waterfalls

Last Thursday was adventure travel day. We went waterfall climbing with the crews of five other boats. A series of twenty-seven cascades along the Rio Bajabonico provide a challenging and beautiful day trip from Luperon. We arrived early by van to avoid the crowds later in the day. Everyone was surprised to be issued lifejackets and helmets. Helmets! Safety equipment is unheard of in Third World Countries. What had we gotten ourselves into?

The ascent begins with a pleasant hike through a lush woodland and the trail fords a few shallow streams. We quickly reached a primitive ranger station/ bar and where instructed to give up our eye wear unless we were really blind. It sounded like we were about to loose anything that was not tied down. Now everybody into the water to swim to the first waterfall- a chute carved into the rock by water with a drop of about 15 feet. With help from our wonderful guides (2 guides for our group of 11) we made it up waterfall number 1 then scrambled, swam and climbed our way up 6 more. Waterfall seven is a turn around point. The guides asked how many falls we wanted to do-were we up for all 27? The climb up from #7 involved pulling yourself up a step rock face on a rope with knots tied in it. Four of our group decided they had had enough. The rest of us decided to press on and see how many we could manage.

We continued up six more beautiful falls as jungle-like foliage and rock cliffs blocked out most the sunlight. The stream flows over smooth rocks surfaces carved over time into amazing grottos and slides. At cascade number 13 the trail broke off into the woods for a series of switchbacks up and over a small mountain. At the base of the hill we regained our breaths and rejoined the river. At this point, the guides in formed us that this was number 27- end of the line. We celebrated by jumping off into a small, deep pool, of now colder water.

This jump-off of about 12 feet turned out to be good practice for our decent. One down, twenty six to go. We stayed with the water on the way down so we got to see the scenery we had missed when we took the trail. We soon learned that jumping off a waterfall is a lot easier than climbing down it. We all got accustomed to leaping from 15 feet into a deep spot about the size of a hot tub. Some of the falls had an option of jump or slide. Everyone tried both - you get a good dunking at the bottom either way. Soon we rejoined our comrades at the ranger station . They took pictures of us jumping off the last (or first) waterfall- what fun!

The van then took us to the town of Imbert where a restaurant put out Domincan style buffet for us. Chicken, beef and pork served with beans and rice, salad, fruit, friend plantains and ice-cold cerveza Presidente- We ate and ate.

After lunch we were taken on a quick drive through Puerto Plato and a tour of the Brugel Rum factory. Then eleven tired gringos were taken back to Luperon to return to our floating homes.

All That We Thought It would Be! And More!

Glenn and I have been looking forward to visiting the DR for many months. We were a little worried that our expectations might be too big. We love it. Yesterday we spent the day at a beautiful waterfall. There are 27 falls, you can climb as many as you are comfortable with . Guess how many we climbed? More details later. Later our taxi driver took us to a rum factory.
Check out the photo of the group that we traveled with.

Dominican Republic

[N19d53:91, W070d57:21]

We had a wonderful 25 hour sail from Provo to the DR. (approximately 135mn) We are amazed at the beauty of this country and we have not yet let the boat. We are surrounded by mountains. We plan to go ashore tomorrow after clearing customs. We hope we can add photo's to the website soon.

Michele and Glenn

Turks and Ciaios

We made it! We had a great sail from Mayaguana. Wonderful! So the evening was perfect, a little too perfect, as we were sailing into Sandborne channel our alternator belt broke. Yikes! No big deal we were in 12 ft. of water so we anchored and Glenn replaced it. We are fine and happy to be in the Turks and Ciaos. We will write more when we are not so tired. We plan to SCUBA dive tomorrow. We hope to head for the Dominican Republic by Sunday. Great weather window in our future. We would love to see more of the Turks and Caicos but we hate to miss a great window to sail down to the DR.

Love, Michele and Glenn

[N21d44:52, W072d17:17]

Mayaguana-March 15,2006

(Glenn) Mayagauna has the nicest people we have met in the Bahamas. We have only met a few dozen of the 300 or so inhabitants but they have all been friendly and helpful. We visited the Zion Baptist church in the Abraham's Bay settlement for Sunday morning services. There were about 25 people there including kids, lay ministers, choir and the band. We re-met the woman who runs the dry goods store (about 40 different items) and she later had me follow her to her house to exchange the last of our Bahamian currency for U.S. Mayaguana's go out of their way to help visitors. There is a lot of talk about development for the island. The Bahamian Prime Minister spoke at the airport on the day we arrived and it looks as though things will start happening fast in the next ten years or so. I hope they maintain their small town charm as they grow into a diving and fishing tourist mecca.

(Michele) We have had a wonderful week in Mayaguana. Our friends Trish and Ted (Flicka, San Francisco) arrived the day after we did. Trish is the woman who operated a women's sailing school for 17 years. You can imagine how excited I was to have a female sailing mentor anchored next to me for a week. Trish is rewriting her book on sailing and needed more photos for it. So you know me, always delegating, I suggested Glenn take some photos in return for her assistance with sailing advice. Glenn did a photo shoot on their boat and Trish spent time with me teaching me how to rig a second reef in the main sail and add a downwind preventer to our boom. Ted plays music so we had many wonderful dinners together eating fresh cracked conch and singing in the cockpit while looking a beautiful full moon.

(Michele) On the island of Mayaguana there are only two pay phones. The one closest to us did not work. We were informed that the "resort" on the other end of the island also has a phone. We took our bikes and rode 18 miles. I was tired when I got there but not too bad. We got to the resort and guess what? You got it, the phone did not work. Oh Well!
So we ate lunch at a smaller, unopened resort. The couple was lovely. Velva cooked one of the best meals we have eaten out in the Bahamas. She made slaw, peas and rice and fish. Thank goodness for the carbs for the ride back. We rode 18 miles into a 20-knot head wind. Boy, was I happy to get off that bike!

(Glenn) Two months we have been in the Bahamas and yesterday I finally got to kill something. We have been sailing and anchoring over reefs and flats just teeming with fish, conch and lobster, yet we have paid for almost every bite of seafood we have eaten. Other boaters have given us fish that they caught. Others boaters have given us conch that they caught. Our harvest thus far, on our own- zero, nada. Yesterday changed that.

My inner caveman wanted to put meat on my family's table and my inner cheapskate wanted free seafood. Both were satisfied when I speared a nice big lobster on the reef near our boat. We split him four ways with the crew of Flicka as an appetizer before conch chowder and beer bread aboard Crossroads last night. And it was good!

I don't really like killing and even get a bit creeped out when a dead conch moves while being skinned however the ends justify the means. My apologizes to vegans everywhere. Animals are good eatin and free is free. One more lobster and the spear will pay for itself. Tonight we say goodbye to the Bahamas and sail all night to Provo, in the Turks and Caicos.

Friday, March 10,2006

New Beginnings

(Michele) Today was a very sad day for me. For the past two months we have been in constant communication with our friends Don and Kim (Moonrise). Tomorrow we head south and they head north. We have shared so many wonderful memories, we laughed, we cried, we ate, we blew conch.

It feels like a new beginning. Ever since Marathon people have been talking about sailing to Georgetown. For most cruisers, Moonrise included, Georgetown is the turnaround destination. We have really come to depend on Kim and Don. Kim and I had some great girl talks and Glenn and Don could talk projects for days. They are an amazing couple. Don was a comedian in a previous life so you can only imagine the laughs we shared. They thought my southern Chester County-isms were great (HIDE and WATCH)! And of course they loved Glenn's clever wit and good cooking. So, we wish them a great trip back to Florida as we forge ahead to the southeast. I am sure we will meet others couples we will bond with but, it will really be hard to top Don and Kim. We had read about meeting friends and saying good-bye but it is much harder when you are really doing it.

We never dreamed we would spend two months in the Bahamas and it is hard to believe we were in Georgetown for two weeks. With the winter frontal passages that come through, you really do have to sit and wait. When we say, "wait for good weather" you would think we were crazy. While we wait, the sun is out and the temp is perfect, but the wind is from the wrong direction.

OH What a Night Part Two/ Mayaguana

Monday morning we woke up to our 6:00 am alarm clock (yikes) and listened to Chris Parker. We are a sponsoring vessel so we can ask him specifically about the weather for the location we plan to sail. (Its like being able to call Dave Brown at home to find out if you should have a picnic that day or not, pretty cool!) It's the best $250 dollars we have spent in a long time. Back to the story, Chris said, "go for it" and that this was going to be the last good weather window for traveling southeast for 10 days. We had already spent two weeks in Georgetown and as much as we loved it, we were ready for a remote out island. After being with over 400 boats and all the social activities, we wanted some "stare at the wall time". (In our case stare at the ocean time.)

Back to the weather report, when Chris said go for it, Glenn and I pulled up the anchor said goodbye to Georgetown and motor sailed to Long Island. We spent one very rolly night in Calabash bay and once again listened to the 6:30 Chris Parker weather report. Again I asked him if the weather was still a go and he said yes, it would be blowing 20-25 from the west and clocking to the north - perfect for the direction we were sailing. We pulled up our anchor and headed for Mayaguana. Of course everyone else that was even thinking about heading south was also listening to Chris. So when they heard him telling Crossroads that this was going to be a great sail, they joined us. Our friends Dragonfly (Nashville), Wasabi, Indigo and Flicka all sailed toward Mayaguana.

(Glenn) We motored out of Crashabash (Calabash) Bay, Long Island on Tuesday morning around 8:00 am. Calabash is one of the rolliest anchorages we have been in yet. The waves wrap around the north end of the island and swing in over the reef into bay. The boat (I would say boats, but we were the only fools there) faces into the wind when anchored and normally the waves from that wind would hit the boat from the front. The waves in Crashabash Bay hit the boat from the side, causing a very uncomfortable roll. It was a difficult to move around the boat with out holding on to something. Everything on the boat crashed to one side then bashed back to the other all night. We were very glad to leave and doubt that anyone stays there more than one night.

So, we started a 170-mile passage with a not so great night sleep. The first cold front we had been waiting for had already shifted the wind to the West, but it was light winds so far. We motor sailed east and passed south of Rum Cay in the afternoon. The five boats heading southeast kept in touch on the radio. We all knew that when the second front kicked in around midnight that things could get hairy. It was nice when we felt a bit uneasy about the rising wind to hear another sailor say " Isn't this a great night for a sail?" It really was, until 11:50 when the wind and waves really started to build. We altered our course a bit from the original plan of sailing north of Samana and then turning south for Mayagauna. The wind had clocked slower than anticipated and since Crossroads doesn't like to sail straight down wind, we edged south and passed on the south side of Samana, then sailed south east to clear the north side of Plana Cays. We tossed this idea around with the other boats and Dragonfly and Indigo went with us, Wasabi stuck to the original course. We had lost radio contact with Flicka since they prefer not to use their motor in light air and had fallen behind earlier. Light air was not a problem now. Carl (our Perkins diesel) had been shut down for hours and Crossroads was really kicking up her heals. The cold fronts that brought wind from the right direction were now really pouring it on. Waves were breaking around us, but in the dark it was hard to see how big they were- perhaps a good thing. We reefed the main before dark and now the genoa, was furled and still our speed increased. Speed is relative on a sailboat and you must keep in mind that we are moving our entire house and all our stuff without using any fuel. That said, we reached the blistering speed of almost eight knots (about eight mph). For all you runners out there, that's seven and a half minute miles- even I can run faster than that, but not all night. But run all night we did. Michele and I took turns on watch so one of us could rest, but it was hard to get any real sleep down below. It was a wild ride, however, we never really felt we were in danger or out of control. The autopilot did almost all of the steering, so we didn't get quite as tired as we had on other crossings.

We sighted Mayaguana Wednesday morning but it took until afternoon to sail around to the south side and motor 5 miles through Abrahams Bay to the Anchorage. Shortly after we were anchored, Dragonfly, Wasabi and Indigo decided that midnight that night would be their best chance to sail to the Turks and Caicos. They didn't want to get stuck for a week in such a rustic, out of the way spot. We did, so when I went to bed a 5:30 pm that afternoon we were alone in an anchorage that could hold 500 boats.

Oh what a night part 2/ Mayaguana

[N22d21:49, W072d58:91]

We arrived in Mayaguana this afternoon at 1:00pm after sailing approx. 170nm( 30 hours). Mayaguana is the last island in the Bahamas before we go to the Turks and Caicos. We are going to bed, we will write more about our exciting passage when we are not so tired. We just wanted everyone to know we had a safe and exciting sail.
michele and glenn

Long Island

[N23d38:92, W075d20:56]

We are anchored at Long Island. It is a very, very rolly anchorage. We plan to take advantage of the next front and sail to Mayaguana, approximately 120nm from here. We should make good time due to the strong north winds that are coming.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

A shared community:

I think the thing I like the most about the cruising lifestyle is the sense of community with the other cruisers. Recently, we have had some trouble with our anchor staying set. One of those days we were setting and resetting, we worked for about 2 hours trying to make sure we were set in the crazy reversing current. The VHF radio came on Crossroads, Crossroads, White Diamond. (That's how you talk from boat to boat). We thought he was calling to tell us we were too close to his boat or something negative. He was so nice; he said, " Your husband is working way too hard. I hope you are planning to cook him a big breakfast. Another time went to get fuel for Crossroads so we left our dinghy in our spot to save our anchor spot. When we returned we anchored very close to our dinghy but we were going to have to swim over to it. Steve from the next boat over got in his dinghy and took me over to our dinghy. These are just a couple of minor examples of sailors helping each other out. We have previous told you about the morning radio net in Georgetown. This morning we announced on the boaters general section of the net that we were having problems with our autopilot. (It has not worked the whole trip meaning we have hand steered every mile, Yuck!). At least six boats came back to us on the radio with great advice. It is so reassuring to know we are a radio call away from receiving help when needed. I wish the world would function more like the sailing community.

Michele