Dominican rep. south coast going west

[shantycrew]

Put this in general sailing but maybe better here

We are about to sail our newly acquired Hardin Sea wolf fro Puerto Rico back to Luperon in the Dominican Republic. We plan to sail the south coast of both islands, harbor hopping as we go.
This will be a westerly voyage as far as Isle de Vache, then maybe Jamaica, southerly tip of Cuba, the Turks and Caicos and finally into Luperon on the north coast of the DR.

There seem to be quite a few posts on going west to east towards the BVI but precious little going the way we're planning.

Are we missing something, weird currents, winds etc or is it just a road less traveled.

We live in DR on the North coast and plan to keep "picaroon" there during the hurricane season and sail from there next November.

Any one done this or have any advice, thoughts suggestions

[John A]

We are about to sail our newly acquired Hardin Sea wolf fro Puerto Rico back to Luperon in the Dominican Republic. We plan to sail the south coast of both islands, harbor hopping as we go.
This will be a westerly voyage as far as Isle de Vache, then maybe Jamaica, southerly tip of Cuba, the Turks and Caicos and finally into Luperon on the north coast of the DR.

I have sailed from the western end of PR to Luperon direct, I slowed down approaching Luperon to enter during daylight hours, so it took 2 days.

Your itinerary suggest that you're going wander around a bit. When I sailed from Jamaica to DR it was a frustrating slog to windward, dodging all the ship traffic in the Windward Passage that makes the transit from the East Coast of the US to and from Panama.

[nolagal]

Suggest you check out the Free Cruising Guides from Frank Virgintino. We're going West-East starting from Belize endiing in the BVI. So I have been spending lots of time with Frank's Giudes for info. It's a slog to windward but seems doable just not where most cruisers seem to go. You're route seems to have some of both East- West and West-East so some of everything.

Sounds exciting?

[FSMike]

shantycrew -
Probably less gets written because it's simpler, with the winds usually behind you. Bruce VanSant's book is about going west to east, but will still be very helpful for anchorages, going across the Mona Passage, typical weather conditions, etc.

[John A]

Originally Posted by nolagal

Suggest you check out the Free Cruising Guides from Frank Virgintino. We're going West-East starting from Belize endiing in the BVI. So I have been spending lots of time with Frank's Giudes for info. It's a slog to windward but seems doable just not where most cruisers seem to go. You're route seems to have some of both East- West and West-East so some of everything.

Sounds exciting?

I sailed from Panama to The Grand Caymans and stayed two weeks before sailing to Montego Bay, Jamaica for a few days. I then went around to Kingston, Jamaica for four days. Commercial shipping reported "grey beards" in the windward passage so I went to the fishing village of Pedernales on the boarder of southern Haiti and DR, from there I sailed around to Santo Domingo, DR for a stay of over a month. I then went across the Mono Passage to San Juan, PR and from there to St. Thomas, USVI via the Virgin Passage. While in DR I was forced to replace/repair the main, staysail, and jib which were, at the most, four years old.

I sailed singlehanded. leaving Panama on Dec 1st and arriving in St. Thomas on June 1st. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, indeed, other cruisers I met on this passage estimated that it was taking as much as ten years off the live of their boats.

If I can answer any questions, let me know.

[nolagal]

What are "grey beards"?

[shantycrew]

Thanks folks, but you all seem to be sailing in the other direction, except for FSMike. We've got Frank Virgintinos' guides which are really useful and comprehensive so we'll be using them, but reading them backwards so to speak.

[zeehag]

congratulations on your new to you awesome boat. let me know howit goes.... my formosa is kinda slowly on its way there, after i finish a bit more refitting here in mexico....

[John A]

Originally Posted by nolagal

What are "grey beards"?

As I left Jamaica,I put out an all ships request for weather conditions in the Windward Passage. One of the ships that answered was a large tanker who told me he was taking breaking seas over his bow! He further reported that the 50+ knot winds were blowing ten foot "grey beards" of water spray off the tops of the waves.

[nolagal]

Thanks, what a great term!

So you continued across the Southern edge of the Windward knowing that. Think I'd have stayed awhile longer in Jamaica but than I'm a white knuckle sailor (according to my Captain).

My brother came very near drowning when their boat went down in the Windward Passage many years ago. We have a healthy respect for that passage. Luckily a tanker picked them up after 24 hrs of mayday calling just as their decks where nearly awash. It was he, his wife, a delivery Captain and a mate.

[John A]

Kingston, Jamaica early 2002:
Two men approached my boat as I neared the island and begged to come aboard because they had been without water for days. I yelled at them to no come any nearer and suggested instead that they get water on the island which was two miles away.

I tied up at a hotel dock were they wanted $85 a night. Outside the hotel and 2 in the afternoon I seen my first knife fight.

Going to the Custom office a person threw a baggie of crack cocaine at my feet and demanded payment.

I needed a local escort to go into town.

I was glad to leave Jamaica, but your experience may be different..

[shantycrew]

Thanks for the congrats zeehag. As for John As' encouraging contributions, well now you've got me worried. But hang about, what on earth were you thinking, setting out without studying the weather, sea states, etc, or was this so long ago that you didn't have access to up to date info. As for all those bad experiences in Jamaica, well I used to live round Brixton, London, little Jamaica and that sort of thing could happen there as well. I think you maybe just hit it on a bad day.

[chuckr]

a couple of years ago we did almost the same trip as john a -- we left panama and sailed to bloody bay (nigral (SP)) jamaica - you can not check in there but the coast guard let us go ashore anyway - we then went around to ocho rios to check in - skipped montego bay on purpose as a cruise ship or 2 were in --
we worked our way along the coast of jamaica and our biggest mistake was not getting in soon enough before the winds set in - we should have been out earlier and anchor down before noon - we ended up at port antonio which is simply wonderful - then headed to the dr

we watch the wx closely and use chris parker along with girbs and if we have internet a couple of internet models - when we left jamaica we had a 48 hour window to get to boca chica in the dr -- we really wanted to do stops in haiti and along the coast of the dr but the wx models and parker all said no way - and there is a cape on the south coast that you have to round and it can get nasty - when we did it we had a no wind motor trip and rounded the cape 1 day out of port antonio - another boat called parker and said they were stopping short of the cape and round in a day or 2 -- we got to boca chica just before a real nasty set in and had a great time visiting the dr by highway - when we left about 10 days later the other boat was still call parker asking about getting around the cape as the seas and winds were still huge around it --

we had a wonderful sail across the mona to pr

just what worked for us

[nolagal]

Chuck, what time of year was your sail? We'll be cruising Jamaica-Haiti-Dr-PR-Virgins in the Spring/Summer of 2014.

[chuckr]

nolagal == we left panama in late march - took a long while to get any kind of a decent wx window and as it was we sail 45 deg to the wind for 5 days - we got to bloody bay on april 1 and then gradually proceeded along the coast

hope you have as much fun as we did -- just have to work with the wx windows