelling.  Some of our new friends are amazing free divers so Mike got to learn how to get an extra 10 feet out of his dives.  That got him deep enough to actually hear whale calls under the water (Humpback Whales come to the Dominican Republic during the winter to have their offspring in warm water).  Wow!

Even Ocean is getting used to having a friend or two around to enjoy the days and evenings.  Of course, there are the friendly local town dogs but a few cruisers have pups too, including our friends on Bye Felicia who just got a little 8-week old Yorkshire Terrier.  Little Rex is definitely ​in love with our Ocean!

​Yes, we are ready to keep moving south, but getting the right weather window matters.  We thought we might have found a decent couple of days this week to start travelling east along the north coast of the Dominican Republic but it was really on the edge of our comfort level.  One quick call to our weather router Chris Parker confirmed what we feared.  The window was just a little too tight and salty, leaving no room for error.  We decided to stay.  The good news is that our pod of buddy boats is growing.  There are at least six of us looking for the weather to turn in our favour.

While we wait, we continue to have great fun and both Mike and I are improving our Spanish every day.  I will even get a chance to give back to Luperon for three days over the next week.  The cruising community has arranged a vaccination clinic for all the stray dogs and I have volunteered to load syringes and manage the dogs getting vaccinated.  What an opportunity! 

So, do we feel “stuck” in Luperon?  Not at all!  These are great days and great moments that will stay with us for a long time 😊.

Click the button below to see where Wild Horses is anchored right now!

On this journey I have shared a lot about sunsets, beaches, meeting great people and the joy of exploring new places.  Certainly, these are the highlights that keep us going.  What I haven’t talked much about is the sometimes tough mental aspect of living and cruising on your boat.  We have had small pockets of very stressful times (like our alternator alignment issues and our leaking bow thruster) but our more common angst is usually over weather.  More correctly, about the weather we need to move further south safely and comfortably.  Not everyone reads weather the same way and we are not always in sync with our boat buddies.  This can be tough on us mentally, for sure.  Being left behind is never fun.  But Mike and I have always said that we don’t want to choose to be uncomfortable or unsafe, even if it means saying “see you later” to boating friends. 
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Most of the time we are just looking for great wind to be able to sail from place to place.  These days, though, it is more about getting through some dicey passages with maximum safety, a little bit of comfort and with zero fear or seasickness.  Yeah, it can get that bad.  For us, we try to study the weather with no hidden agendas.  We remove any inkling of a schedule or emotion.  When the weather is great and we are well-rested, this is a super easy exercise.  Let’s go!  When the weather is really not great and is sprinkled with several bits of “maybe” and a few short hours of “pretty good”, but you have already been here for two weeks and all your other boat buddies have already left?  Well, that’s when things get a little challenging.  Being patient while waiting for the weather gods to cooperate is tough.

All of this is top of mind these days as we sit in Luperon, Dominican Republic. Our next passage is to go all the way east of the country to the town of Samana.  From there, we will cross the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.  Both passages need a good long (24 hour) dose of mild weather.  Unfortunately, the prevailing weather at this time of year is a strong E-NE wind that whips up every afternoon.  Since we are travelling east, we would be travelling directly into it and the high waves and ocean swell that it generates.  Yuck.  One option is to just grin, bear it and get through.  Our two boat buddies went with this option.  Without going into details, lots of rocking, rolling and seasickness was part of both of their passages.  The other option is to wait and wait and wait for a proper weather window where the wind is mild.  These windows come around, only not often.  We just need to be patient.

In the meantime, we are here in Luperon and very content actually.  We have lots to do tinkering about town or on the boat.  The food is delicious and cheap.  Ocean has lots of access to shore, ocean swimming and attention from people and other dogs.  And we have quite a few boating friends in the anchorage to share our stories, meals and even a beer or two. 😊

Click the link below to see where we are now!

Our last day in the Bahamas was an interesting one.  We had staged our departure at a remote anchorage on the south shore of Great Inagua in order to shorten the distance we would have to travel to Luperon, Dominican Republic.  Instead of 160 nautical miles, we were now looking at 147 nautical miles.  This would shave 3 hours off our trip and allow us to leave at daybreak, instead of in the middle of the night.  We were thankful for our decision the next morning as we started weighing anchor.  Our anchor chain had wrapped itself around a coral head and  refused to budge.  The only thing we could do was to try to unwrap the chain by moving the boat back and forth and sideways, all while trying not to hit the coral head.  Half an hour later...success!  This was stressful enough in the daylight - I couldn't imagine the stress if we were trying these maneuvers in complete darkness.

Thankfully, our passage was a very easy one. This wasn't luck though. We spent many hours reviewing weather by ourselves, with our buddy boats and also via a phone call to expert weather forecaster Chris Parker at the Marine Weather Center.

We were able to sail for several hours before the wind turned directly at our bow, where it stayed for 20 hours of our 27 hour trip. To continue to sail would mean tacking the boat across the wind several times, adding many, many hours to an already long passage. So, on went the motor! The sea state was relatively calm for most if the passage, making us far more comfortable than on our last overnight run. This time we got to play some Backgammon and watch a few downloaded shows to pass the time. Fabulous! We did a two hour on and off watch cycle and it worked great since neither of us can naturally nap for more than an hour at a time while on passage. Oh, and we still had an almost full moon to light our way!

We saw the first signs of the Dominican Republic at daybreak.  The beautiful trees and mountains are such a contrast to the flat terrain  of the Bahamas!  Winding our way into the harbour, we were immediately hailed on the VHF radio by a few boaters anchored in the harbour.  They gave us the lay of the land and confirmed that they had already contacted the Armada (Dominican Navy) to come check us in.  Another big difference between the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic!  No computer apps here!  In the Dominican you are boarded by the Armada who check your papers, take pictures of you and your boat and then give you clearance to go into Port to finish the check in process with Immigration, Customs, the Port Authority and the Department of Agriculture.  Lots of steps but the offices are housed together, air conditioned and the friendly and smiling authorities were quite fine with Ocean being in their tiny 8 x 8 rooms.  Easy and very welcoming!

After check in, we needed to go find SIM cards for our cell phones, which was perfect because it also gave us a chance to explore a bit of the town of Luperon.  Only we didn't get very far.  It was now almost noon and our tummies needed sustenance!  We popped into a local eatery for lunch and a giant cerveza (beer) to celebrate our successful passage.  It was a wonderful moment to share with our three buddy boats.  We had traveled very successfully together throughout the passage, sailing almost in formation.  We also took care of one another, checking in overnight and whenever anything notable occurred underway, like cruise ships passing by, moving into the Atlantic time zone, and when our buddy boat "That's It" caught a Mahi-Mahi fish.  Oh, and also when they caught their second Mahi-Mahi!  Yummy fish dinner coming up!

Luperon has held lots of surprises for us.  Everything is super inexpensive (after the very pricey Bahamas, this was a huge delight).  And, the locals do not speak any English.  No worries, my basic Spanish plus lots of hand movements is getting us through!  For Ocean, she has had to do her own acclimatization.  Her two triggers in life are motorcycles and other dogs.  With both, she must be reminded to stay calm.  Well, in Luperon almost everyone gets around by motorcycle and there are stray dogs everywhere.  Yikes!  Strangely enough, Ocean is finding a nice balance through it all.  There are so many motorcycles, she just learned to ignore them.  And the stray dogs?  They no longer find her interesting.  After several days of walking around town, she has become "just another Luperon dog" to them.  This isn't true for the locals though.  Everyone is impressed with our perro muy grande (very big dog) and that she is a Pastor Aleman (German Shepherd).  So much attention!

The next leg of our journey will be to sail to Semana on the east coast of the Dominican Republic.  From there, we will await a weather window for crossing the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.  With the weather being wet and windy with high waves and swell for the next week, we will be staying put in Luperon.  We are happy though!  It will give us a chance to explore the country from our safe and comfortable home base in Luperon.

Click the link below to see where we are right now!