Boquerón, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico

Boquerón, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico (April 7-14 , 2013)

We found Boquerón to be a quaint beach village engrossed in the tales of the legendary pirate, Roberto Cofresi, known as "El Pirata Cofresi."  Legend tells that Cofresí shared some of his treasure with his family and friends and hid the rest in a cave just south of Boquerón Bay. 

Boquerón Bay

We found no treasure in the cave; however, we did find a treasure in Boquerón.  It was a striking little village with great shops, restaurants and bars as well as friendly locals and sailors.  I came away with my own treasure, a beautiful pair of diamond earrings.

We frequented Galloway's Bar & Restaurant, where we enjoyed several dinners with our friends, Les and Jeremie, while feeding bread to the tarpon.  That was until we found our new favorite hangout, a street side bar with $1.00 Medalla's.  People watching and a few beers made for lively chatter and lots of laughter.

Boquerón seems to only come alive on Friday and Saturday nights, so we rented a car and headed north for some sightseeing.  It was exciting to see paved roads and civilization again.

Somewhat dazed from snaking our way through the mountain roads, we stopped at The Mirador Piedra Degetau and climbed the observation tower to find a great panoramic view of the ocean and The Mona Passage.  To the north, we could see as far as San Juan and to the south all the way to Ponce. One of the most beautiful sights was the Cordillera Central mountain range.

View from The Mirador Observation Tower toward Boquerón

Back on the road, next stop Maria's Beach in Rincon, a surfer's paradise.

SURFER X-ING

Jeremie and Les checking out the surfers
Sunglasses...Incognito

Les was most likely checking out this one in particular
Jim was obviously taking a closer look

Jeremie was probably checking out the one on the right

Domes Beach in Rincon was home of the first "World Surfing Contest" in 1968 and today is still visited by surfers hoping to ride "the big one."  

Quite a few surfers on this day

A few guys on paddle boards

And then there was this chica, rocking the breaks at "Maria's Dogman!"

All the way to shore...you go girl!

Looks like a few others might join them

Time for some t-shirt shopping

Cool entry tile to the Calypso Tropical Bar

Once again, we were on the "Road to Paradise"

Only to catch sight of this sign...REALLY?!!!

Rincón was the site of Puerto Rico's only nuclear reactor in the 1960's, the BONUS "Boiling Nuclear Superheater" Reactor Facility, which was eventually closed, decontaminated, found to still be contaminated and thus cleaned several more times.  It is rumored the plant plans to reopen as a museum.  Hmmm...might have some glow in the dark visitors.

Our next destination was The Punta Higüero lighthouse, a historic lighthouse located in Rincon.  The original building, built in 1892 by the Spanish Government, was badly damaged in the 1918 earthquake and was later demolished.  In 1922, the U.S. Coast Guard rebuilt the structure you see today.  The town of Rincón later built the beautiful Lighthouse Park, known as El Faro Park.

The Punta Higüero lighthouse, also known as Faro de Punta Higuer

Backside of the Lighthouse

El Faro Park

"The Guys" at El Faro Park
Les, Jim and Jeremie

A glimpse of Dome's Beach

The Mona Iguana

Hang in there baby, Friday's coming!

Jeremie overlooking Domes Beach

Moving on!

Desecheo Island, located off the west coast of Puerto Rico, across the wicked Mona Passage is a popular diving spot; however, the island itself is closed to the public due to unexploded military munitions left behind from when it was used as a bombing range in World War II.

Rain squalls off of Desecheo Island

More beach

This place is gorgeous!

So picturesque!

What a beautiful way to end the day!!!

The Mona Passage

The Mona Passage

Due to its shifting currents and unpredictable weather patterns, the dreaded "Mona Passage" is one of the most difficult passages in the Caribbean.  This 80 mile stretch of water separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

We found "The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South" by Bruce Van Sant to be flawed in that the whole point is to not get beat up by the trade winds while in the Mona Passage.  It is possible to sail the night lee of the Dominican Republic one night and the night lee of Puerto Rico the next; however, this puts you crossing the Mona Passage during the day, which is when the trade winds kick up.  Bruce, you can't have your cake and eat it too.  

All in all, we had a good passage.  We were met with some 6 foot seas and 20 knot winds, but there were times when the southern flowing current allowed us to hit 7+ knots.
 

All was good, until about 20 miles out from Boqueron, Puerto Rico, when Les on s/v Golightly went to crank up his motor and got nothing.  He had a spare starter, which he tried to replace without any luck.  The Coast Guard directed him to Seatow in Puerto Rico and, thankfully, they were able to assist with a tow.  But, it would be 3-1/2 hours before they could reach him.  Once Seatow was enroute, Jim and I made the run through the reefs, pulling into Boqueron to await Golightly's arrival. It is always a little daunting when entering an unknown bay at night when surrounded by reefs, but we reached the harbor, found good anchorage and dropped the hook somewhere around 3:00 a.m., grateful to have arrived without incident.
 

Samaná - "Santa Barbara de Samana," Dominican Republic

Samaná - "Santa Barbara de Samana", Dominican Republic
(April 2-5, 2013)

The jewel that almost wasn't...Samaná.

We had already checked out of the Dominican Republic and, against our better judgment, opted not to list any additional stopping ports on our despacho as we were planning to make a nonstop passage to Puerto Rico.  

Approaching the northeast end of the island, a very rugged and unforgiving stretch of coast with limited places to seek shelter, we found the seas and winds had kicked up and were once again not favorable.  With the choice to either push forward into the dark wicked waters of the Mona Passage or seek shelter in Samaná Bay, we chose the latter.

As we neared the coast, we realized Samaná had a smell even more different than Luperon, very earthy but with tones of charcoal instead of perfume.  Still a nice smell, but very different from the other side of the island.

 

After making the turn south, we traveled another 3 hours before reaching Samaná Bay.  It was a DARK night with no moon.  Upon entering the bay, boats were everywhere, even in the channel, and not one anchor light to be seen.  Being in unfamiliar territory and stressing due to a large sailboat whirling about at high speed through the anchorage with no lights on created a very tense situation for Jim and myself where not so nice words were exchanged.  In the end, we found a suitable location to drop the hook, made up and nodded off for a brief nap.

No one got much sleep that night, but at sunrise we were all awake and ready to check out our surroundings.

The Dominican entry officials came out to our boats and ordered the Captains to shore to meet with the head Customs/Immigration officer, who was none too happy we had checked out and were wanting to come back into her country.  Jim and Les took a tongue lashing, paid the re-entry fees and headed back to the boats.  It was time to see the town.
 



Samaná has a very Mediterranean feel and seems more cutting-edge than Luperon, with locals sporting fashionable jogging togs while running the waterfront trails early each morning and then heading off to work in somewhat professional attire.  Where as the Luperon locals are predominantly Dominican and of Spanish decent, the Samaná locals are African American slave decendants who refer to themselves as Samaná Americans.  Another reflection that this is a very large island with diverse cultures.

After some window shopping and making a stop at the local bakery, we were drawn into a man's curio shop and led to the back where we all copped a squat and enjoyed his bottle of Mamajuana (a concoction of rum, red wind and honey that has been soaked in a bottle of tree bark and herbs).  Catching quite the buzz, we were off to explore the wares of the boardwalk kiosks.

Boardwalk vendors

We hired a motoconcho/guagua to take us to the top of a steep hill to check out a local village and more shops and then worked our way back down the hill to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the boardwalk, enjoying more drinks.

motoconcho/guagua                          

Jeremie, no doubt scoping the area for a good spot to do handstand pushups

Les, no doubt scoping the area for hot Dominican women
who have a large family he can help support

Sherry and Jim no doubt supporting yet another bottle of Presidente

Looks like someone has had enough to drink

We were joined by some gentlemen selling prawns
who remembered us from Luperon

Our view from the waterfront

The Famous Bridges to Nowhere of Samaná ends at Cayo Vigia Island.  We were warned of pickpockets, vendors not giving proper change and the potential to be robbed when reaching Cayo Vigia Island when crossing the Bridges to Nowhere.  We had no problems, but were here only for a few days to wait for the next weather window.  We did not cross the bridges; however, that was due to time constraints, not fear.  We found Samaná to be quite beautiful and only felt a lack of safety while at the dinghy dock.  The same safety rules apply here as they do anywhere you travel to reduce your chances of becoming a crime victim.

The famous Bridges to Nowhere "Los Puentes de Samaná" at Cayo Vigia Island

Cruise ship just outside the anchorage

A lot of floatsum on this beach

More of the Bridges to Nowhere

s/v Golightly to the far right

When the winds and sea were right, we headed out to the Mona Passage.

Leaving Samaná Bay