2001: A Sea Odyssey

Mike and Char Visit

[Received Sep. 12, 2001]

Thursday August 23 – September 12, 2001. Mi hermano (brother) Miguel & cunada (sister-in-law) Carlina (Char) arrived for a two week visit. The following is a quick brush over of the things that I (we) did during their (M&C) to the Dominican Republic. I tried to keep them from getting bored.

I brought the Sirius II into the dock at Puerto Blanco Marina, such as it is, to facilitate toiletries, showers, comings and goings. This I did early in the a.m. before the trade winds released their daily fury across Bahia Luperon. Despues de clase de espanol, I busy myself readying the boat for company. This must have been hard work as I was sound asleep when they arrive. They had to wake me up!

First off, they were able to view first hand the tension between two of the cruisers who almost came to blows over the honor of a woman. This is the story: The previous week at about 2200 hours the lady (mate/girlfriend) aboard Nomad had radioed for assistance. She had just finished her tour of Harbor Patrol (instituted by the Cruisers in response to the increasing boat thefts during the early evening hours) and her outboard motor was now snagged on a fishing net. She needed a knife to cut herself loose. Her mate (read Captain) aboard Nomad could not come to her aide as she had the boat’s dinghy. He repeated his mate’s request over the radio, adding a note of urgency. The captain aboard Seacomber responds first. He quickly sets out with his dinghy to rescue this damsel in distress, so quickly he forgets to get a knife and his clothes. Realizing that he forgot the knife, he stops enroute at Nomad to borrow one. What the captain thought at this time of this naked man enroute to rescue his lady friend is not known; however, a few days later he approaches the rescuer at the Marina and to challenge his motives for appearing on the scene, in the dark, sans clothes. Words were exchanged but cooler heads prevailed. The couple aboard Nomad was not seen in public for almost two weeks, allowing everyone else to speculate on the entire episode (i.e., gossip).

This was still an item of discussion at the “Especiality” Dinner at the Marina the next evening after M&C arrive. Even the dogs were effected, getting into a dogfight beneath one of the large tables, sending two of the owners to the clinic for tetanus shots and injuring one of the dogs, the one that was on a leash. Yes, dogs in a restaurant. And even other animals, typical of most Latin American countries and Key West, FL. For some reason, many owners are reluctant to leash their animals. Is it pride, or what? Anyway, that put a damper on the festivities and most people went home or back to their boats early.

Not so the next Friday, for the same event, when people stayed longer and had more fun. Too much fun for some. One of the cruisers who has been here for a long time, and in fact has a Dominican wife, took offense at what he thought was an affront to his wife. Apparently, two of the cruising ladies had included the man’s wife in their circle. The wife does not speak English and his take was that the ladies were speaking English deliberately to exclude her. Accusations were made, words were exchanged, and he was escorted to his dinghy so his wife could take him to their boat, for tomorrow will be a better day. Yea! Yea! Only, he wasn’t ready to go back to his boat. He jumps out of the dinghy, swims to the dock (where the Sirius II is tied off) and proclaims for all to hear about how rude cruisers are. (Here it is again, a man coming to protect the honor of his woman. Can someone explain this to me? Is this a study in male behavior or female psychology?) The participants gather. Since I am there, and not part of the original scene, I enter the fray shrouded in a clock of reason. Of course you don’t reason with a drunk. While attempting to climb onto the pier, he falls hard into his dinghy. He howls long and loud about this, as if he were dying, and a crowd gathers. Finally, his wife is able to get the dinghy started and moving toward their boat, the “victim” howling all the way. Another night in Luperon.

In between we travel to Santo Domingo, the capital, for four days. We travel there by what we thought was an express bus. Not so. This driver stops for anyone who waves him down along the way. Before long we have eight people per row instead of the usual four. The bus has a bouncer aboard who kept reseating and pushing the passengers until we assume the role of sardines. But comfortable sardines.

Santo Domingo is about as old as Western Civilization gets in the New World. Christopher Columbus first built his headquarters in La Isabella, near Luperon, on the Atlantic side of the Island. Here the local Taino Indians took exception to rape and plunder and cause the capital of the New World to be moved to Santo Domingo, on the Caribbean side. In 1509 Diego Columbus, son of Christopher, was appointed governor and became the first occupant of the new capital building, which still stands. That is one of the historical sites we tour.

Char befriends the supervisor of safety in Old Santo Domingo and invites him to join us the following day, his day off. He shows up early, dressed in civilian clothes, but packing his weapon which he proudly shows us. Throughout the day he unbuttons his shirt from time-to-time so everyone can see he is packing. He takes us to a friend’s house, who is also packing. By this time we are getting a little nervous. The next day we dis-invite ourselves from another day with this crowd and go shopping instead. I purchase a pair of sunglasses as a request from a vendedora (saleslady) in Luperon. Upon delivery, she wants to give me a t-shirt. I decline, but do accept a haircut instead, the first since Key West.

Back in Luperon we do the usual tourist things. Mike and I go horseback riding, with my language teacher no less. We go swimming, climbing, jumping and chutting in a series of waterfalls not far from Luperon. Char leaves us at the first waterfall, probably wondering about the wisdom of two old men participating in an activity their sons might think twice about. It was quite spectacular, actually. All three of us spend a day at an all-inclusive hotel resort on the ocean. After a day of eating, swimming and drinking, Mike and I played a round of pool at what must be the worst pool table in the world. Besides lacking three balls, the cue ball would be off-course the instant the cue stick made contact with it. We must have had too much fun, as we were escorted off the premises at about 7:30 p.m., two hours after our passes expired.

One day we took a dinghy ride to the outer harbor and then out the entrance channel, with the intention of following the coastline eastward for a couple of miles to checkout the beaches and the picturesque blow holes. Alas, we were too late as the trade winds were making the passage unsafe. Instead, we go to a small beach just inside the harbor with a small amount of sand.

On returning to the Marina, we notice Seacomber readying to depart from the end of the pier. We hurry back to assist, as the winds were blowing the boat back onto the pier. Too late! While trying to back off the pier, the deep-drafted boat goes aground. She can’t go forward nor astern. I bring my inflatable dinghy around to try to push the bow away from the pier. Little by little the bow moves until suddenly the boat comes free. As she gains momentum, I can’t back off fast enough and find myself wedged in between this 29 ton steel boat and the pier. As the dinghy begins to capsize, the captain finally responds to the chorus of shouts, mine included, and cuts his power. Just another day in paradise where the men are strong, the women are good looking, and all the children are above average. Actually, there aren’t any children here, the first Cruiser’s hangout where I have noticed this.

The night before M&C’s departure, we hear frantic cries over the radio about a fire: “A boat in the harbor is burning.” Mike and I hop in the dinghy to see what is the matter, to see if we can help. Sure enough, one of the cruising boats, Magellan I, is engulfed in flames. There is nothing more heart retching than to watch one’s house go up in flames. A live aboard boat is just the same. To be able to do nothing about it is even worse. Fortunately, the owners were able to get off, or were already off, I have never found out for sure, and all that was lost was their home and possessions. Total loss. A local fishing boat was able to put a line to the flaming inferno and tow it over near to the government dock. The local fire truck tried to douse the flames but kept running out of water. All that can be seen of Magellan I now is the bow pulpit and the radar pedestal on the stern. (Every time I pass the government dock I see the navigation light protruding above the water on the bow pulpit. My navigation light does not work. But how does one ask the owner of a $200,000 lost if he can have a $2 part from a navigation light, assuming it has not been destroyed? You don’t.)

M&C leave from Puerto Plata at 1330. Another boating couple is expecting visitors from England at 1830. So we join forces and rent a car to take M&C to the airport and to pick up the new arrivals. We are forced to spend the five-hour layover at the topless beach in Sosua. Ah, it’s hell, it’s hell. Life is a beach. So, M&C I assume you got back all right. In fact, Mac inquired about you. I hope none of the foregoing deters you from coming again, wherever I may be. I am getting pretty good at the ring toss. We never took the boat out, but maybe it is just as well. These trade winds can be vicious, as you saw the one-day we ventured out in the dinghy.

I wanted to keep this account brief. Rereading reminds me a little bit of the days of my youth when my Aunt LaRene and mom would be visiting. They would each talk on and on in great detail about events that to me seemed to have no significance. But they enjoyed each other’s company and stories, as I have enjoyed M&C’s visits. And that is the significance.

[For Mike and Char's view of this visit, see this.]

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