Tuesday, August, 15, 2006, 19:11 UTC
Chapter 5. Stuck in the DR. In case anyone is actually following this journey and wondering why we havn't posted anything in a while, it's because we have had radio problems and no e-mail access. I'll describe the situation in more detail in future log entries, but the present chapter is our situation almost a month ago and I will update the past month over the next few days assuming radio communication continues to be successful. Anyway, think I left off with our departure from Manzanillo for Montecriste. Just a short morning jump of about 17 miles. We were looking forward to MC as the guide books describe it as an old town with beautiful reefs for snorkeling. Hmmm. Reefs were actually far off shore and with the way the winds have been blowing, too far for us to get to. The bay turned out to be really shallow so we had to anchor a fair distance from shore which meant a long, wet dinghy trip unless you were industrious and got started before the daily Trade Winds started to blow. As usual, there is a restaurant/bar right at the water's edge and for $5-$10 dollars you can get a simple, but wonderful, meal of fresh seafood perfectly cooked and lots of El Presidente.
The town of MC is about a mile from the beach and quite interesting. As you enter, one of the first things you hit is a pizzeria owned by an Italian transplant. He (as almost all of the people here) was warm and engaging and we enjoyed learning about his experiences and the town. MC is actually clean. The streets seem to be swept and garbage is not ubiquitous. You do still have the occasional cow or goat in the street, but they are also pretty friendly. Again, lots of apparent poverty and shacks, but then, right next to one of these, you find a beautiful stucco home which would look great in any well-to-do neighborhood in the world. This intermingling goes on throughout the town which creates a lot of visual surprises as we walk. There is actually a supermercado in MC where we pick up some groceries. Supermercado in this part of the world is a relative term as most are smaller than anything you would think of at home and more like a family store.
Saturday night we went to town and while first stopping for an El Presidente at our beach bar, met a group of grad students from San Diego. They apparently spend their time lying on the beach, drinking El Presidentes and SCUBA diving an old Spanish wreck in the bay. THEY ACTUALLY GET COLLEGE CREDIT FOR THIS. I want to go back to school. The rest of the gang wanted to look for a rumored 'fiesta', but Mark and I were skeptical of its existence and opted for a quiet dinner. We found a small place, Hotel Milano, which, of course was owned by an Italian originally from Milan. We were the only diners and enjoyed another superbly cooked fish dinner. With our limited Spanish, we learned that Ernesto is sending his beautiful 14 year old daughter to school in New York City in the fall, but didn't have the heart to tell him what a can of worms that was. We were shortly joined by George, Ernesto's good friend who fortunately for us speaks excellent English as we have pretty much gone as far as we can in Spanish. George is a German who owns a hotel in Santo Domingo (and apparently a number of other things) and has boated all over the world. Spent a couple of enjoyable hours and a bottle of rum with he and Mark comparing notes about places they have been and the world in general. George took us back to the beach in his Land Rover and almost drove it into the water. Hope he got home ok.
We are ready to move on, but the winds have kept us locked in. The strategy from here is to leave about midnight when the Trades have supposedly died down and make for La Isabella, about 40 miles up the coast. Tonight the winds have died by about 12 and we and one of the other boats have set out. We get out of the bay, turn east and immediately begin to hit strong winds and 8-10 ft seas straight from where we want to go. Forget it. Turn around and head back to MC for another day watching the wind blow. Everyone is pretty convinced from the weather reports that we'll have to sit here another 4-5 days until we get a break in the weather pattern. However, following night I notice wind has really dropped by 10 pm. Set an alarm for 12 and go to sleep. Really calm when we get up at 12 so decide to take a shot. Surprisingly calm when we get out of the bay and we have an easy motoring trip to La Isabella where we arrive at daybreak. Next Chapter - La Isabella.
Stuart
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