Lee and Peter Sailing Trip was for Four not Two Years. Now an Italian adventure

To get from Provo to Luperon in the Dominican Republic we plan to sail accros the Caicos Bank, Anchor in Ambergris Cay, then sail overnight to the DR. There are four other boats also going to the DR. They anchored in Cockburn Harbor since Ambergris Cay is too shallow for them. Eight hours got us to Ambergris Cay. The next morning we had a VHF conference with the other boats and decided to set off on the 90 miles to Luperon. The trade winds nearly always blow from the east so this is a close hauled trip.

We are cautious so waited for a forecast of trade winds under 15 knots. Even so waves frequently broke across the foredeck, occasionally over the top deck and sometimes completely over the boat!

By midday we had met up with the other boats. At around 5pm we noticed water coming up out of the bilge into the port hull. In about 10 minutes it was over a foot deep coming up the steps to the bridge deck. This was serious did we have a hole or a leak?

We made a VHF call to the other boats that we were taking in water and needed a safety boat in case we could not control the leak. Three of the boats were within a few miles and altered course to come to us.

Peter started investigating, there are no through hulls in the port hull other than the old sealed ones for the head (toilet). Peter moved the Composting Toilet to check them and saw water pouring in from a high up vent to the sail locker in the port bow. He immediately guessed what was wrong. The sail locker had filled up and was overflowing into the main hull.

We turned down wind to stop waves breaking over the foredeck. Peter went to the bow and opened the sail locker and it was full of water. The sail locker is above the water line and normally drains over board. Something inside, a rope end or bit of plastic had moved and blocked the drain. The constant breaking of waves over the deck had caused water to get into the locker and the blocked drain allowed it to fill up. We cleared the locker and bailed a few buckets out and it started draining again and no more water coming into the main hull. In another 30 minutes the bilge pump aided by a bucket had cleared the main hull.

We decided to carry on to Luperon since the cause of the water ingress was identified and corrected.

It was a great comfort to see the other boats nearby while we sorted out the problem.

During the night a large thunder storm developed with lots of rain and lightning. The wind turned south that allowed us to travel 5 miles east before the storm passed and the wind went back to East. Going east is good, lightning and strong winds bad.

The other boats banged into the waves to make Luperon. We were still cautious of the sail locker so eased off the wind and went to Cabo Isabela about 5 miles west of Luperon.

After the Bahamas the DR is amazing. In the Bahamas the land is low and vegetation dry and rough. You don’t see the islands until you are 5 miles away. The DR has mountains 10,000 feet high and you see them 30 Miles away!

When we arrived at Cabo Isabela the Anchorage was flat calm, high green mountains, a nice Beach, bars and a museum for Columbus Fort. As we had not cleared customs we could not go ashore in this paradise.

Early the next morning while the Island lee kept the Easterly trade winds at bay we had an easy trip around to Luperon where we cleared immigration, a drug check, Harbor authorities, customs and an agricultural check!

Luperon at last! The DR looks green and verdant although the Harbor area of Luperon looks poor and rough. The resturants are good, cheap, beer sold by the litre but those stories are in the next blog. For now we have arrived😂