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
Good to hear from you. Glad you made it through all the storms.
finally decided to check up on you guys. had 50th carol, 2 weeks later terry kelly died. otherwise all well here. took my first sailing lesson recently. piece of cake. smile
god speed
bob
Glad to hear from you. You can also e-mail us at w4tpo@carbee.com. We are having a great time so far. Are you going to buy a sailboat. Carol