After watching the weather on what Tropical Storm Fay was doing, packing, unpacking and repacking suitcases, Carol left for the Orlando airport at 0300 Sunday 8-17-08 headed to Miami and then on to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. She was loaded down with two heavy suitcases plus a large carry-on and big purse all loaded down with parts for the boat. Her carry-on bag contained the new auto steering device for the boat because she was afraid it might get broken or stolen if she put it in the checked baggage. She made it through check in with just a little hitch, she had to take some articles out of one suitcase and put them in another due to being a little overweight in one. Her next problem and hopefully it wouldn’t be one was when she finally got to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and going through customs. She got lucky for when she finally got to Puerto Plata after just an hour lag time in Miami there was another plane unloading passengers from the Caribbean. This was a good thing because they just waved her thought customs with all her luggage and never opening one thing. Whew!!! That might never happen again and she was really lucky for they could try and make her pay duty on all the things she brought in. The trick was to take everything out of the original box when you pack and leave the boxes. John with Nino our taxi driver from Luperon was there to meet her.

The Friday after Carol got back we went into Santiago for the day with Claudia, Marcel (Elf) and Ray their mechanic. It was a horrendous trip with cars, buses and trucks going every which way. On the way at one time we were going three abreast, a tractor trailer, bus and our car on a two lane highway. I guess they thought this was the Indy 500 or NASCAR. This was really nerve racking. The traffic was really heavy and they all drive with their horns. In Santiago most intersections had no light and to turn left you stuck your nose out in the oncoming traffic and hoped they would stop. Several times I said oh my goodness and closed my eyes. All in all, we had a nice tour of Santiago with lots of new sites, stores etc. to see. With a mad cap trip back, we finally made it back to Luperon all in one piece swearing never again to ride with Ray the mechanic.

We started Spanish classes again which is held three times a week up at the Yacht Club and hopefully we will learn something this time.

Carol picked up a bug somewhere and was under the weather for about a week. John got her antibiotics at the pharmacy which you don’t need a prescription for here. That seemed to do the trick because she was up and about like her old self.

We were just getting back into the swing of things and four storms were headed our way. Gustav, Hanna, Ike & Josephine. Gustav a Cat 2 hurricane hit south of us (Monday 8-25-08) and we only had a few 30 mph squalls come through and hardly any rain. Monday 9-1-08 Hurricane Hanna was the next storm to watch and at that time was over Mayaguana, Bahamas and headed for the Turks & Caicos. It wobbled back and forth for a few days north of us bringing rain for three days straight with hardly any wind. We were just beginning to breathe a sigh of relief when IKE was expected to become a hurricane that day (Wednesday 9-3-08) and it was headed right for us. Also at that time tropical storm Josephine entered the picture. Hurricane Hanna finally meandered up the Bahamas to South Carolina. Hurricane Ike was suppose to hit north of the Turks and Caicos as of Thursday 9-4-08 and we waited to see what would happen. On Friday Hurricane IKE was moving SW and could be 60 miles from us. We still had light winds and no rain and you wouldn’t think a hurricane was coming. On Saturday 9-6-08 a lot of large fishing boats and I mean a lot were coming into the harbor and anchoring with their noses into the mangroves with several lines tied off on both sides to the mangroves. These boats were from the Turks & Caicos and around the Dominican Republic. A lot of boats from around here did the same. And put their noses into the mangroves and tied off. S/V Sweet Caroline moved over so she was in the mangroves with three anchors out and two lines in the mangroves tied to huge roots. At low tide we were aground so we were not going anywhere and the storm could come for we were ready. We went to bed that night and only clocked up to 11mph winds on our boat in the mangroves with rain all night. Gusts last night from Hurricane IKE were reported in the harbor at 48 mph. They said 90% of the homes in the Turks and Caicos were damaged with a lot dead in Haiti which was their fourth tropical storm or hurricane to hit them this year.

We are now back to cleaning up the boat and moving it back out into the canal. It gets a little buggy over in the mangroves and there are supposedly a lot of rats. We sure don’t need them. As I write this article the winds clocked on our boat are up to 15mph. It has been windy most of the day. We checked yesterday and didn’t see anything coming our way in the near future but that changes from day to day.

Our friend Claudia from Elf was in the hospital in Santiago for two days and nights where they pumped out fluid out of one lung. The bill at the end of two inclusive was under $300. Boy you sure couldn’t do that in the states.

Keep safe and we will be in contact soon.

John & Carol aboard the S/V Sweet Caroline

Pursuing the dream at 70.  Happy Birthday Dad!

Just spoke with Sweet Caroline this morning. They reported 10 Mph winds where they are anchored. In the Harbour there was a reported 59 Mph wind gust.  They said there were many fishing boats that arrived and are tied up together to get out of the storm. The boats are probably from the Turks and Caicos. Photos will be posted later when they get their internet connected again. The internet is down since the wireless antennas was taken down for the storm on Sweet Caroline. This has been a busy hurricane season so far and its only the beginning of Sept!

Check out STORMPULSE.COM for Tropical Weather. The interactive map and interface is real cool. Spend some time playing with it and try the Full Screen Mode.  I’ve added a link on the right panel.

Doesn’t the Satellite Image look impressive? Sweet Caroline is close to the center in the image.

Just spoke with Sweet Caroline to get an update on the storm. Seems the only damage was when the Captain was preparing for the storm and bumped into a barnicle which made a small hole in the dingy while tying off the boat to the mangroves. Weather Report from Sweet Caroline — Winds just normal - blue skies overhead and no excitement to report.

Continuing on with the saga of Elf. They finally came into our anchorage, Thursday 7/24/08. As soon as John & Louie (from Au Gre Des Vents) heard that Elf was coming into the harbor they went out in their dinghies to the entrance to help guide them in. What a relief to see them and get them safely anchored. To catch up on their exploits we had cocktails with them Saturday 7/25/08 before Carol left. It seems they spent Friday night 7/18/08 on the reef. They put their dinghy with their motor on it in the water to try and kedge off. The dinghy was bouncing around so much they lost the engine overboard. Marcel had to dive in the water to retrieve it and later cleaned it all up and it still works (amazing)? Another cat life lost. The next day they had the locals tow them off. $8.95 plus?????. They dove the boat and only had a few scratches. They were so lucky they were alright and never lost their boat. You need to always be prepared for the worst scenario of problems that might occur. As John keeps saying “everyday is a new adventure”.
Enough on Elf and back to the exploits of John & Carol. John & Carol, Louie & Marie went into Puerto Plata on Friday 7/25/08. We boarded a gua gua (a minivan) that seats 12. As we went along we stopped at every crossing and picked up more passengers and ended up with 25 people aboard, some on top of each other. What an experience? Cost for the 1st part of the trip was $1.50 US. We then boarded an air conditioned bus in Imbert and continued on to Puerto Plata with another $1.50 fee. As we arrived in Puerto Plata most of the mode of transportation is mini bikes. Sometimes 3 or 4 persons were aboard going every which way and touting their horns. Puerto Plata is a fairly large city with lots of stores to visit and John took away Carol’s credit cards and told me to knock myself out. The guys naturally had to visit an auto parts store. They were in hog heaven. Carol took lot’s of pictures which are already on the web. One Dominican wanted $1.00 for me to take his picture and I said maybe tomorrow. There were a lot of Dominicans with their hands out who wanted to be our guides for the day and show us around. You have to shake your head no and continue on. We had lunch at a restaurant right on the ocean and it reminded me of Fort Lauderdale or Miami. After lunch we walked to the grocery store and found a real ice cream store that had real ice cream cones. What a treat. Of course I couldn’t read the Spanish but we just looked at the ice cream and wound up with a Butter Pecan, Carol’s favorite. We continued on our walk to the grocery store and walked through the grocery store and checked out prices. They didn’t seem as high as the Bahamas. As we didn’t need anything since Carol was leaving in a few days for the states and John doesn’t cook much we helped Marie & Louise with their groceries in hopes that they would feed John occasionally. We also took note how to do navigate Puerto Plata so we could find our way around Puerto Plata the next time we came in. After walking all day, (lots of exercise), when we got back to Luperon we were worn out.
Sunday approached and our Taxi driver picked us up on the government dock for our trip to the Puerto Plata airport and Carol’s trip home. John got me settled in the airport with two hours to kill. I wondered why John had that big smile on his face, (probably not seeing Carol for a few weeks). I (Carol) boarded the plane for Puerto Rico, (and this is where my troubles began). After we landed in Puerto Rico they unloaded our luggage and we had to go through customs and only had 30 minutes supposedly to spare. I set off the bells and lights when I went through the scanner. I was told to go in a cubical where they waved their wand all over my body and it kept going off when they went over my right hip. I told them I had a card that showed I had a hip replacement last year and I asked if they wanted to see my scar and they said, “No thanks”. I guess I wasn’t a threat to the country. I hurriedly went to the American Airline counter where my plane for Orlando was scheduled to take off from and soon discovered that it was postponed till 2100. That didn’t seem as bad as that was only 3.5 hour wait which was just in time for my siesta. I called John that I made it and then my son, Steve who was picking me up in Orlando that I would be delayed. American Airline gave us a $10 dinner coupon which unfortunately was not good at the bar. I was still sitting in the airport with about 100 others waiting to get to Orlando. Everything closed in the airport around 1900 and no more food was to be found unless you went out side the airport, which I didn’t want to do, because I would have to go through security again and the bells and lights would go off again. I was so glad when we finally boarded around 0330 on Monday and I saw the last of Puerto Rico. I thought I was there for a long time because their next flight wasn’t until 1630 the next afternoon and who knows the same scenario would happen again. I was never so glad to arrive in Orlando and get out of airports for awhile. If you are out of the county you are at their mercy. Now I’m considering chartering my own jet  for the trip back but hopefully that flight will be better for I am not going through Puerto Rico.
Carol was back in Florida for three weeks and had a full schedule of doctor visits, friends and family. We had a family get together with my sons their wives, grand children, Niece & her children from Boston, Niece and Nephew and children from Jacksonville. Many pictures were taken as everyone had a great time. Carol’s time so far in Florida has been ordering, buying and packing spare parts for the boat to return with her when she leaves. She had to get two more suitcases to take everything back and I’m afraid problems are surely to arise with weight and custom charges, (hopefully this won’t happen, but I am holding my breath). Soon it is back to the boat and no air conditioning and just when I got used to it again. Actually I haven’t gotten used to it completely for John’s car doesn’t have air conditioning as it broke and Carol has been driving all over Melbourne, Rockledge and Palm Bay and really sweating up a storm. She also has to make do with no Wal-Mart’s, K-Mart’s, Ace Hardware’s or Publix’s around.

Carol is back in Florida for a couple of weeks. She will update you on her journey home later. Let’s just say she spent too much time at the San Juan airport in Puerto Rico. You can check the Flickr Photos on the right panel. There are now over 400 photos of the journey so far.

We finally got a weather window and left Provo, Turks & Caicos with S/V Au Gres Des Vents, a 50’ owner built Canadian boat, Louie & Marie and with S/V Elf a 33’ Nonsuch, Marcel & Claudia bringing up the rear with a hand held GPS and our hand bearing compass because theirs didn’t work. It was a flat trip across the Caicos Banks with us motoring the whole trip. S/V Elf radioed us later that afternoon they were having engine problems and they were going to anchor on the banks and meet us the next afternoon at Big Sand Cay which we had pre planned to leave at 1800. 1800 came and no Elf. We heard them hailing a South Caicos marina and we assumed it was to get their engine fixed.
The only good thing I can say about the crossing was that we had a full moon. We had heavy seas and since our auto pilot gave out in Mayaguana, we had to hand steer, the way they did it back in Columbus’s day. What a bummer. We had the jib and main sail up and were flying sometimes doing 6.3kn., (that’s pretty fast for our boat in rough seas). Daybreak came and about ten miles out from Luperon we were hailed by another boat, S/V Marie Alicia who left with us from Mayaguana, and who had left the Turks & Caicos a day earlier, that they were behind us about five miles and coming into Luperon. About five miles out from Luperon our engine quit. Out boat mechanic, “John”, quickly changed the fuel filter and what a relief when the engine started again. We then proceeded into Luperon and what a different world. We saw lush green mountains just like out of a postcard.
We no more than got anchored and the Dominican welcoming committee, the Marina de Guerra or local representative of the Commandante boarded our boat and left us a little lighter in money. Next to come on board our boat was the Department of Agriculture. It was during his visit that the wind generator blew apart. Blades went flying every where and it was a good thing no one was in the captains chair or they wouldn’t be here today. That was the last of our power making after sundown and now we had to run the engine to charge the batteries as the solar panels just couldn’t keep up. Next we were visited by two local Dominicans who told us they did the following, cleaned the bottom of boats, got water and fuel and any other job we needed including taxi service. Now we could finally leave our boat but we had to go to the government dock and visit the Department of Immigration. After all said and done we were approximately $130 US dollars lighter. To make matter’s worse every time you leave the harbour you have to check in with the Commandante and pay a fee to leave and then another fee to return. With that knowledge you can bet Sweet Caroline will be parked here in Luperon until after the Hurricane season.
Later that day we walked around town getting the lay of the land and finding out where most things were. All the natives were very friendly and some spoke English. We found a nice inexpensive restaurant/bar where you could get breakfast, lunch or dinner any time of the day. They also did your laundry, complete with folding it for about $10 for two large bags verses $20 plus we were spending in the Bahamas. Beer seems to be a cheap commodity with a quart cost $1.75 and $1.25 during happy hour. Right in the harbor there is a marina and a Yacht Club where you can get meals as well as grog and a great place to meet other boaters.
On Friday, four days after we arrive here in Luperon we heard S/V Elf calling on the VHF and never heard our return call to them. On Sunday while at the flea market at the Yacht Club one of the boaters told us a boat was on the reef west of us about twenty miles. Two boaters left on motorcycles to see if they could help them. Sure enough the boat was S/V Elf but thank goodness they had gotten off the reef with no damage to the hull and only a ripped sail. Later that afternoon S/V Elf called us and we were able to communicate with them. They said they were safely anchored but their engine didn’t start. They said that a local was coming in the morning to look at the engine. All day the boaters in the harbor were calling about an update on S/V Elf as they could hear Sweet Caroline but not Elf. Somehow we were able to reach them over two mountains and about 20 miles away. We heard from them the next day that they got their engine going and would see us in a few days. The is not the first that that their boat has tangled with a reef and John says they are using up the nine lives of their two cats aboard. In fact their boat was damaged on a reef in Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas and they purchased the boat through e-bay. As of this writing we are still awaiting S/V Elf who by now is really famous in this harbor.
Life is good here in Luperon for the moment but you never can tell when something else will happen. You always have to be prepared for the worst.
Carol is flying home to Florida on Sunday the 27th day of July for about three weeks and is bringing more spare parts back to the boat. Everyone is keeping an eye on the Captain and makes sure he keeps busy fixing things while Carol is gone.
John & Carol aboard the S/V Sweet Caroline

Received some pictures of Mom and Dad today via the mail service from the Turk and Caicos. I added the picture below because I think it is a great picture of both of them. They seem to be enjoying themselves and I’m sure they will have some stories to tell. Anyway this picture might be on Flickr but I thought it would b a great picture for the blog. John A

P.S. There are rumors that they have a cell phone in the Dominican Republic.

We just heard from Alf ( the boat that was in Atwood Harbour and has been traveling with us), and they are about 60 miles east of us. They were with us when we left the Turks & Caicos, Sapodilla Bay but had engine problems and went into a marina in South Caicos. They made the crossing from Big Sand Cay by themselves and on Friday when I heard them calling they went up on the reef four times. They finally got off and have no structural damage only a torn sail and their engine isn’t running. They are having someone come tomorrow to look at it and as soon as they get it fixed they will come to Luperon. They are really lucky to have gotten off that reef. We are having a great time here in Luperon. We found out that a big resort not far from us is $50 day and you get all the food and drinks you want. They were up on the mountain and I have pictures of it when we came in. They have a nice sandy beach and are right on the ocean. One of these days we might hike up there and look around. We went into the Yacht Club and then the Marina this morning as they were having a flee market. We are meeting lots of new couples who are here also for the hurricane season. There seems to be a lot of people from Canada. We talked to Tom on Saturday morning on Skype. We typed back and forth. We could really hear him good but I guess he couldn’t hear us very well. I don’t know yet if I will be able to upload the rest of the pictures as we are having problems with our computer. Talk to you soon. Sweet Caroline via Internet