On Monday March 4th, Wild Horses and Caretta left our cozy spots in the south Raggeds after two glorious weeks. We had to time our exit from the anchorage with high tide as the channel leading out of the anchorage can drop below 1 metre in depth. Our keel has a depth of 1.7 metres so working with a flooding tide is critical. In fact, even with high tide, our keel momentarily touched the sandy bottom. No damage was done but it did make our hearts skip a beat! Our first two stops up the Ragged island chain were anchorages just a few hours from each other. The first was Double Breasted Cay (I have no idea who names these anchorages!!) and the second was Buena Vista Cay. Both anchorages were quite beautiful with lots of little sandbars, islands and reefs ready for exploring. We have made notes to make sure to stop at both of these anchorages when we return next winter and have lots of time to explore all their beauty. On Wednesday we were ready to make the longer jump to the island of Water Cay, at the top of the island chain. The day started well, with Wild Horses as lead boat and Caretta falling just slightly behind us, both motor sailing along in light winds. It was an easy day. That is, until it wasn’t. About 10 nautical miles from the anchorage, Caretta hailed us on the VHF. Their engine had stopped. Yikes! They knew it was likely a clogged engine filter but they wouldn’t be able to fix it underway. The wind was too light to sail so they dropped their dinghy and used it to push their boat along at 3 knots. They got to the Water Cay anchorage just as the sun was setting. We had arrived over an hour earlier and scoped out a spot for them to anchor. Once their anchor was well set in the sand, we chatted and both boats decided to stay an extra day at Water Cay so we could fix Barry’s engine. What we didn’t realize at the time was that we would also need the extra day to fix a problem of our own. During our passage to Water Cay, we kept catching a whiff of an electrical burning smell in one of our aft cabins. We checked the engine wiring, solar wiring, regulator wiring, anything and everything. Then the smell went away later that evening. Hmmm, weird. The next day, the sun was shining bright and the smell was back. Mike removed everything from our back cabin and there it was. Our three solar fuses were in full-on fondue mode. One quick visit with Barry (our solar and electrical mastermind) and fifteen minutes later we had the fuses bypassed. It isn’t a permanent solution but it will get us to Florida with all our solar energy intact. Yes! With boat issues fixed, we got to enjoy the rugged, wild beauty of Water Cay. The next day, we weighed anchor and headed away from the Ragged islands. We had decided to take a short cut to Georgetown via the Comer Channel. When arriving in the Raggeds, the only route we ever considered was the “long way”, via the Eastern shore of Long Island, which takes four long daytime jumps or a day and a half of constant around-the-clock travelling. It also exposes you to lots of ocean swell. But a few fellow sailors recommended that we take the shortcut route (the Comer Channel) which shaves two days off the journey but goes over some pretty shallow spots (below 2 metres) that we were a little nervous about. And, our timing for the tides wasn’t ideal. We would be going through the Comer Channel at dead low tide, which on this particular day was 0.1 metres below mean low water. Most of the channel was about 2 metres depth but a few spots were 1.9 metres so at dead low tide we would see 1.8 metres. That is very tight for our 1.7 metre clearance but water under the keel is water under the keel. We went for it. The result? A few “hold-the-breath” moments but we didn’t touch bottom. Not once. What we did get was delightful. A wonderful pod of four dolphins playing at our bow. In just two metres of water, the display was spectacular. I think those dolphins could feel our vibe and were there to tell us all would be okay and to chill out! We spent that evening and the whole of the next day on the western side of Long Island, at an anchorage called Thompson Bay. Here we had access to a great grocery store, a liquor store and a marine store, as well as several restaurants. As luck would have it, we were there on a Saturday and the local Farmers Market was open. Lots of fresh veggies! The next day, we headed for Georgetown. We were excited to be returning. It has been just over a year since we left this bustling anchorage, headed for Grenada. That day, so long ago, was full of emotion for us. We were saying goodbye to our buddy boats Sensai and Lola, and heading off into the crazy unknown-to-us ocean with our new buddy boats Kemana and Kesh. We were leaving safe, easy sailing waters and headed for bigger waters, challenges and new experiences. And we have returned as different sailors. We are more knowledgeable, confident, chill and happy. It has been a fabulous year and we are excited to keep doing this sailing gig and seeing where life and the wind takes us. These are pretty special days indeed. Click the buttons below to find out where we are and where we are going next!
Our days here in the Raggeds have been very relaxing. We wake up late and then slowly sip our coffees while checking out the beautiful scenery from our cockpit. Next on the agenda is heading to shore for Ocean’s first shore puppy play date with Josie, the 10-month old pot cake (mixed breed Bahamian dog) owned by Dale, one of our anchorage mates. The two dogs have become fast friends and exhaust themselves with running, tug-of-war, chewing on sticks and swimming. It is puppy nirvana. The rest of our day depends on our needs. We may do a load of laundry or make water or go to Duncan Town to drop off garbage and see if the store is open. Or we may clean the boat. Scratch that. We almost always clean the boat. We are mostly trying to stay on top of “sand intrusion” these days. Having a dog that loves the beach means that we are constantly trying to keep “the beach” out of our boat. Ocean gets a full fresh water rinse down on the swim platform of Wild Horses every time we return to the boat but it really isn’t enough. The sand is deep in her fur and only works its way out throughout the evening. We vacuum a lot! Besides puppy play dates, we have also made it a habit to head to shore during low tide. The depths in the anchorage are very “skinny”, just 3 to 4 metres at high tide and the adjacent shoreline is even more shallow than that. At low tide we can beach our dinghy on shore and walk half a kilometre into the sea, with the ocean being no higher than our shins. And the water is so clear, you can see everything. An incredible sea life ecosystem is revealed for us to enjoy. With the warm water moving against our legs, we stroll through the clean, silky sand and marvel at starfish, sand dollars, sea slugs, the occasional nurse shark, sting ray or turtle, and lots of shells. Including conchs (pronounced “konks”). Low tide makes hunting for conchs very easy. They are just sitting on the sand, slightly exposed above the water. These sea snails can be found throughout the Bahamas and although they look ghastly when extracted from their shell, they are actually quite delicious once they are cleaned and prepared. Most conchs that we come across are juveniles. Their shell is small and they haven’t yet developed the large smooth and glossy pink lip of a mature conch. Those conchs are left alone to keep growing (it can take up to five years). But we have been lucky here! Our wanderings at low tide have yielded us three mature conchs. What do we do with these creatures? We take them to the boat where Mike delicately extracts the meat. I then clean off all the nasty bits and tenderize the meat with a mallet. So far, we have only been courageous enough to make cracked conch, which is really just breaded and fried conch. It is such a tasty treat that we really don’t mind all the work that goes into getting it from sea to table. In fact, when our fellow cruiser Pierre snagged five beautiful mature conchs while snorkelling near our boat a few days ago, it was an easy “yes” from us to get the conch ready for a cracked conch feed on their beautiful catamaran “Umbono”. It was a fun time made even more amazing knowing we had harvested our own dinner 😊. Today we start travelling north again. We will head towards Georgetown, but it will likely take us a good week to get there as we plan to stop at several anchorages in the Raggeds/Jumentos along the way. We just aren’t ready to say farewell to this beautiful and inspiring part of the Bahamas. Enjoying the blog? Please share! And if you want more info on where we are today and where we are going next, click the buttons below.
After several weeks of being on the move, with mostly 24-hour overnight passages, the crew of Wild Horses is ready for a break. The Ragged Islands have proven to be the perfect solution. Here we can stretch our legs on long, sandy white beaches, catch up on a few small boat projects, or just have slow, quiet evenings on board Wild Horses. Also on our near-future itinerary is to get in the water and snorkel in the many beautiful coral reefs that surround the small flat islands of the Raggeds. We are just hoping that the water warms up a tad. It is currently a chilly 24 degrees Celsius and our Eastern Caribbean-acclimatized bones are not yet ready for that kind of cold 😊. Adding to these delights is that we are not entirely alone here. We do like our alone-time, for sure, but there is something comforting about having another boat or two moored near you, or to have a town to stroll around. Here we have both. In amongst the half a dozen boats that are anchored here, are our friends Barry and Andrea on Caretta. Barry is the reason we are even in the Raggeds, having talked up the remoteness and beauty of the area to the point that we couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, though, Barry had an old back injury flare up on the passage here and has been unable to do much moving about. In the week that we have been here, he has gone to shore only a few times. He hasn’t been able to fish, dive, beach walk or visit the nearby town of Duncan. Andrea is a capable sailor in her own right but until Barry feels well enough to weigh anchor and explore more of the Raggeds, and to head to Georgetown, they will be staying put. And, Wild Horses will stay put alongside them, just in case they need any assistance while Barry is still recuperating. Not a bad deal really as we are truly enjoying living on Wild Horses in this semi-remote anchorage in this very remote island chain. When we were preparing for our journey south, back in 2021 and 2022, we focused on trying to make Wild Horses, and its crew, as self-sufficient as possible. We bought a watermaker, upgraded our power grid with new solar panels and lithium batteries, we bought a go-fast dinghy, and we pulled together a few choice pieces of gear (washer/spinner, bread maker, extra diesel and gas jugs) that we thought we might need. Along the way, we have upgraded our gear portfolio to include a Honda 2200 generator and a Starlink unit. It has all worked incredibly well and has made our lives easier along the way but, to be honest, we have never been in the position to be fully reliant on most of it. The one exception is the Honda generator which saved our bacon way back in Carriacou when a blown fuse on one of our lithium batteries resulted in batteries so low that our BMS (Battery Management System) turned them off to protect them. Now that we are in the Raggeds, we are actually dependent on our gear and ourselves so much more than we have ever been. All of our “self-sufficiency” gear is getting at least a little bit of attention. There is nowhere to get water or fuel here. Laundry facilities are non-existent. There is no medical centre nearby (although one is being built!) so injuries must be tended to on the boat, with whatever medication and supplies you have on hand. Same with boat issues. Everything has to already be on board for all critical repairs, large or small. There are a few groceries that can be purchased at Maxine’s grocery but you can’t count on the store being open or that they have what you need. Right now, for example, Maxine is “off island” tending to family matters so the store is rarely open. And when it is open, there is no bread. There is no meat. No potatoes came in on the last mail ship. What is stocked on the shelves will feed you, although at a high cost. My bag of romaine lettuce (there is no local lettuce option) was $11 USD. Yup, pricey. How do we make do in this environment? For the most part, it is status quo for us. Laundry is done easily and quickly on the boat. Water is made every four days or so. Our bread maker is put into duty every three days and, for the rest of it, we pull our grocery items out of our own cupboards. We are fully stocked up on meat, shelf-stable milk, eggs, cheese, canned fruit and vegetables, potatoes, onions, pasta and sauces from our provisioning run in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We are working through our four gas jugs at a non-concerning pace (down 1.5 jugs as of February 26), considering it is used to run our dinghy and our generator, which we use for making water. Oh, and Ocean has plenty of dog food and biscuits. We didn’t forget her needs while provisioning in Puerto Rico! We will likely be a few more weeks in the Bahamas Out Islands (Raggeds, Long Island) and look forward to continuing the test of our self-sufficiency. So far, so good but we are excited to learn what works and what doesn’t in the long run. We will be making notes for necessary tweaks for when we return to the Bahamas Out Islands next winter. And in between note-taking? We are enjoying the beaches and are ready to jump into some snorkeling in the crystal clear blue waters of the Bahamas! Check out where we are today and where we are going next by clicking the buttons below!
Our time in Matthew Town, Great Inaugua was short. Just two days after we arrived, a good window to make the 24-hour sail to the Ragged Islands had opened up. It is the exhausting part of this lifestyle for me. Having not yet fully rested from our last overnight sail (from Luperon), we had to immediately start preparing for the next overnight sail. We kept our eyes on the prize though. The Ragged Islands are renowned for their beaches and active coral as well as their remoteness from the hustle and bustle of cruising life. We were excited to go there. The first thing on the agenda was getting diesel. Having just completed 28 hours of mostly motoring during our wind-less trip from Luperon, we knew our 55-gallon diesel tank would need topping up. We carry six 5-gallon diesel jugs on the deck of Wild Horses and, sure enough, it took four of them to fill up the tank. The Matthew Town marina doesn’t carry diesel but they will order a tanker to come in if you give them a few hours notice. That is, as long as the tanker itself has diesel. This was the issue we ran into last spring when we were in Matthew Town headed south. The tanker was empty and wouldn’t be filled for at least 3 or 4 days. Our only option for diesel then was to buy what ended up being sub-standard diesel from a guy in town. That diesel burned fast and made for a very interesting ending to our journey across the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico. This time, however, the diesel truck was full and ready to deliver clean, good diesel to Wild Horses and our buddy boats Caretta and Rode Trip. With our diesel tank and jugs full, next on our to-do list was to buy some “walking around” data for the Bahamas. We have Starlink on Wild Horses so we have unlimited data while we are on the boat. We have found, though, that we like to use maps on our phones while we are off exploring a town or trail. For this, we need a local SIM card and some data. Usually, this cost anywhere from $5 to $20. This is the Bahamas so our BTC SIM card was on the higher end. All three buddy boats then took a walk through town. There is just one grocery store on the main street of Matthew Town, and although there are many, many little shops along the way, most were boarded up or just closed. It was eerily quiet. Thankfully the grocery store had exactly what we needed – affordable cheese and eggs. We also picked up a dozen of the most tasty Gala apples we have eaten since Canada. Yum! On Friday morning, we weighed anchor and headed towards the Ragged Islands, a cluster of remote islands that are part of the Outer Bahamas. It was a rough and rolly trip, with a bigger swell than foecasted along with strong winds, mostly on our stern, making it difficult to maintain our point of sail. By the time we could see the Ragged Islands, we were exhausted. We put our anchor down in Southside Bay, a wide open and sandy anchorage near the southwest corner of Ragged Island. We quickly dropped our dinghy and took Ocean into shore for some relief and a walk to Duncan Town, a small village about 30 minutes from the anchorage. But this was no ordinary walk! After beaching the dinghy, we walked through brush to get to a dirt road that led us to the airport runway, which we had to cross to get to another dirt road that finally led to the main paved road into town. We have never before had to cross an active runway as part of a trail! Duncan Town was quieter than we expected for a Saturday. There was one restaurant, a defunct police station and several houses, some brand new and others just shacks. And there was Maxine’s Grocery Store. Although tiny, it was stocked with a variety of pantry goods and fresh vegetables. You couldn’t do a full shopping trip here but they certainly had enough goods to fill in a few missing gaps in one’s food stores. The next day, the swell was up a bit in our anchorage. This doesn’t usually bother us much when we are on the boat but getting in and out of the dinghy can be a bit of an adventure with the boat bucking up and down. We decided to check out the adjacent anchorage “Between Raggeds” which looked like a calm alternative to Southside Bay. We jumped in the dinghy and rode to the anchorage, which sits between Little Ragged Island and Ragged Island. All 15 or so boats here looked very comfortable. No swell and just minutes from beautiful white, sandy beaches. Yes! The only caveat was depth. Wild Horses has a 5’9” keel so we are not comfortable if we see a depth of less than 6 feet. Our charts had the anchorage depth at just over 6 feet but the channel into the anchorage was as low at 5 feet. We would have to wait a few hours for high tide where we would gain another 1.5 feet. Mike, along with Steve from Rode Trip, took a depth sounder and, from the dinghy, checked out the channel right as we were approaching high tide. There was enough depth! All three boats made the move in through the channel and into the anchorage. So far, we have mostly rested but we have found the time to do a few beach walks, make water, do some laundry and hang out at the evening beach get together where the dogs can play and the people can chat, all over a few sundowners. Over the next couple of days, we hope to get in some snorkelling to check out the active coral and sea life out here in the Raggeds. These are glorious days! Click the buttons below to know where we are today and where we plan to sail next.
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. 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. 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:
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.
This is the first blog post that I have written while we are underway to a new port. Normally, the seas have lots of swell (creating an uncomfortable washing machine-like experience), or I am busy assisting with the sails or it is nighttime. With those conditions, writing is just not tenable so I always wait until we are settled in our new anchorage. Today, however, the sea conditions are almost flat and the wind is non-existent. The sails are all tucked away while we motor from the port of Samana to the port of Luperon, both in the Dominican Republic. Even though we are moving within the same country, “clearing in” and “clearing out” is required. This is one of the unique aspects of the Dominican Republic that makes it both very interesting and extremely annoying. Every country requires that you “clear in” when you arrive in its territorial waters and “clear out” when you leave. It is sometimes an easy process (like in the French Caribbean countries) and sometimes long and tedious (like it is in Antigua). Sometimes you require on-line pre-clearance, sometimes you only clear in on-line but, most times, we have to get into our dinghy with our big bundle of boat and pet documents and present ourselves in person in front of Customs & Immigration. How do we know which process to use for each country? We usually google it. Noonsite, which houses a lot of cruiser information, is a good source as is the country’s government site. The vessel documents are nothing special. All countries, as a minimum, need to see the passport for all crew and passengers as well as our boat registration. The documents and the process for our pet dog Ocean are another beast. Check here for those requirements. And then there is the Dominican Republic. There is one extra step in this country, and it’s a big one. It is the Armada (aka The Navy). When we arrive in the Dominican Republic, it is the Armada we see first. They board the vessel and provide the okay to proceed with Customs, Immigration and Agriculture. And when you want to leave the country? You must get a Despacho (clearance paper) from the Armada. Actually, Despachos are required for all movements of your vessel, even if you are just going to another port. These Despachos and the rules around them are serious business. The Armada must be notified 24 hours before your departure. Once you receive your Despacho, you are required to leave the port within a few hours (every other country gives you 24 hours to leave). Despachos must be presented to any agent of the Armada who requests it. Oh, and being given a Despacho is not a right. The Armada decides if they will allow you to leave. You decide Tuesday looks like a good day to go sailing and you want to leave at 5am? The Armada can and do say “no”. Certainly, all departures from a port and all arrivals into a port must be done between 6am and 6pm, as per Dominican Law. But even if you change your departure time to 7am, they can still say “no”. It all sounds very authoritarian but, actually, it is a safety measure to protect vessels and their crew. They want vessels to arrive and depart from ports only in the daylight, where all obstacles can be easily seen by the Captain. They also want you only to travel when the weather is good. Yes, the vessel Captain should be able to make this call, and not the Armada, but I guess when your Coast Guard keeps having to save vessels in distress off your rough northern and eastern coasts, you pretty much want to stop mariners who think they can better the weather and the sea. The issuance of the Despacho also gives the Armada a chance to prevent piracy. They want to know where you are going so that they can counsel you about dangerous anchorages or known piracy issues. At 9am this morning, Wild Horses was granted its Despacho from the Armada to move from Samana to Luperon, as did our boat buddies on Rode Trip, Caretta and That’s It. The process took a good hour but with Despachos in hand, we headed out of the Puerto Bahia marina harbour at 10am. This was our second marina this week, as we had first cleared into the Dominican Republic at the Cap Cana marina further south on the Dominican Republic’s eastern coastline. There are very few anchorages on the east coast and all have reputations for minor theft. It was an easy decision to stay at marinas. While staying at the Puerto Bahia marina, we rented a car for a day with our boat buddies on Rode Trip and Caretta and took a drive into the towns of Samana and Las Terrenas. The towns were beautiful but the traffic was a bit crazy. We thanked our lucky stars that our boat buddy Steve from Rode Trip offered to be the driver for the day. Even with motorcycles and scooters and cars (and horses!) darting about from all directions, he managed to get us safely to and from the marina. Thank you Steve! Our trip to Luperon will take us around the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic and then west along its northern coast. When all is said and done, the passage should be about 24 hours. It is a long trip but the weather so far has been lovely, despite not having enough wind to sail. Even better, we have already had a pod of dolphins playing off our bow and a few humpback whales swam in front of our boat buddy Caretta for about 15 minutes. Saying it was mesmerizing would be an understatement. On Monday morning, February 5, we will arrive in Luperon harbour after several weeks of almost constant travel, mostly overnight. We are tired, for sure, and Luperon will be a great place to rest for a bit before we start our passage north to the Bahamas. Want to know where we are now or where we are going next? Click the buttons below!
Our past week has been spent in Puerto Rico, starting with the most eastern Spanish Virgin Islands and then moving along, east to west, to finally arrive in Puerto Real on the west coast. This anchorage will be our jumping off point to head to the Dominican Republic. In fact, when the early morning rises and you are perhaps reading this post with your morning coffee, we will be arriving at the Cap Cana Marina in the Dominican Republic, having successfully traversed the Mona Passage. We arrived in Puerto Rico eleven days ago and our minds have been pre-occupied with two very important things: Provisioning for the Bahamas and meeting up with old friends. Our first stop in Puerto Rico was Culebra which is part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. The anchorage there is wide open (lots of room) and is very close to the main town area with restaurants, grocery stores, cafes and great beaches. It is a great spot to rest for several days, only we had alternative plans. We had a few friends to meet up with over the next few days. In Vieques (part of the Spanish Virgin Islands), we met up with our old friend Matt on Kesh, who is heading south while we are headed north. We had first met Matt in Georgetown, Bahamas almost a full year ago, and travelled with him (along with Kemana and That’s It) from Georgetown to Luperon, Dominican Republic. At the time, Matt was newly engaged but doing his travelling as a solo sailor. It was wonderful to see him in Vieques alongside his new bride Charlie. They are headed south to Grenada this year. The very next day, we weighed anchor early in the morning and headed to Salinas on the mainland of Puerto Rico. This was going to be a major stop for us. Not only were we finally going to reunite with our good friends on Caretta but we would also be able to do all of our provisioning for the Bahamas here by renting a car and driving the one hour north to the city of San Juan. There we could shop at Costco, Walmart, Petsmart, Home Depot, and AutoZone. Wow! We haven’t had this kind shopping for the last ten months. Let the games begin! We did our “shopping” extravaganza to San Juan last Thursday. Wild Horses (including Ocean) rented a van while Caretta and Rode Trip shared a passenger car. In one wild day that started at 9:00am and ended at about 9:00pm, we drove to San Juan (an hour away), devoured Costco, stocked up at Petsmart, and got a few necessities at Home Depot and West Marine. We then returned to the marina and unloaded our very full rental cars. But we weren’t done yet! The biggest provisioning was done at Walmart in Isabel, just 20 minutes west of the marina. We even popped into AutoZone for some oil for the boat. Very tired from shopping, we still needed to load everything back at the boat via our dinghies and store it all away. It was an exhausting but very successful day! With all of our boats provisioned and fueled up, we left Salinas last Saturday for Boqueron on the west coast of Puerto Rico. We stayed there one night, which was just enough time to meet up with the crews from Kemana and That’s It, who were a day ahead of us. They planned to leave for the Dominican Republic the very next day, one full day ahead of us. The next morning, Wild Horses, Rode Trip and Caretta travelled just a few nautical miles north to Puerto Real. We will be leaving for the Dominican Republic at 6pm tonight. Overnight passages are becoming very familiar territory for us! We are looking forward to spending a few weeks in the Dominican Republic before moving onto the Bahamas. While we continue our journey west, it amazes us as to how chilly the nights are getting. It was just 21 degrees Celsius last night. While it is amazingly warm compared to January in Canada, it is very cold for us these days. It is a welcomed change though as we are still reeling from our hot, hot, hot days in Grenada. Want to know where we are in the world right now? Or our sailing plans for the year ahead? Click the buttons below!
Since my last post, a lot has happened. All good, or at least, mostly good. We have toured old forts, found great provisioning, had some boat work done, almost lost the dinghy to the sea, checked out some iguanas, swam with a few totally breezy sea turtles, ate some delightful cuisine and watched the Dallas Cowboys implode at their first playoff game (they lost bigtime). Oh, and we visited four islands and three countries. Yeesh, I need a nap. Yes, all of that happened but, still, the most important was what happened earlier this week, on Tuesday to be specific. At least it was important to us. You see, Tuesday was a weird one. We had an appointment for Ocean at Critters, Cats & Canines Vet Hospital in St. Thomas. Ocean is fine but we needed to see a Vet to get a new International Health Certificate for her. Getting dog health certificates is just a regular task in our life nowadays but what was important was how the day unfolded. If anyone is out there that wants to know what cruising down here is like, well, this might be the “Coles notes” version for you. First, this is our experience. It isn’t “the” experience. That is lesson one. Cruising is about being a snowflake. How it is for us will certainly not be exactly how it is for you. Second, weather is king but we all pretend, once in awhile, that we carry the crown. We started the day with a secure and safe (and free) mooring at Christmas Cove. The easterly tradewinds were sporty (up to 28 knots) and, rightly so, the waves and swell were equally animated, although more southeasterly. The kicker? We needed to be a mere 2 nautical miles to our west in Brenner Bay in order to have a short dinghy ride into shore for Ocean’s appointment. Sorry, did you hear that? Yes, we had a schedule. Never good. Ever. In this particular instance we were moving our precious Wild Horses to a lee shore in shallow waters with almost 30 knots of wind, and worse, 7 feet of swell banging at our boat’s hull. Getting ready to set our anchor, we fell steeply from being “uncomfortable” into dangerous territory with our lee shore so close behind us. We knew it and spent an extra 45 minutes ensuring that our anchor was set (it was set – thank you double oversized Rocna!). Third, cruising is precarious. At that anchorage, Mike, Ocean and I had to board our severely bouncing dinghy. It was a feat that had me yelling “move people, this is not a drill!” as both Mike and then Ocean had to manage around swells that horribly slapped the dinghy against our stern, alternatively creating violent waterspouts and dangerous boarding gaps. We then tolerated a salty (meaning we got soaked) 5 minute ride to protected waters. Returning back, we were faced with the same problem. A misguided step and someone could have been injured or in the drink. Not good. Weighing anchor wasn’t much better. We were struggling against the wind and swell. I was at the bow (untethered, sorry, not my finest decision-making moment) holding on like it was a bucking bronco. Okay, a little poetic license here, but it was pretty bouncy and unsettling! The key for me was that at the moment that our anchor was released, Mike needed to be in control at the helm. We were that close to shore. Yuck. Spoiler alert: We are fine. We bounced our way back to Christmas Cove, picked up our favourite mooring and got two beers stat. Then we chatted about what went wrong. A schedule, mistaking “close by” with “easy”, and swells that were worse than forecasted. The precariousness of sailing is real. From one moment to the next, you are not entirely sure that something won’t break down, that your sail will go smoothly or that you will find the tools/parts/provisions that you need when you next land your boat. But that uncertainty is worth it to us to have long walks on unspoiled beaches, to explore different cultures, to meet so many wonderful people, to enjoy beautiful sunsets and to be rocked gently to sleep with the waves lapping against the shoreline. Yes, the delightfulness of this lifestyle is just as real and, thankfully, more moments of our days are filled with that.
Today we arrived in Puerto Rico, after spending the last seven days in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). We plan to spend a few weeks here while we await a good weather window to transit the Mona Passage on our way to the Dominican Republic. It was just a few days after Christmas when we got our outboard motor back from its urgent freshwater servicing at Xtreme Marine in Jolly Harbour, Antigua. Not only did the team there get it running again but they gave her a real once over and she is even better than before our capsizing adventure. With our outboard motor ready to go, we immediately started making plans with our friends on Rode Trip to depart from Antigua and to make our way to St. Martin for the New Year celebrations there. We weighed anchor at 4:00pm on Friday December 29th for a very easy 96 nautical mile overnight motor sail, under a bright full moon, to Marigot Bay, St. Martin (French side). We arrived at the anchorage just before 8:00am, cleared in by 9:00am and were sitting in the Chez Fernand bakery eating croissants and drinking americanos by 9:30am. What a great start to the day! The New Year’s celebrations on the island were fun, capped off by several incredible fireworks displays. During the day we had a wonderful ad hoc picnic with several of our boat buddies, including our friends on Kemana who were docked on the Dutch side of the island. It was a special time with lots of chatter about what we all have accomplished over the past year, as well as our future sailing plans. Ah, sailing plans. This has been a big topic on Wild Horses for the last several months. It is easy to dream of far away destinations and big voyages, but the world that is more real for Wild Horses includes so much more than just sailing and exploring. It contains our family and our friends back home. Every phone call is an emotional tug at our heartstrings to go back to Canada, even just for a quick visit. The longer we are away, the more we are realizing that we need to have more of a balance between sailing the world and being home for family.
Before we started this trip, the plan was clear. We would sail the Eastern Caribbean for at least two years and then decide where else we wanted the wind to take us. We would go home, of course, but the plan was to make separate trips (Mike goes one time and I would go the next time) so that Wild Horses was never unattended. And the dog? We knew we didn’t want to subject Ocean to airplane travel. Our dear pup, we thought, will just stay on the boat with either Mike or myself (whoever wasn't travelling). Our plan was solid…until we had to put it into action. We have learned a lot about ourselves on this trip and one of the biggest is realizing that we only want to travel as a pack. We are the three amigos and, well, it just will not do to leave an amigo behind 😉. By the time we departed Grenada, we knew we had a problem to solve. We wanted to go home for a visit with family but we wanted to keep our little family intact while doing it. Just this past week, the final pieces of our new sail plan have come together. We will be sailing back to the continental United States over this winter, visiting the USVI, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas along the way. We will then make our way to Green Cove Springs Marina near Jacksonville, Florida by the early summer months. There, Wild Horses will be hauled out and stored while we drive back to Canada over the summer months for our much-needed visit with family and friends. When Fall descends upon us, we will re-launch Wild Horses and sail the Bahamas over the winter. What will we do after that? Not sure but being in the Bahamas will keep us closer to home and also to other sailing destinations like the Eastern Caribbean, Guatamala, Aruba and so much more. We will have built in flexibility to decide on next steps. Perfect. Freedom but also being able to hug mom and dad once in awhile. I think we may have found our balance 😊. After spending seven wonderful days exploring Antigua’s eastern and southern harbours and beaches, last Thursday we decided it was time to move further north. Our plan was to spend Christmas and New Years in St. Martin. This decision, however, meant that we would be moving along alone. Our friends on Rode Trip were still waiting for their engine water pump to be installed so they wouldn’t be moving north until after Christmas at least. Other friends on Bitty Rose and Hop Drop would also be moving towards St. Martin before New Years but would be setting out from Antigua a few days after us. Kemana, Caretta and That’s It were already ahead of us in either St. Martin or Puerto Rico. Last Wednesday we cleared out of Antigua and then moved Wild Horses from its spot on a harbour mooring ball to the anchorage just outside Jolly Harbour’s entrance. This would be a perfect place to leave at first light to make the 32 nautical mile trip to Barbuda, Antigua’s sister island. Together, they form the country of “Antigua and Barbuda”. We were excited to get to see this small and very flat island known for clear, beautiful water and is home to a large colony of frigate birds. The next morning, we were underway. Well, almost. We had a slight delay when our anchor windlass decided to not work, preventing us from lifting our 88lb Rocna anchor. Mike quickly found a loose wiring connection, fixed it and we were back in business. Surely this was our one glitch for the day. As it turns out, this was far from the truth. The passage to Barbuda was a windless one, which meant motoring the whole way. Our first glimpse of Barbuda was surprising. It is flat as a pancake and pretty sparse! Such a contrast from mountainous and lush Antigua. We motored into the Cocoa Point anchorage slowly and carefully, avoiding the many reefs scattered about. It was an easy feat as the water was clear and blue. Next on deck was to get Ocean to shore. We piled into the dinghy and started to head towards the shoreline. Hmmm, strong breakers at the nearby beach looked very ominous. We dinghied further south to where the shoreline was calm but there were “private property” signs there. Yeesh. We doubled back and started heading north again, towards the one and only beach bar. Surely people can land their dinghies here? Right? Well, it didn’t look good there either. There was a mooring ball slightly away from shore that we contemplated attaching the dinghy to but it would require a fairly sporty swim in for all three of us, especially with the crashing waves at shore. Finally, we thought we saw a calmer section along the shore line, just 10 metres away, and motored the dinghy towards it. We were wrong about the calmness. Very wrong. It was a catastrophe. The dinghy swung violently sideways as it got caught up in a large breaking swell and then it flipped. I was underwater and scooped out behind the dinghy. Ocean had made a premature jump out of the dinghy before the flip (she is so smart) and when I found my way to the surface of the water, I could see her playing onshore with some of the debris from our capsized dinghy. Where was Mike? Trapped under the dinghy. I helped him get the dinghy off him and then we got it righted. We were shaken but still had to secure the dinghy from being pummeled in the breaking swells. Out of nowhere, a gentleman (who we later found out was the beach bar owner named Enoch) came along and, without asking, started to help us pull the dinghy onto the beach and then rushed to secure everything being swept into the ocean that had fallen out of our dinghy. He did this even though our large dog was running free around him. He did this even though he was working. He did this even though it was difficult. He even brought us a 2-gallon jug of his fresh water to wash down the salt and sand drenched engine. Wow. We had a moment to catch our breath and assess our situation. The important part was all three of us were safe and with minimal injuries. We had all our gear, including our wallet and phones and nothing had been damaged. Um, scratch that. We had an engine that had been submerged in saltwater. We knew it wouldn’t start and although we had our oars, we knew that rowing the half mile to our boat in the swell was not doable. We needed a tow. The bartender assured us that someone would be coming to his beach bar before dark. But, for over an hour, no one came. Finally, our heroes arrived. A small dinghy loaded down with six people approached the same shoreline where we capsized. Surely, they would suffer the same fate? Nope. They had the landing process nailed. Three young people in their 20s jumped out of the dinghy, swam to shore and awaited the dinghy they just left. They waited for a big swell to crash and then the race was on. As the dinghy approached the shore, the last three people jumped out and swam while the three on shore rushed out and secured the dinghy. All six then pulled the dinghy onshore. Oh, that’s what we did wrong. 😉 There was no hesitation from the dinghy’s captain when we asked for a tow. “Yes! I will do it right now!” Mike had previously rowed our dinghy out to the beach bar’s mooring so the three of us needed to swim out to it, in the crashing waves. Mike and I had no issue with this but we worried about Ocean. She had her lifejacket on but could she negotiate the crashing waves and strong swell? Our heroes had an answer for that. They offered to put her in their dinghy so she wouldn’t have to swim. Great! Except Ocean did not like the idea of Mike and I swimming away from her while some strangers took her elsewhere in their dinghy. Out she jumped! But her attempts to swim to us failed as she struggled to negotiate the crashing waves. Once again, our heroes leapt into action. Two strong swimmers from the group grabbed the handle on her lifejacket and guided her through the waves and swell to us waiting in our dinghy. They then tread water while pushing her up and over the dinghy gunnels. Wow!! After being towed to our boat, we gave the engine a fresh water rinsing, removed the spark plugs, oiled the cylinders (clearing it of any water) and got pounds of sand out of the housing. Still the engine would not start. We knew we had to get the engine properly serviced immediately or our almost new engine would be trash. We couldn’t remain in Barbuda, with its very scarce services and amenities. We had to go back to Antigua. Our friends on Rode Trip, still in Antigua, had secured us an engine mechanic who could take care of our engine as soon as we arrived back there. They also offered us the loan of their dinghy for use over Christmas. They are currently at a dock so the dinghy wasn’t being used. Amazing! At the end of the day, we know we were lucky. Lucky to have suffered no injuries. Lucky to have great sailing buddies who never hesitate to assist however they can. Lucky to be in a world where complete strangers will go out of their way to help you without hesitation. A big thank you to Rode Trip, to Enoch (the bar owner at Barbuda) and to the crew on Inukshuk, our towing heroes. Merry Christmas indeed! Enjoying the adventures aboard Wild Horses? Want to know where we are headed next? Click on the buttons below!
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AuthorVictoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire. Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat. Categories
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June 2024
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