Santo Domingo

We are having a great time here in Dominican Republic. We have rented motorbikes with no lisence and drove all the way to Cabarete, a very long beach and a surfers paradise. The traffic was really chaotic, especially in Puerto Plata. Now we have left Bonanza in Luperon and have taken the bus to Santo Domingo, the capital. This is an old city and a lot to see if your interested in history. The city has a city wall to protect it from pirates in the 16th century. We will stay here a couple of days before moving to the interior and the national park with alot of tall mountanins. Actually, the highest mountain in carribean, Duante, lies there.

Luperon is a small town with really many yachties. The marina and the yacht club is where the yachties mingle. We have got to know the family on the norwegian boat Veto and had a great time with them. We have also got to know Rafael, a previous proffesional baseball player, that now are working driving el comandante around to newly arrived sailboats.

Arrived Luperon

We arrived Luperon this morning, after 4 1/2 day at see. The leg was unusual pleasant with 10 to 15 kt wind and almost no swell all the way. Now we are checked in, the customs came to our boat, and the agricultural authorities will come about 3 o' clock. Why they have to search our boat we don't know, but we have nothing to hide, so it is okay with us. So far, this country seems like a nice place, a little different from the rest of Caribbean and a lot cheaper.

Iridium messages St.Martin - Dominican Republic

(3.23.2006) ARRIVED SAFELY IN LUPERON, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.

(3.23.2006) 1952N 06949W 105nm last 24h, 64 left. Have sailed over the 7th deepest deep on earth, 8962 meters. Fantastic sailing. Spanish studies onboard.

(3.22.2006) 19.33N 68.00W 120nm last 24H RELAXED SAILING,FAIR WEATHER AND LIGHT WIND FROM ENE

(3.21.2006) 1859N 6558W 99 nm last 24h, 289 left. Can see the lights from Puerto Rico. Wind picked up a bit, are now making 6kt! Sea still calm, really nice.

(3.20.2006) 1832N 6418W 75 nm last 24h, 388 left to Luperon in Dominican Republic. Light winds, spinnaker today for first time.

Delayed departure

When everything was ready to go, we discovered that something on the genoa furlingsystem was broken. It took us the whole day yesterday to sort out how to solve the problem. Now we will hopefully get what we need at the rigging workshop, and it will then be better than ever before. The plan is to leave this afternoon.

Leaving for Dominican Republic

We will tomorrow leave St.Martin for Dominican Republic. It is about 500 nm and will take us about 4 days. We will try to update the website with position from the sat. phone.

We have met a german girl here, Tatjana, that were looking for a boat to go to Dominican. She will go with us. Even then, we are only five, and we will have lot of space...

St.Martin is kind of expensive and it is a lot of tourists here and also alot of superyachts. We are anchored in the Simpson lagoon, were the water is dirty, so we really look forward to some clear water under our keel.

St.Martin

Just a little post to tell that we are now in St.Martin and everything is well. Lars and Kristin Marie, that have been with us for two weeks now, will travel home tomorrow. Since last update, we have been on St.Lucia on independence day, Dominica with two days of carnival, Antigua with it's 365 beaches and now St.Martin. We will stay here for some days, doing everything ready for the long trip westward, probably to Cuba. From here to Cuba it is 1100 nm, at it will take us about nine days. Before we go, we will also publish our latest pictures.