Tag: Mona Passage

A Good Turn Daily!

bearcruzer

In keeping with the scouting tradition, Michael did his good deed of the day and came to the aid of a fellow boater, with Mighty Mouse once again pressed into service as a rescue boat.    A Single Hander by the name of Chuck had traveled from Samana in the DR headed home to Boqueron, Puerto Rico aboard his boat Ronin.  He had engine trouble and then his Autopilot went out.   The weather window for the Mona  Passage had been predicted as fairly calm but Chuck spent at least 5 hours in 30 -35 knot winds and big waves .  He finally made it just outside of Boqueron Harbor and droppned anchor at about 8:00pm the night before.    He was exhausted and so did not risk sailing alone through the reef and into the harbor.  He had called his girlfriend, Lolin in the morning to tell her he was back and to see if she could find someone to help tow him the last 3 miles to safety.    Lolin had come into the Restaurant where Michael and I were attempting to access the internet.   It was the only restaurant where she knew anyone.   Terry, a friend of Chucks, was working there and when she explained his situation he came over to our table and asked if we were on a boat and if we had a big enough engine to assist him.     Michael hopped into Mighty Mouse and stopped by DD to fuel up and gather some gear and a radio before heading out the 3.5 miles to where Ronin was anchored.   Lolin contacted Chuck via cell phone and told him help was on the way.   Mike made his way out to Ronin and tied Mighty Mouse along side.   The waves were about 3 ft and a Mike had to stay in the Dingy for much of the tow to keep Mighty Mouse under control.   He was finally able to tie off the engine once inside the harbor buoy and climb aboard Ronin.   Chuck was extremely grateful for the help.   I stayed with Lolin as we watched them come into the harbor and anchor.   A very wet Michael brought a weary but thankful Chuck and his large gray tabby cat,Thomas ashore to the welcoming arms of Lolin.   We said our goodbyes and made plans to meet up with Chuck and Lolin for dinner at Chucks home the next evening.

Ronin at Anchor in Boqueron Harbor...At Last!

Puerto Rico here we come

bearcruzer

Well we had planned on staying in the Domincan Republic for up to 3 weeks but as always when an opportunity for good travel presents itself we must take advantage.    We have a great weather window for making the normally difficult crossing of the infamous Mona Passage from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico.   The seas and winds are predicted to be fairly minimal and being that it will take us almost 48 hours straight to get there I welcome a calm passage.   We will be buddy boating with David and Trudy on SV Persephone as we travel south for as long as it works out that our plans coincide.    We spent Sunday doing Laundry and purchasing a few more fresh provisions for the journey.    Mike filled the extra 2 diesel jugs in the event we will need the additional fuel to make the crossing.  Our engine burns approx 1 gallon per hour and we have a 50 gallon tank but of course that we can burn more or less depending on the sea and wind conditions.     We planned on obtaining our despacho papers on Sunday and leaving first thing in the morning on Monday but of course, best laid plans…..etc.   It turns out Immigration is closed on Sundays and we had to check out with them before we could get a despacho from the commandante.   Monday morning we had an American breakfast special in town and the Upper Deck Restaurante and then walked back down to Immigration.   The officer we were told was not expected until 9:30am that day.     We finally completed our paperwork for a dispacho to Samana, DR in the event we would need to stop along the way due to unexpected weather or any boat problems.  Having the dispacho issued for Samana, DR would allow us to stop there without having to pay too much in additional fees to reenter the country.    After paying our dispatch fees of $20.00 and having a couple of soldiers accompany us back out to our boats for inspection we were able to leave around 11:00am.   It was nice having Persephone as a buddy boat, we would check periodically even when we lost sight of each other.    Mike was a little stressed when we ran into some current in light winds on a close reach and occasionally on the nose and it looked like we might not have enough fuel to make the crossing even with the extra 10 gallons.    We opted to change course slightly and check in at Mayaguez which shaved an additional 12 hours off our crossing.   It was a long but uneventful passage which was really appreciated by me after the last couple of rough overnight passages.  We ended up sailing and motor-sailing through comfortable seas and gentle swells, I was able to read on my watch the entire time (Books Read: A Thousand Splendid Suns & The Help).   After 44 hours we dropped anchor in Mayaguez Harbor, Puerto Rico around 7:00am.

Mona Passage Sunset