March 25, 2006 – Across the Mona Pass to Samana, Dominican Republic

Cliff worked hard for a couple of days installing the new GPS, but finally we were ready to travel. The weather window was forecast to hold for another day, so we decided to cross to Samana, on the east coast of the DR, a 24-hour trip, rather than go all the way to Luperon, a further 16 hours along the north coast.


The south wind and calm seas gave us a wonderful sail for the first 11 hours, but at about 9:00pm the wind dropped and we had to motor through the night. We had a fabulous, easy, dry trip, and dropped anchor at St. Barbara de Samana after 143 miles, tired, but pleased to have the Mona Pass behind us.

The Samana harbour is enclosed by a graceful, arched walking bridge that connects a small park to the mainland. An imposing hotel under construction on the hill overlooks the bay. The town was razed by the Trujillo dictatorship and 1949 and rebuilt in 1972 around the waterfront. The waterfront is attractive but poorly maintained, and the water is filthy, thick with garbage and mud. One dinghy dock is almost too high to climb on to from the dinghy, and the other is alongside the commercial boats, requiring a scramble up and over to the government dock.



The weather changed dramatically as a front moved in, and we have had some heavy rains and windy,cool, drizzly conditions all week. We are safe and comfortable, though, and the extra days here have made it possible for Cliff to install a propane solenoid and cross off a few more projects on his job list.

By choosing moments between cloudbursts to dinghy to town, risking life and limb climbing over fishboats and up onto the muelle (dock) to go to the internet café, Orma has been able to get her journal (15 months’ worth) up to date and almost ready to publish on the blogspot. From now on, we hope to post short weekly updates and avoid any more marathon sessions at the computer!