Hispaniola - the name of the island that contains the two sovereign states Haiti and the Dominican Republic - rolls off the tongue and just conjures up Caribbean goodness. I don't know too much about this place other than it is the second largest island in the Caribbean (after Cuba), it is incredibly green and lush, was the location of the first of Columbus's colonies in the new world, and is rumored to be wonderfully cheap.
We like cheap.
After spending a week at the dock here in the Turks and Caicos (we spent more here than we have in 3 months combined!) we are ready to continue on our journey south and head out back to sea...
This next passage to Dominican Republic will also mark our official entry into the "thorny path". We will be travelling against currents, against trade winds and against a pretty unforgiving shoreline along the North coast of DR. We are sure to be tried and tested. Our cruising guide has this to say:
From Luperón going East, the north coast is an extremely difficult. The waters of the Atlantic are rough and when the trade winds are blowing or a “norther” comes down from the United States, the North Coast is beyond difficult; it can be outright dangerous. There really is no place to stop east of Luperón that is safe and when the wind is from the NE or from the E with seas from the NE, the entirety of the North Coast is not tenable. You will find yourself riding big seas on a windbound coast. To transit the north coast one needs to be an experienced sailor.
Luckily for us, we have a Lloyds of London rated boat, a sound and experienced crew and a desire to move on, take our beatings, and see what lies ahead! We will be departing our beloved South Side Marina today and will be heading to Luperon tomorrow. We might be out of touch until then (and may or may not blog via our SSB), but we'll try to keep SPOT up and running so you can see where we are!
Love,
Brittany & Scott
Brittany & Scott
7 comments:
Best wishes and hopefully you'll have as good an experience as ZTC! The write-up on your posts makes it sound really scary, but they made it just find as we're sure you will too!
Good luck! And, Brit - I'm always curious of the length of time you're at sea for these trips. I'm sure it's always very different depending on winds - but any estimates you can provide would be great. Thanks chica - sending you vibes of calm winds and smooth seas. :)
Have a safe trip & be careful to pick the right weather window before you transit the DR's North coast !! Cheers, P.
Fair winds and good sailing to you both. We're confident that your sail will go swimmingly. It's been great following your adventures and look forward to more. We know you'll be safe and enjoy every minute of your voyage.
I've always wondered about going with / against trade winds. Sailing upwind considerably faster, right? So if the prevailing winds from the VIs to Bahamas are East to West, you'd end up sailing much faster going into the winds (Bahamas -> VIs) than you would going with the winds (VIs -> Bahamas), right?
I suppose going with the wind is a more comfortable point of sail, since you aren't racing anybody to get where you're going.
Against wind and current! Not my fave.
Wind traveler is a website that has blogs that include heading to Hispaniola. It is the second-largest island in the world which is independent. Also you can check https://essay-writing-service.us.org/do-my-thesis-paper-for-me to get amazing quality work easily. They have a detail of their coming tour. Join their website for getting to know more about it.
Post a Comment