We arrive
in the Dominican Republic (DR) after a long motor and short (good) sail. 325
miles, three nights at sea, but the stars were fantastic. We had headed South
from the BVI until we could turn right (West) halfway between St Croix and the
rest of the USVI – it was important to keep more than 12 miles from the US as
Peter and Doros had no Visas. The seas were low and the winds light for 36
hours and we motored. The wind (and Sea!) arrive off the tip of San Juan as we
head across open sea to the DR. We arrive in Boca Chica some way along the DR
coast. We are now rushing a little bit to get to Cuba as Peter has to fly home
a week early, although in truth the sooner we get to Cuba the sooner I can get
around to Havana for the Family arriving in April. John has suggested adding
distances to the blog and I will do this as best I can – a quick play with
Navionics online charts seems to say I have travelled over 6,800 miles since
leaving Belfast, the boys have done 3,500 since the beginning of January, wow,
seems a lot – I will check the figures
later.
Boca Chica
marina is a few miles from the town and is a modernish marina with a posh
looking yachtclub in half of it (through locked gates). When we arrive no-one speaks English. Eventually 5 guys come down the quay - one in Military fatigues and the rest in different coloured T-shirts. One speaks English the rest studiously avoid English. Victor is an "agent" we pay him to work through the paperwork of the other 4 in English. This is a bit of a game as when we eventually get to the marina office we get instructions on how to clear in without using an agent, but we had been told to stay on the boat until the customs, immigration, military intelligence and drugs enforcement people arrive. Clear in costs 265 USD of which I think 45 USD went to Victor and it seems to cover cost of clear out too - domestic clear out to the next port - you are expected to check in with at least the Guarda at each domestic port you visit and you must have a Despacho from the previous port. <sigh>. We find the next port, Barahona, simpler. Marina harbourmaster Rico is a pleasant englishspeaker who unfortunately was away when we arrived otherwise our experience might have been simpler.
At one stage we dress
up Peter in long trousers and send him off towards the yachtclub to blag his way in - who can resist an Englishman in his finest.
Before he gets there we change our mind and decide to absorb the local
ambience. Leading from the Marina ,which has security guards at the gate, is a well potholed road running from the sea. After a block of reasonable houses the road becomes crowded with little stands selling fried food, chunks of meat, rum or beer - and the odd place selling oil and motorcycle maintenance - the place is absolutely humming (roaring!) with small motorcycles and mopeds - at any moment of time there might be 20 buzzing about. The stalls are basically each a single room with a wall missing. Some have chairs and tables outside but not many and the "street| is packed with scores and scores of locals. The motorbikes and bike repairshops and street foods give the street a bit of a "Mad Max" feel to it but the locals are busy chatting and looking and seem happy enough. If we were more paranoid we would clutch our wallets and maybe after 1 a.m. it is not a place to be. We did not take any photographs (it was dark anyway).
Heading up the road we come to a modern multi-lane carriageway with a "pedestrian" footbridge across it. Most of the footbridge traffic is mopeds and motorbikes of course - we learn later that the DR has 10 times more road deaths than the UK per capita. (The DR is a self contained country of 10 Million people and is unlike the other bits of the Caribbean we have visited).
At the junction we see a "proper" shop - an off-licence with an armed guard. Surprisingly he has a pump action shotgun hanging from his shoulder. Why we ask, because this is a bad place he answers. He kindly arranges a taxi to take us to town - we suspect he phoned his brother who then quotes 600 DR Pesos - twice the going rate we discover later. To add insult to injury he then suggests 20 USD as a suitable fare. (should be 12 dollars but we have not yet got any DR Pesos).
We drive along the modern(ish) road past a mixture of reasonably modern (10 year+) buildings and some small houses and lots of bigger houses. Perhaps the road from the Marina is unusual...
He drops us in a tourist street in Boca Chica - parallels the shore behind beachfront stores. This is an eyeopener. Packed with Cafes, tables and chairs - pedestrian only; there are roving bands of young girls, packs of 3,4 or 5. We get accosted by a pack who make it clear what they are selling. I am reminded by a friend who travelled in Asia who heard the phrase |"50 dollar, 50 dollar, long time good loving". They grab Doros's wallet and then I get grabbed by my testimonials by a pretty young thing. Why D's wallet and my testimonial's I can only guess. I get released - maybe quicker than my pride would like but I am relieved. We then notice much of the street is male tourists (70%) either single men or groups of 4. We retreat to a restaurant and take an inside table to avoid the hustle and get a good meal.
We exit and try for a taxi - the taxi stand is shut (at 9 pm) but we see a fresh young youth dressed in chef whites coming down the road - clearly off duty and he kindly trys to get us a taxi, he finally takes us to a nearby road which is full of bright, modern hotels and plazas with trees and seated areas, the receptionist of one hotel gets us a taxi - modern air conditioned and cheap! (300 Pesos). He takes us back to the marina past mostly middle class housing and good roads, the last mile was maybe more potholed and had people out on the street enjoying chatting, beer and street food. Fair enough, had we turned right out of the marina instead of going straight we would have felt a bit safer and more comfortable - though in fact we were wrong to be nervous I suspect, the unknown is stressful at times. The DR is a country of two halves but at least it is not tainted by tourists, it is its own place. I don't think Boca Chica is a good starting point. We move on to Barahona.
So after getting Fuel and checking out we head for Barahone. After an easy overnight passage we arrive at 8 a.m. to a delapidated government jetty with few "cleats/bollards" and lots of bare reinforcing rods poking through the concrete. We tie a cats cradle of ropes as an occasional surge comes in that is very severe - we rig all our fenders to port and rig a fender board and still manage to pop a fender, ropes get a hammering as well but it is more convenient than running around in the dinghy.
We see what looks like a whale (when we all have our glasses off) and take a photograph for Alan Doyle - who crossed the Atlantic hoping to see one. Here it is Alan...
Barahona is bit more like a normal town, poor but ok. Its trademark appears to be motorbikes, thousands (9 million?) Many clapped out and under 125cc or tiny mopeds. They wait an street corners and ask to be "taxis" we decline.,
I didn't want to seem I was photographing at the zoo so I have fewer shots than I would like - there are motorbikes with three on board - often a kid wedged between two adults, I even saw them 4 up.
By the way it is hot - use shade intelligently !
We walk the town and can't find a coffee shop - no starbucks here, in the end we find a small stall in a garden with 4 tables and 16 chairs. Phew, coffee fix. I take myself off to a "gran" hotel and use their free wifi for the cost of a coco cola (see last blog - this one is being typed in Cuba were you pay for a voucher to use the internet and spookily I can't use paypal or amazon to pay for phone topups of kindle purchases... ).
Peter and Doros take a 5 hour (75USD each) taxi ride/tour of a national park - and the Haitian border. D wil do a guest blog separately for that.
It is still hot when they return, a decision is made that it is beer oclock
(spoiler alert - this photo is Fake! well, not fake exactly but it is from Beer o'clock in Cuba a few days later - sorry)
There are two other foreign boats in Barahona, one on the quay like us - a swiss boat SARDINI has Michael as skipper and Ulrich and Evonne as crew - they are heading to Panama and I suggest we have dinner together to hear of their adventure. They know of a nearby restaurant (with free Wifi!) and we have a good evening.
We leave at 8 am towards cuba, heading south for 40 miles down a peninsula
and then west through an interesting channel - shallows to 3.1 metres in a 3 mile wide by 5 mile long channel, luckily wind was from the North and the shallow part had little swell - could be rather dangerous here - we see a few wrecks on the shore!
And then onto Cuba - being careful not to stray into the 12 mile territorial limits of Haiti. Peter and Doros on the helm heading towards Cuba - their endpoint.
After three days and three nights we have travelled 365 miles and arrive in Cuba just after first light. Santiago is a very sheltered inlet and is convenient to Holguin airport where Peter has managed to bring forward his flight by one week, he has urgent family matters to attend to and we will miss him, he has been on board for over 2 months and has travelled 3,500 miles from the Cape Verde Islands to Cuba, an adventure. Bon voyage Peter, thanks for all your hard work, some cooking, lots of dishwashing and good company. Come back soon.