Wednesday, August, 23, 2006, 03:09
Chapter 8. Trip from Luperon to Sosua largely uneventful except for a vibration in 1 of the prop shafts which we'll check out later. As we arrive in Sosua, we look at each other and, I am sure, have the same thought. Why have we been in Luperon when we could have been here??? Sosua is beautiful. We arrive in a horse shoe shaped bay where the back of the shoe is all beach spotted with clusters of colored umbrellas and chairs. On one arm of the shoe are elegant looking apartments and on the other, 2 nice hotels with verandas right on the water. Around the corner from these hotels, the coast rises into cliffs where a series of beautiful looking resorts are situated, most of which have beaches you can walk down to. We are barely anchored when a local official comes out for the usual request for a contribution to his lifestyle. It's only about $15, but we are getting tired of it as it happens every place we stop and we are always told 'you will not have to pay again at any other port'. We dinghy to the beach and before we have finished hauling out and tieing up, hear the familiar cry 'amigo'. Of course, it's another of Mark's good friends, Charlie Valdez. I'm beginning to think Mark knows someone in every port of the world, but he swears to me this is the last one along this route. Hmm. Charlie helped Mark with the same lousy delivery boat as Papo in Luperon on his forgettable trip 4 years ago. Charlie has a couple of small boats which take tourists from the hotels on diving trips and tow inflatable saucers and sharks for kid rides here at the beach. We are now 'adopted' by Charlie and the other boat guys which is real nice because now we don't have to worry about having anything stolen as it quickly becomes known that we are their 'amigos' and thus not to be hassled. This is also important because the local officials don't like boats to stay here more than 24 hrs (probably because they get in the way of the boat rides, diving boats, sightseeing boats, etc. which all use a limited area to operate in) but we now have a special dispensation to stay thanks to Charlie.
For the 1st time since leaving the Bahamas, we are again in beautiful, clear water. Mark does a quick dive and discovers that 1 of the props has been nicked causing the vibration on the way over. Next follows a difficult process of getting the prop off which Mark attacks with his usual focus. It's not easy because you have to do all this underwater, but fortunately Charlie has a big hammer which eventually solves the problem. As you may remember, we still have radio issues so the radio and the prop will go to Puerta Plata for repairs. Mark takes both the following day and gets the prop grinded back into shape and the radio again working at Mr. Sanchez's shop. On re-installation in the boat, radio does nothing. We spend about an hour with the radio and finally with switches in positions they should not be in, it starts to work. We greedily take down over 100 e-mails waiting on the server (most of which are junk mail) and are finally able to start getting things out to the ship's log so anyone interested can find out what has been happening to us. Again, we apologize for this gap in communication and any worries it has caused.
Since we now have this beautiful clear water, Mark has decided to let me graduate to more significant tasks on the boat. I get to clean the bottom. Actually, Mark does most of the work, but I do try and help. Picture scraping barnacles off two 45 ft. hulls using a barbecue spatula. Anyway, I combine this with snorkeling a really nice reef located right in the middle of the bay. The reef is full of tropical fish and anyone who has done this knows the spectrum of colors that is seen in reef fish. If you have not, it can not be described adequately and you have missed a special visual experience. These fish apparently get fed regularly by snorkeling groups and have no shyness at all. One day I end up in the middle of a school of about 200 of what, I think, are blue tangs and it was really neat. These fish have many different colors depending on the stage of maturity, so you really get a visual cascade. There is also a lot of SCUBA diving here and I have been told there are both wrecks and caves to explore, but I won't get to that on this trip.
We've been here almost a week and it has been delightful. The mid afternoons are still really hot and we try to go in to the beach to sit in the shade and hang with our boat guys and other locals. A cold Presidente is really important in the heat, but that can almost be ruined by the site of a bunch of fat men walking around in bikini bathing suits. Tourists have no shame. We've had several days where late in the afternoon the breeze is blowing, the sun is at our backs and the heat is largely gone. I have found it perfect to take one of our adjustable lounge chairs up on the foredeck with a book and a rum and coke and just read and watch the boats pulling happy kids on the big inflatable toys. I actually started the trip on gin and tonics, but have not seen a bottle of tonic since leaving the States, so I am learning to adapt.
The only problem with Sosua is that it is touristy to the hilt. There must be 300 little gift shops (most selling the same things) and nearly that many restaurants. Plus, everything is tourist priced or roughly 30 to 50% higher than in Luperon. I don't understand how the restaurants make it because on Friday night we took Charlie and his family for dinner at a typical restaurant and it was our party and one other couple for the entire evening. Charlie has 2 delightful girls (10 and 11) and they quickly and completely wrap Mark around their little fingers which he enjoys immensely. His Spanglish is really improving although a lot of it is gestures, but the girls are happily encouraging. Apparently, almost everything here is package deals including meals so most touristas never leave their resorts at night. None of the Dominicans live here because everything is so expensive. However, even at these prices things are still relatively cheap by American standards. In walking around town I browsed in a couple of real estate places and for about 200K you can get a substantial villa with guest house, pool, etc. 75-100K gets you a fully modern apt. in a lovely complex. Compared to the 1.5 mil for a 2 bedroom apt. we saw in the Turks and Caicos this is practically a giveaway.
We are now planning to provision here and make a try for Puerto Rico. This will probably be the most difficult part of this leg as once again we are going into the Trade Winds and we are pretty much out of safe harbors to duck into. The trick is to catch a weather window between tropical waves which have been coming through regularly. Will let you know in a few days how this works out.
Stuart
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