Day: September 24, 2016
Samana, DR to Puerto Rico
Our short stop in Samana was so relaxing! The marina is at a resort called Puerto Bahia, and since it is the off season, there was hardly a soul around. This meant that the creatures had full run of the entire place, with multiple pools and endless skateboarding opportunities and Marci and I could use real washers and dryers and get as much laundry done as we wanted to! Tanda Malaika looked good in her slip which only cost $1/ft per night.
Chad and the boys played tennis.
I wandered around admiring the gorgeous flora after the rain,
I fell in love with the stepping stones around the resort, designed to look like a nest was in each one.
We spent a considerable amount of time in the many pools.
When our weather window looked good, we set out on the 132 nm Mona passage, which we had been warned about. It is the stretch of ocean between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and is known for it’s crazy seas. We made sure everything on Tanda Malaika was stowed well and latched down, and braced ourselves for the ride. We rearranged watches for the night, figuring we’d arrive in about 20 – 22 hours.
Through the night the ocean and weather was calm, and today, it was even calmer. The tumultuous ocean we expected turned out to be like a lake.
The lack of wind meant that we had to motor the entire way, but that was better than being beaten to death. We rescued a lonesome fender bobbing up and down in the middle of no where, and Chad caught a couple of barracuda which he threw back.
As we neared Puerto Rico we could see that the topography is similar to Dominican Republic, with dense foliage on hills and distant mountains.
After our 20 hour passage, the welcome committee was a flock of awkward Pelicans gawking from poles. They seemed bored to death by our presence.
We scrubbed the boat down and as we did, it began raining, so we continued and took advantage of the beautiful cool rain. Emma washed her hair with rainwater and all the suds from cleaning the decks were washed away.
We are excited to be here.On Monday, my beautiful Momma, my sister (Bernadine), and my nephew (Gabriel), will be arriving. We can’t wait to see them!
Adventures of a Tribe 