Dedicated fishermen |
I spoke to Chris Parker again this morning and he keeps
saying the wind is going to moderate. We
have our doubts but it only makes sense that if the wind is blowing from the
north, we should be able to get closer to the mainland and find shelter with
kinder seas.
While all of this was going on, I glanced up and something
caught my eye… Doux Doux. He was struggling
upwind in his little boat paddling frantically on one side and then the other
with his meager stick. Poor guy, what’s
he thinking coming back here in this wind???
He eventually reached us and clung to the rails, breathing heavily. It’s funny that with almost no common
language we seem to do all right. He
handed up a bag and said (almost unintelligibly) Laundry. They hadn’t brought all of our clothes back
yesterday so he had to come out before we left this morning.
It’s a good thing too as it was most of Bruce’s shorts that
got left behind. He had given his best
shorts to Kiki to distribute to the boys.
We would have left here with only the shorts on Bruce’s butt!!!
Our still-suspicious-American-hearts couldn’t help but think that they kept them on purpose but then felt bad juju when we paid them for not
doing the laundry. That or they tried
them on and they were too big. Haitians
are skinny! That rumor is no lie… So
anyway we said our goodbyes and watched Doux Doux literally blow away…
Next up – another visit from Odelim and David. They wanted to make sure we would tell people
their names so that they could get work from other cruisers. They were very sweet. I think we’re going to keep in touch on
Facebook!!
This shows our wobbly track leaving to the north |
If only I had known how much worse it would get. Bruce had trouble getting the anchor onboard
and fought with it for too long. This
involved some yelling, which had me frantically worrying that he had lost a leg. I was literally straining my eyes expecting to
see arterial blood spatters!
I couldn’t leave the helm because even at full throttle we
were barely making 2-3 knots and the boat kept getting knocked sideways where
we could not afford to be… Just at the point where I realized Bruce wasn’t bleeding,
we got hailed on the VHF. Bruce was
still getting a douche as the bow rose and fell taking on water in the big
waves. But he did not seem to be in
mortal peril… so it was OK for me to talk on the radio.
I answered and chatted a bit. The guy wanted to know where we were from and
apologized for not coming around to visit. Having a normal conversation provided me with a lifeline to still the shaking in my knees. The effort of keeping my voice from sounding
shrill snapped me out of it. I signed
off after being invited to join the Ile à Vache Facebook group…
Danger over – we were still barely making way – less than 3
knots. Gotta get some sail up...We raised the double-reefed main
and sheeted it in tightly then fell off just enough to gain some speed and with
speed… some control.
Things were starting to feel better. We were past the point of wanting to turn
back and now if we snagged a fish trap, at least we had mobility of a non-mechanical
nature. Very soon the waves became a bit
more kindly. The ride got better and
even the cat relaxed.
We rolled out the jib and shook one reef out of the
main. Our speed increased. We melted into the motion of the boat and
life was good again. Funny how within minutes we go from doubting the wisdom of
being here… to feeling on top-of-the-world… like accomplished Cruisers. Well, we had survived the shit!!! That must
count for something!
Bruce went down to shower off the salt water and changed
into dry clothes. While he was down
below our speed went from a lovely 6.5 with occasional 7 knots to a dismal 4
knots and dropping.
More calm in the lee of the island |
For about half an hour we motored off course with sails
hanging limp. Where is it!? It has to be here!!! Strangely we began to get a little breeze
coming TOWARDS the island instead of from the North. A sea breeze I guess…
But it was enough to allow us to get back on course and keep
wind in the sails…even if we did have to motorsail… again.
With large, well-spaced swells on the nose, we all settled
into the shade and watched Haiti go by.
It seems endless and the mountains are a welcome change from the flat
Bahamas. It was just after noon and only
18 hours to go…
Soon we began to see whitecaps up ahead. Wind driven waves appeared to port. The boat – full main and jib formerly
languishing – leapt forward to more than seven knots and a ferocious heel.
Here and gone. They are camera-shy! |
We got busy reefing the main again. We had found the wind!
1:10 Have I mentioned that we had a toilet malfunction
yesterday? The piston that holds the
internal plunger let go and we can’t flush it any more. Fixing it has been put off for a couple of
days until we can get to someplace calm.
Unfortunately we are dummies and left the thru-hull valves open. We (read: Bruce) had removed the waste from
the bowl and we thought we were good. We
have now learned otherwise… The bowl
filled again and the smell of sewage was wafting up from down below. We’ve had to apologize to the cat for
initially blaming the smell on her…
Guess we won’t be making THAT mistake again…
1:50 We just finished rolling in the jib to reef it and put
both reefs back in the mainsail. We were
careening out of control – spray everywhere – wind beating me to death. Now things are better with speeds still in
the 7’s and a nice ride. We are turning
back toward land again looking for a happy medium.
3:17 Bruce is napping.
We had to reef more jib – more careening. I don’t like careening. It makes the boat feel very big and the sea
feel even bigger. And those things make
me feel very small. It’s just so nice
when we can get everything trimmed right to give us an easy sail… and if it’s
fast as well… even better!
Night fell. We were
far enough off the coast that there were no fish traps to contend with. The seas were small with long gentle swells
and hardly any wind driven chop. When I
went down to sleep we had full jib and a reefed mainsail. When I awoke I found that Bruce had rolled
the jib.
The winds had all but shut down with the setting sun and the
main was rigged with a preventer to the starboard rail keeping it from slamming
in the waves. I happily took my watch in
these conditions. Although it is
annoying that the main couldn’t be kept full… it gave me purpose. I cranked up the iTunes on the iPad and
proceeded to hunt for the perfect heading that would keep the main quiet. It made the time go much faster.
The moon was full and we had intermittent clouds. I could see the mountains sliding silently by. Dolphin came and went. Time passed quickly through two more watches
just like that one.
Dawn. Finally! |
We were looking for wind once more as the seas moderated
further with only a swell now coming from forward of starboard. We needed to turn south so we doused all
sails and cranked up the engine. We
would end this on our last few gallons of Bahamian diesel.
Our good girl. |
Sunrise over Cabo Falso |
Haitians fishing the border |
Looking at Bahia de las Aguilas |
The Marina Guardia seem to operate out of this small resort |
I somehow figured out that they wanted us to change course
and come into the next Bay to the north of ours, so we made a sharp left and
found a spot to drop anchor in about 15 ft. of water over clear white
sand. We began getting the dinghy ready,
pumping it with air because it had been repaired recently… when the Officials
came out to us in their boat.
It was all very civilized and quite fun for me. Between us we couldn’t make a sentence in the
other’s language, but somehow we got what we needed across. I’ve got my Spanish for Cruisers phrase book
and a little bit of Spanish learned from growing up in South Texas. We told Senior Ferrera that we planned on
staying here until Thursday and would then move to Isla Beata, weather
dependent. After that our plan was to
continue around the cape and head for Baharona to officially clear into the
DR. He seemed OK with that.
One of the most beautiful beaches in the DR |
That was on Sunday.
For the next three days we stayed on the boat. We technically weren’t supposed to go ashore
without clearing in first but we had forgotten to ask if it was OK. So, not wanting to incur the wrath of our
host country and being the by-the-books kind of girl I am… we followed the
rules.
Maybe if our dinghy was holding air a bit better and it
wasn’t such a pain to get it up and down from the davits, we might have bent
the rules a little bit… But we had
plenty to do on the boat.
It was a mess and we spent some time cleaning. Once the boat was looking better and I felt
more “in-control-of-my-fate”… the high of arriving safely here from Haiti wore
off, we kind of crashed. We slept a
lot. We cooked. We ate.
We read. We studied our upcoming
anchorages and routes. Somehow the days
disappeared.
Just sitting in the cockpit reading and gazing out at this
stunning landscape is pretty darn nice.
Our minds are still processing our time in Haiti and we talked about
that a lot.
The beach runs a crescent from left to right. The waters are a teal color instead of the
aqua we’re used to from our time in the Bahamas. We fell into a pattern… windy afternoons and
evenings with the air flowing through the boat and cooling things off. The water was flat this close to the
beach. There are no mountains between
the east wind and us.
In the evening we watched the sun fall uninterrupted into
the Caribbean Sea. I’m looking for the
Green Flash and think I’ve seen it. The
wind shuts off with the setting sun and we settle into deeply restful nights. I haven’t slept this good in recent
memory.
Morning comes gently with the water still and deep. I can see the details of the bottom beneath
our boat as if it was three feet deep… but it’s twenty. The sun rises over the land and we decide
what we want to tick off our list today.
Enjoying the still waters |
The piston had fouled the threads of the plunger that moves
waste out of the bowl. We did not have a
spare for that, although we had just about every OTHER part of the toilet
assembly on hand… so Bruce glued the piston into the plunger piece and we hope
that holds until we can source a replacement.
It seems to be working for now…
Grilling that fish! |
They didn’t have two of the Snapper… In fact, when they
dumped out their buckets into the bottom of the boat, their catch looked like
what we were used to seeing in a saltwater aquarium. I’m sure we don’t eat any of THOSE!!!
We finally settled on $7 for the one Snapper and the
fishermen left complaining loudly in Spanish… something pinché something… I was upset by it at first but remembered
reading that they love the haggling and that sometimes it sounds very heated…
it’s just a part of life. They didn’t
have to take the $7 and we probably paid twice what a local would have. I did feel badly about taking the one good
fish in their entire catch.
After three days, we began to feel the stress of our forced
inactivity. Chris Parker said that we
could round the dreaded Cabo Beata on Friday or Saturday… I began to fret about it. My sleep was interrupted by dreams of huge
waves hitting us as we round the Cape.
Double that with visions of clearing in with hostile and corrupt
officials and it left me wide awake at 2:30 am on the morning of our departure
from Bahia de las Aguilas. Maybe my
sleep is all messed up anyway with the offshore passages and daily naps…
But I was ready to hit the road when the sun came up. The iPad has told us that we’ve entered
another time zone, actually it was a zone that didn’t recognize daylight
savings time. We are suddenly an hour
ahead of what we were. So now we have to
listen to Chris Parker at 7:30 in the morning… I guess the sun doesn’t know
what time it is so it’s the same thing… but we would be well on our way by then.
At dawn we pulled up the anchor and raised the main. I shut down the engine. We had about a four-hour trip. We didn’t’ need the engine. The sailing was calm and serene between the
anchorage and Cabo Falso. As we
approached the false cape and made our rounding, the winds increased and so did
the seas.
The boat began to pound to weather lifting high on the waves
and then crashing into the troughs with spray flying high. Sometimes we would hit it just right to send
gallons of seawater tumbling along our decks and I was really glad we had shut
all of the hatches and ports.
Pretty big seas after we rounded Cabo Falso |
There were two boats already anchored near the fishing
village when we arrived, but they were far apart leaving plenty of room for
isolation. We dropped the sails and
motored up to find a nice spot in about 15 feet with a sandy patch to drop the
hook. There were only small waves
rolling off of the point to port and the winds were still fairly brisk.
The Guardia Post. Nobody came out to visit us. |
I knew that tomorrow would be a challenging day for us. I don’t know how I slept a wink with all that
was on my mind… rounding the Cape, clearing into the country… but I did.
We’re learning that the comprehensive charting that Explorer
Charts provide are not equaled in other parts of the Caribbean. We miss the comfort of having all of that
information at our fingertips… where the work is done for us. Now we have to figure things out for
ourselves in a more “real” experience.
And while that isn’t as easy as we’re used to… we are feeling a bigger
sense of accomplishment after each successful passage whether it was long or
short.
You are very experienced and I praise your sailing abilities! You have a lot to shar with other cruisers.,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great adventure! and great writing! But do consider a composting head. It can not break ever. Keep having fun.
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