March 26, 2022
We spent our last few days in the DR saying goodbye to new friends and preparing Slow Dancer for the two day passage along the Dominican Republic’s north coast. This coast is notorious for high winds and seas and we had been tracking the weather for a couple of weeks. All of our weather resources were predicting a mild, 60-hour window and we were convinced this was the opportunity we were looking for. March 26th would be our day of departure!
Thursday, March 24th was a special day for us. Our friend, Nathan, invited us to his parents’ home to have coffee and meet part of his family. The Dominican coffee was excellent and Nathan and his family were very welcoming. Nathan speaks good English, in addition to Spanish, French and some German. With our limited Spanish and Nathan as the skilled translator, we had a great time visiting and seeing their home. Nathan also took us on a tour of Puerto Plata to see some sights that we had missed prior to returning us to the marina.
On the morning of March 26, we waited for the 7:00 checkout by the navy. We had already checked out with Immigration and Aduanas (Customs) the day before. Once cleared to leave, our dock guys, Eddy and Pablo cast off our lines and we were off to Puerto Rico.
Our day was beautiful and uneventful as we motored toward the dreaded Mona Passage. As we came around Cabo Frances Viejo, the wind and seas picked up. We pulled the sails and slowly rounded the cape as the seas picked up to 5 feet. Going was slow, but sailing was smoother than motoring and on we went into the night. We were gifted by the sight of a large Humpback whale breaching with everything except its tail. These creatures are enormous! Our first night was a bit rough, but things smoothed out toward morning. The next day and night were beautiful and crossing the Mona Passage was a piece of cake!