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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. 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. 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! 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! 😊
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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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April 2026
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