Back of a Bike

We are now in what is easily my favorite stop on the trip so far, Repulico de Dominicana (D.R.)! Customs was an excruciating procedure but we are finally cleared in. Today it was my job to go and get propane for the boat and I have never had so much fun with such a “simple” task.

Going to get propane goes something like this. Dingy over from the boat and lock up at the dock. Walk maybe 50ft before twenty different guys each rush me wanting to take me for propane. After wading through the crowd of adoring men “Mamasita I am best!” “Baby I take you!” “Mi amor tu es muy bonita!!” “Me me me!!!” I finally make it through to where the transportation is. Transportation consists of motorbikes, or motorbikes with carts on the back, very, very few are actual car taxis. I tend to pick the person with the fastest bike J

I hop on the back of the chosen bike, whose owner is beaming ear to ear that he is the one to take me, and try to familiarize myself with how to hold on before he races off . Bracing myself with one hand and holding on to the propane bottle with the other can sometimes be a bit interesting seeing as the motorbikes are all small and ancient but pushed to the maximum speeds every day. The world whips past me in a blur as I am raced through the streets dodging cars, people, dogs, and other bikes. Just as I am considering freeing a hand to wipe my eyes we arrive at the station. Because I am young, white, and female we wait only a few minutes before my tank is filled and we are once again on our way. The trip back however is much more interesting. I am now holding on my lap a considerably awkward, heavy tank and we are now RACING down the hill that before we had struggled to come up. Hair flying in every direction and holding on so tight my fingers are turning white I look up in time to see us squeeze down the middle line on the road between a large truckload of workers (whose hoots and hollers I can only briefly hear) and a large bus full of tourists.

“Only in the D.R.” has become a familiar saying on our boat.

Swim with Manatees? Yes please!

We are now in beautiful Puerto Rico after bouncing around a few of the surrounding islands including Culebrita and Culebra. We also managed to go to Salinas, a small island just outside of Fajardo (on the mainland), where I was put up the mast. At forty five feet above the deck, sitting in the “bosons chair” which is clipped in to the main halyard, it was my job to fix a line. Simple task turned extremely hard with winds that, on deck felt like a slight breeze, up top felt like a howling wind that shook the mast, and me, with each breath. I eventually succeeded and it was time to focus on my next task, scouring the waters for manatees! Unfortunately, I didn’t see any while up the mast (or maybe that’s a good thing, I probably would have been way too excited for it to be safe), but as soon as we were anchored we took off in the tender in search of them. We managed to find several groups and were able to go for small swims with some. The water was incredibly murky and they move very quickly for such lazy animals so it was a little difficult but also very rewarding.

Diving in the BVI's

We have been able to do two dives so far. One was Alice in Wonderland, a fifty five foot dive of the coast of Cooper Island. The other was the RMS Ruin, a 200 year old, 150ft ship lost by Salt Island. It was a double tank dive (90ft and 60ft) that allowed us to explore the two main parts of the ship. My Captain, Chris, is the only one on our vessel who is certified which ended up working out perfectly because he only has two sets of equipment. We have been snorkeling every day and I have since been able to get over my “scuba snob” status as I have been practicing freediving. We are hoping to catch lots of fish and lobster this trip so freediving has become essential.

A Pirate I Shall Be

Ever since I was little, as all my family and long time friends will attest to, I’ve wanted to be a pirate. I have dressed up as a pirate every second Halloween for as long as I can remember. On a trip to Disney World I went in to a gift shop, after having saved all my birthday and Christmas money, where a salesman tried his very best to sell me some princess something or other. Of course, I gave him a steely gaze and set out for the pirate section where I proceeded to purchase a very formidable skull piggy bank and a wooden shot gun. I have various eye patches from different years piled up in my basement along with a large collection of swords my father patiently made out of wood for me. I can make the freshest of bruises and cuts appear out of makeup in only a few minutes. My childhood heroines were Anne Bonney and Mary Reed, the two most famous (and ferocious) women pirates in history, who crewed on Captain Jack Rackhams sloop Vanity. I can remember whispering the lyrics of “Dead Man’s Chest” and other pirate ballads to my horse, Sassifrass, as I rode her on the “wild open ocean” of the fields behind my house.

And now, sixteen years after my fantasy began, I am sailing the very same waters the pirates I had idolized passed through. We sailed the Sir Francis Drake Channel passing by famous pirate spots such as Blonde Rock, The Bluff, Buck Island and Dead Mans Chest (the island made famous by the pirate ballad “Fifeteen men on a dead mans chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum”). We spent the afternoon snorkeling a pitch black cave where hundreds of pirates attempted to steal the gold and jewels allegedly hidden inside.

That evening we made our way to Tortola (a pirate central according to Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean) where my day of exploring pirate waters came to a close.

If I don’t make it home it’s most likely because I ran away to be a pirate J

Lighthouse off the Puerto Rican Coast

Perfect Day

Start off with a snorkel among the colorful corrals off the coast of one of the British Virgin Islands. Climb out of the water with fins and mask to explore caves and hidden bridges then race a stingray back to the boat. Sail out of the perfectly clear, flat waters of the cove and round the island heading off to scuba dive an old 380ft ship, the HMS Rhone. After this amazing two-tank dive take the same path thousands of pirates hundreds of years before your took. Then sail to a secluded island with white sand beaches stretching as far as the eye can see. Hike up to an old lighthouse only to race your way down to the waters edge and splash happily as the perfect temperature of the water cools your body. Spend the rest of the afternoon alternately fishing and climbing coconut trees. Feast your evening away on fresh fish, rice, coconuts and mangoes. Crawl in to bed thoroughly tired and fall asleep to the sound of the waves lapping the hull of your home.

Light Up The Night

We left St. Barths early evening heading off to the BVI’s. There were a few dark clouds on the horizon but nothing that looked too terrible. Four hours later we were passing St. Maarten and I got a call from Alex saying there was bad weather on the way. We assessed the situation and figured we would be able to outrun the storm, if not we would be stuck going back to St. Maarten for two or three days to wait it out. It would be an overnight sail so we split up the watches from 9-12, 12-3, 3-6. I went to sleep around 12:30 hoping to catch a few hours of shut eye until my next watch started at 3am, I got just over an hour before the storm hit us.

Just before 2am I awoke to an earsplitting bang. My first thought was that our mast, or some other piece of my new home, had come crashing down. I held my breath until my ears were no longer ringing and slowly, slowly I began to hear sheets of rain pouring on to our tiny deck. The next thing I knew, the whole boat was lit up as if someone had turned on a floodlight off a movie set. My eyes, similar to what my ears had just experienced, took a few moments to adjust past the sparks of light that played along the lines of my vision and only seconds later I again heard the crash of thunder.

Still in shorts and a tank top, I bolted from my bunk to run outside only to make a hasty retreat from the now pouring rain. After grabbing my rain jacket I crept, though this time much more cautiously, out of the dryness of the interior. I was astounded by what I saw. The seas were no more rough then usual and there was little wind but this time instead of the stars I was used to seeing when I gazed upwards past our sails, I could see only an angry black sky opening only to let buckets of rain empty through. Within moments of taking in the light show that now played out before me I was soaked to the skin. Chris, my Captain, and I watched as lightning struck over and over again. It was the most spectacular and frightening thing I have seen in a long time.

Around three the strikes increased in urgency until they were hitting between twenty and thirty times a minute. We had managed to surround ourselves completely; every direction I looked there was flashes of light closely followed by earsplitting thunder. The closest strike happened in that hour, only one and a half boat lengths (about 50ft) away. It was at that point that Chris

and I accepted we would be hit, that all of our electronics would be fried in a split second, roughly $15 000 worth of damage. We stayed well clear of any metal.

Our biggest problem was there was only a slight down wind so we were making only 1.5 or, sometimes if we were lucky, 2 knots. As a result. we decided to start the engine because we were basically a bobbing cork that was floating in small circles. At least with the engine we were able to keep moving forward.

Unbelievably, Gypsy Cat survived. The storm lasted about six hours and at her worst were strikes of 40 per minute. It was a humbling experience and I was reminded of mother natures power and the raw energy she wields.