This was our first overnight passage with just Dave & I onboard, which meant standing 3-hour watches with little sleep in between. I needed it to be an easy passage, so we used Chris Parker of the Marine Weather Center to help us find the right weather window and route. It was a straightforward trip, so he suggested we depart late morning on March 12th so we would arrive by noon on the 13th in Luperón, and he gave us a waypoint to head for that would keep us out of the worst of the westward flowing current as long as possible before heading more southerly for Luperón. It was a beautiful, calm passage!
We hauled anchor at 11:00 AM on the 12th and cruised on solar and battery alone until 4:00 PM. Then we turned on the port generator and cross-ship cable and ran both motors off the one generator the rest of the way. Most of the time our motors were set at 2.8 KW each and we made 4.5-5 knots. We started 3-hour watch rotations at noon, with the off person trying to catch a nap. The moon just started to rise during the last 15 minutes of my 9pm-12am watch. When Dave came up to relieve me, we both went forward to sit in the tramp at the bow for a few minutes to admire the stars. We could even see the Milky Way! During Dave’s 12-3 AM watch we hit the westward flowing Antilles current which slowed our eastward progress a little, so Dave bumped up the power to 4 KW each to maintain our speed at 4.5 kts. On my 3-6 AM watch I had to slow us down again so we would be approaching Luperón Bay after sunrise allowing us to see the fish net floats we’d heard about. During that shift, the half moon and stars were casting enough light that I could see the horizon in all directions. It was during this watch that I also started seeing boats again, both on the AIS and radar, and visually by their lights. Sometime around 5am, two cruise ships crossed our stern about 1.5 miles off heading to Puerta Plata a little to the east of Luperón. We entered Luperón Bay around 8:00am on the 13th.
Friends who had arrived a week ahead of us had given us some information about the check-in process and mooring balls. I had also been asking questions in a Dominican Republic FB group run by the Seven Seas Cruising Association station host, who happens to be based in Luperón Bay. She and her husband told us to hail them when we arrived, which we did, and they got the ball rolling or the Armada to come out to our boat to start the paperwork, and for the local mooring ball owner, Papo, to escort us to a good spot to anchor until he had an open mooring. It was nice to have all that facilitated for us. The Armada showed up within the hour, with an English-speaking interpreter, and gave us the paper allowing us to be here. We gave them fresh-baked (on the way in) chocolate banana bread and soda. We later went ashore to complete the check-in process by visiting Immigration ($75 for 30 days), Customs & Ports ($30 port fee) and Agriculture ($10 and a promise we had no forbidden produce onboard). We returned to Indigo Lady, took down the Q-flag and ran up the DR flag (which we had to buy from Papo because did not have one- ack!). Papo wouldn’t have a mooring for us until the next day, so we moved to a better anchoring location out of the channel. Our friends on Guajira invited us over for drinks and snacks around 6pm. So we rested for the afternoon and joined them for a couple of hours of low-key conversation and camaraderie. Dave and I returned to Lady for a late, light dinner and bed. We slept like rocks until 8am the next morning!
After three years, we finally made it to our first Caribbean country! Technically, we’re still in North Atlantic waters, because the north border of the Caribbean Sea is the south coasts of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. (For those geographically challenged, Hispaniola is the island containing Haiti and The Dominican Republic.) We arrived March 13th and we’re still here as I type this today, April 1st (no fooling) waiting for a good weather window to continue east to Puerto Rico. That wait will continue at least until late next week. Our fingers are crossed that that potential weather window actually materializes. This is the longest we’ve been stuck waiting for the right conditions to continue our journey, and perhaps I will write about that another time. As I’ve said before, there are worse places to be stuck, and we are enjoying ourselves with exploring and meeting new people while we wait.
This is enough for one entry. I’m going to continue to write while I’m in the mood, but I’ll parse that out over a couple of posts. Until then, stay safe, and take care of each other!
Life on Lady 
Love hearing how you both are. Sounds like a wonderful adventure, experience—enjoy! 💕 Johnny D
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Hi Lisa and Dave, where do you plan to harbor the boat for the summer?
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