We have driven up to North Carolina, gotten our boat ready and sailed down the intercoastal.  We are now ready to begin year two of our great adventure.  We went out Port Everglades around 2:00 p.m. on June 10th. Within a couple of hours of leaving the coast of Florida we hit the worst storm that we have had so far in our own boat.  Lightening, rain and winds of 30KTS with gusts to 35.  I took my official position horizontal on the sette in the salon and Glenn manned the helm.  He likes it.
BAHAMAS
We arrived in the Bahamas around 4:00 a.m. June 11th.  It is as beautiful as you would imagine, white sand beaches and turquoise waters.  At one of our first anchorages off an island I suggested swimming in to shore.  No sooner were the words out of my mouth when a shark swam under the boat.  So we entertained ourselves throwing chicken up in the air for the seagulls to catch. They're quite acrobatic.

6/15 We anchored in Allen's Cay and walked on the white beach trying to get pictures of the rock iguanas that live on the island.  Then we snorkeled back to the boat and got to clean the hull in the warm tropical waters.  Aaaah, such a life.

6/16 Our next neat stop was Staniel Cay with Thunderball Cave, used in a James Bond movie.  You swim underwater for about 5 feet and come up into this gigantic cave.  It's neat!  There were a lot of beautiful tropical fish and colorful sponges.

Our last stop in the Bahamas was Castle Island.  A deserted island with a lighthouse!  We walked the beach, explored the lighthouse (while I swatted mosquitoes) and snorkeled back to the boat, dragging our dinghy behind us.  We would have liked to stay and enjoy the Bahamas but we are in a rush to get to a hurricane harbor before July.  This entire trip so far has been push, push south as fast as we can.

6/22 We left Castle Island late in the afternoon and headed for an overnight to Turks & Caicos.  The weather was nice when we started.  We had lightening around us most of the night but none of the storms hit us.

TURKS & CAICOS

  We got to Turks & Caicos midmorning and proceeded to call the authorities to clear in.  We called several times on the radio and never received an answer.  Finally around 2:00 in the afternoon we contacted a private marina and went there to dock.  They contacted immigration for us  and we finally cleared in around 4:00.  As soon as we were clear I scampered across the lot to the laundromat.  What  joy, clean clothes.

6/24 The next day we rented a very expensive wreck and toured the island.  Everything appeared to be expensive.  We bought a roasted chicken at the grocery store and went to the beach to eat it.  We were trying to find a CO2 cartridge for my life jacket.  It had just self-inflated with a bang while sitting on the cockpit table a couple of days before.  It must be a major shock to have it inflate when it is on you.  It gets very large, very fast. 
There was a French Canadian on the boat next to us and we invited him over for dinner.  He has traveled all over the world and had a lot of interesting stories to tell us.  In the process, he had to give up having a family of his own.  He seemed happy with his choice.  I prefer mine. 

6/26 The next day we sailed out across the channel without charts.  We had to clear coral heads all over for about an hour.  That was intense.  We went to West Caicos as it was a good point to leave from when we headed to the Domincan Republic.  We went to the local grocery store to ask where the post office was.  We walked to it but when we got there it was noon and they were closed for a two hour lunch.  This habit, we were to learn, is prevalent all over the Caribbean.  We sat at the water's edge, in a nice breeze and watched some horses wander around the town square and get into the garbage.  Everyone appeared to be inside for lunch and siesta. We had thought about eating in a local diner and sampling local food but there wasn't a restaurant on the island. It was very hot.  Finally the postal person arrived and we bought a couple of stamps to mail my sister and niece's birthday cards home and mailed them with our fingers crossed.  We stopped off at the grocery store for ice cream and frozen mystery meat.
When we got back to the boat we dinghied over to an area known as the aquarium and snorkled.  There was only grass so there weren't really any fish but we did see conch walking.  It is the first time that I have ever seen a conch moving.
Back on the boat we stewed the mystery meat, hoping for beef stew.  It was very greasy and had a strong flavor.  We never really decided what animal it was, though someone later told us that they eat a lot of horsemeat in the Caicos.  I found South Caicos to be a very poor and distressful island.

6/27 The next day Glenn went in to clear out of customs.  In an office of three people, with no computers or typewriters they had to borrow Glenn's pen to complete the paperwork.  Then the three of them went back to just sitting there.
The trip south has been constantly into the winds and waves and we have considered stopping, turning around and sailing the northeast coast of the US a couple of times.  We have finally decided that we are so close we might as well at least go to the Dominican Republic.  It would be our chance to go to a foreign country, with a foreign language and besides, I had already made their courtesy flag. 
So, once again, we headed into the wind. The passage out of West Caicos was very rough because it was narrow and over a shallow bank. I lived on gingersnaps and took seasickness pills.  Glenn ate very little. We did a lot of slamming up and down for about six hours until we got into the open ocean.  We sailed through the night and arrived off the coast before dawn.  We had to slow down and wait for the sun to come up so that we could make our way into the harbor.

LUPERON, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

6/28 We pulled in to Luperon, DR about 8:00 a.m. and anchored not far from the government dock.  Then began the clearing in process.  On the radio "do you want us to dinghy in or will you come to the boat?"  Answer:"Let me check with el commandante."  So we wait an hour, they don't get back to us so we called several times again on the radio: "Meercat calling el commandante."  No response.  Finally, around 11:00 we decided to dinghy in.  There is a long narrow building with three desks and one door with an office at the end.  We go in to the office fill out forms and pay $45.  We then go to desk #1, he is Agriculture and will come to the boat at 3:00 in the afternoon, desk#2 tourist cards $20 which go back to the office with the door and into a slotted box.  Desk #3 marina control, more forms and $11 to stay in the harbor and dump our garbage.  We walked up the hill to el commandante but he wasn't in.  So we went to lunch at Steve's Bar.  Then back to the boat to wait for Agriculture and el commandante.  Agriculture arrived around 4:00 with veterinary, more forms and $20.  He was very nice, checked our dairy products and ignored my plants.  We told him el commandante hadn't shown up yet so he said he would follow-up.  5:30 in comes el commandante with his interpreter.  All of these boat arrivals are done on a commandeered local fisherman's boat as the Navy has one boat tied to the dock and their inflatable is half inflated on it.  El commandante asked us for a sheet of paper and then asked the usual questions.  The interpreter explains to us that he should have been the first person that we met with and we told him that we tried but he wasn't in.  $20 for the interpreter and we are done.  5 people with forms, 9 hours and $116 and we are cleared in to the DR!

6/29 Just as we are climbing in to the dinghy to go in to town Glenn noticed a sailboat beside us dragging anchor.  He rushes in his dinghy over to where it is now up against another boat that has no one aboard.  I get on the VHF radio and call Steve's bar to check for the owners of the dragging boat.  No one there but I get a couple of calls from other boats in the harbor and soon 5 other dinghies come zooming over to the rescue.  They used their bows to push the dragging boat off of the other boat as they were grinding up against each other.  Glenn and another guy climbed on the dragging boat and attempted to raise the anchor but the windlass was locked.  They managed to get the boats separated and the original starts dragging down the harbor some more.  I got back on the radio with Steve and told him I thought the people may be at immigration as they had just arrived a couple of hours before.  He went down the street to find them.  Meanwhile, a local with a bigger boat comes over to help and takes their second anchor out and drops it.  As they finally put a stop to the boat the owners came back. Steve had found them.  Well, let me tell you that was an exciting hour!
We proceeded to town where I made my first purchase from a local using Spanish.  Cuanto? Uno. Boy am I fluent or what? The local beer is in a 650ml bottle and costs $1.25.  It is so big I feel like I'm drinking out of a wine bottle. 
We have a pair of Swifts building a nest in our boom.  It's neat having birds singing right at your boat.  We're going to have to kick them out soon but we have decided to enjoy them for a few days first.

6/30 We walked through part of town and out in to the country for about 3 miles to a marina for lunch.  The town has gutters with garbage and green water running in them.  You basically walk in the street because the motor scooters are parked on the sidewalk along with the people from the houses sitting on chairs.  The driving is crazy.  Potholes all over, a very narrow road, scooters running all over and your occasional large truck or bus.  Everyone honks to let you know that they are there.  There is music blasting into the streets from some of the bars.  The houses and stores are all very run down and small.  This is really a different place.  The people are very friendly; they all smile and say hola.  As we were walking back to town from the marina someone stopped and offered us a ride.  We were so hot by then we decided we had had enough exercise.  It was the wife of the author of the guidebook we have been using thoughout the Caribbean.  Neat! 
That evening we went for dinner and music by a local band at the marina. Two glasses of wine each, filet mignon, salad, two vegatables and bread for $22.  Everything here is very cheap.

7/1  We took the dinghy out past the harbor checking for places to hike and snorkel.  We went to a beach and we snorkeled out for a while, and then checked another beach where the huge blue crabs had Glenn drooling.  As we were going back we saw a 6 foot bright green snake swimming across the surface of the water towards us.  It swam with the same motion with which they move over the ground.  It looked like it was headed for us and could just glide right up over the edge of the dinghy.
We went to the local yacht club for dinner and more music.  I even danced part of one song with a local.  We had DR stew which reminded me of the food our next door neighbor, Yola, used to make for us.  She was from Haiti.  We are becoming such social butterflies I just don't know what to do.
As you may have noticed we have been in the same place for an unusually long time for us.  After days and days of beating up wind and getting further and further behind our intended date for Trinidad arrival we have decided we are not going to go any further south.  We are both tired of miserable sailing conditions and don't really want to beat up the boat any more than necessary.  It is getting into hurricane season and the next 600 miles really don't have any good hurricane holes.  Luperon is the best hurricane hole in the Caribbean as it is surround 325 degrees by mountains, the days are sunny but there is a constant wind that cools and a cooler wind comes off the mountains at night for pleasant sleeping.  We have no insect problems due to the wind. 
That alone settles it for me.  The people are very nice and everything is very cheap.  We're convinced.  We're staying. We contemplated staying here the entire hurricane season, as most people in the harbor are doing, but we just aren't that settled.  We think we will stay the month of July and then head for the Bahamas in August.  Glenn, Melissa and kids are to visit us there and then we are unsure of what we will do next.  We'll let you know when we know.

7/2  We went to a flea market at the marina and then walked through areas of town that we hadn't visited yet.  There is a very strong cruising community here with lots of socializing and willingness to help.  Twice a week announcements are made over the radio about events, buy & sell, repair help needed, trips being taken, etc.  Everyone knows you by your boat name.  
In the evening about 20 of us went to the beach for a Canada Day/4th of July celebration.  Everyone brought a side dish and the people who organized it brought gumbo and smoked pork.  A lot of good food (including mango and pineapple crepes would you believe), conversation and we even sang the national anthems.  We had a fire on the beach and just looked at the stars.  We all commented on the fact that in Florida you can no longer have a fire on the beach, no bottles allowed and you wouldn't be able to see the stars for the streetlights.  As we headed back at about 10:00 the shear pin on our outboard broke and Glenn rowed the whole way home.  What a pleasant ending to the evening (for me!).

7/4  We took a trail to a blowhole and then for a while through the woods.  We found some small caves and lots of stickers.  I have learned to hike in long pants, long sleeved shirt and hat as the bugs are always after me and the bushes scratch.  Glenn, with his hairy legs, goes in shorts.  In the afternoon we went to Steve's for a 4th of July celebration.  There was a pool tournament and we had hamburgers and French fries.  One of the cruisers set off bottle rockets at 9:00 as we sat out on the tramp of our boat looking at the stars and enjoying the breeze.

7/5  Glenn joined some other cruisers who are involved in a local project of building three homes in the next town over.  It is directed by adults with local youths and occasionally a Boy Scout troop from America coming over for a few days at a time.  The cement walls are hand formed and the roof is made of local thatch.  Walls are curved and windows and doorways are rounded for simplicity.  It is basically adobe style.  The house that Glenn helped on is for a woman with 8 children and no husband.  Glenn spent all day climbing up and down the ladder adding that next 6 inches of cement on the top.  They made a cross in the side of the building from soda bottles pushed into the wall.  There is a group of doctors and nurses here volunteering for two weeks.  Glenn really enjoyed the experience and said everyone was just so nice.  They were given rice and a goat stew provided by the woman who was to receive the house.

7/7  Today we took our lives into our hands and rented a motorcycle.  The roads have potholes and as another cruiser put it the motorcycles are at the bottome of the feeding chain.  The trucks and busses take the road and you slip in where you can, right below the cars.  We had rented a scooter in Bermuda but this was major shifting.  Glenn said it was very difficult to use both hands and both feet while evading trucks, potholes and the occasional cow or donkey wandering across the road.  I don't think I unclinched my fists the entire day.  We visited Porta Isabela, the first city built in the new world by Christopher Columbus.  We saw the foundation of his house, the church and cemetary.  We got a photo of his bathroom where he thought great conquering thoughts.  What a beautiful site it was established on.  He left his brother here as Mayor and went on to kill the rest of the natives as he explored the New World. 
We also went to the beach and then had lunch at a restaurant on the beach where we had parrot fish.  I had never though of eating parrot fish, especially when it is looking right at me with its funny looking mouth.  The area has been so fished out there isn't much else to catch.
We had helmets, the only people we saw with them, but they were practically falling off of our heads.  You know the movie scenes of people going along on motorcycles and having a wire across their neck knock them off?  Well, we're going along and Glenn makes some noise then lifts his hand over his head and I took a nylon line from his hand.  Luckily, he then said kite string and I let it go as we were continuing down the road.  A kite string got him right across the neck.  That was scarey.  That was a two beer ride when we got back to Steve's Bar where we had rented the motorcycle.  We were contemplating buying one for the season and then selling it back but today was enough.

We have developed a routine for our days here.  We try to take a walk in the morning while it is still cool and the mosquitoes aren't out yet.  A good part of the day is spent grocery shopping.  We have fallen into the European method of shopping for food each day.  We get vegetables from a very nice old couple here who don't speak a word of English.  Their food is in a concrete room on wooden slats.  We have learned to take the vegetables and fruit to the boat and let them soak in a sink full of water.  This plumps them back up and kills the bacteria.  The choice of fruits and vegetables is potato, onion, tomato, lettuce, pineapple and carrot.  They also have fresh eggs right from the hens which last for 3 weeks as long as you turn them every day.  We have learned to crack them into a separate bowl.  Moving down the street out next market carries cheese, ham and bologna cut to a chunk the size we want from a large block.  They also have raw peanuts in a barrel which are just great when you roast them in a frying pan.  Store #3 has butter.  I can only find yogurt in the drink form at the juice bar.  There are only two markets here with small refrigerators as the electricity is very unreliable.  We get our meat from Steve out of his own restaurant stock.  He will even take an order from you and pickup what you want when he goes shopping in the city once a week.  The best part of shopping is the bakery.  We weren't quite sure which street it was up so all we did was follow our noses.  All of the stores close from noon to 2:00.  If you go to the bakery right after 2:00 the fresh bread is coming out of the oven.  They have french bread for 10 cents and anise flavored rolls.  I thought that their cookies were flavorless and they had one kind of unappealing cake.  The bread just made up for everything.  There is no chocolate or ice cream in town so you would think I would be losing weight.  I think my problem is El Presidente.  It is not very alcoholic and doesn't taste strong, add that to the heat and I am drinking it like water.  On Saturdays a farmer brings a roasted pig to town and sets it up on a small table on the corner.  You show him how much you want and he chops it off with a machete.  He gives you a lime to squeeze on it.  Put that in a fresh anise roll and it is the best lunch in the world.  Amazingly we haven't had any fish here.  The waters are fished out and the only choice is from a stand as you walk down the street.  The fish aren't iced and I don't recognize them so we have passed on buying fish.

BACK TO THE BAHAMAS

We are sailing back up to the Bahamas to visit with our youngest son Glenn.  We refer to him as Glennie as otherwise it is too confusing (except when I say "Glenn, take out the garbage.")  We couldn't believe how slow we were traveling when we left Luperon and at one point when pointed into the wind to change sails we couldn't control the steering.  We thought perhaps it was bad fuel, a fishing net caught on the propeller, we just couldn't imagine.  Glenn didn't want to get in the water in the middle of the ocean so we waited for our first anchorage.  Would you believe it was from the small forest on the bottom of our boat?  The harbor at Luperon is so "nutrient rich" it is unbelievable how much bottom growth we get.  It was lovely to get in the water in the Bahamas and scrape it off, though the tiny creatures stuck all over my skin under my long sleeve shirt freaked me out.  We cleared in through customs in Mayaguana and then headed straight for Georgetown.  We made it to Georgetown July 20th and spent a couple of days preparing for company.  I finally got Glenn to organize his side of the boat.  Before that people weren't allowed on that side without signing a release.  We managed to empty two cabins and the head on the starboard side.  Anyone who has been on the boat knows what an accomplishment this was.  We shopped in Georgetown for groceries for the week.  That was an experience.  Peanut butter was $9 (though we couldn't find it at all in Luperon).  I don't know how the people who live here do it.  The main problem was fitting everything into the refrigerator.

7/23 Well, I baked brownies and excitedly waited for Glennie and group to arrive.  We planned to move about 4 miles to a better anchorage with a small reef but they all hit the water before we could get the anchor up.  I love enthusiasm.  We finally dragged them out, moved and we all hit the water as soon as the anchor was down.

7/24 We sailed 36 miles to Conception Island.  On the way over we hooked something so big it broke the rod holder off the boat.  Fortunately, Glenn had the rod tied to the boat.  That was exciting!  As soon as we anchored we saw two sharks under the boat.  We got into the dinghy with the kayak towed behind (to accomodate 6) and headed over to the beach to snorkel.  Well, one of the sharks came swimming right towards the kayak - mere inflated plastic. That was creepy.  (Did I mention I was in the kayak?)  The two Glenns speared a 15 pound grouper.  It was a beautiful fish.  It always makes me sad to kill fish but it sure did taste good, plus we had a science lesson during the filleting process.  After dinner we put the grouper head over the side of the boat and the biggest shark came up out of the water, thrashing and banging on the side of the boat as Glennie pulled up on the rope.  It finally cut right through the rope.  It was a very sobering sight.

7/25  We woke up to the two sharks sleeping under our boat.  For some reason no one wanted to go snorkeling at newly christened Shark Valley so we went ashore to walk on the beach and climb a cliff.  The beaches are beautiful here with the white sand and no footprints until we arrive.  We pulled anchor and went a couple of miles down the coast to a place where a channel goes in to a lagoon in the middle of the island.  We dinghied in a couple of miles and saw a lot of sea turtles and orange eyed puffers laying in the sand.  The water was only 4 feet deep and very warm.    We only saw 2 baby sharks in this area.  It was inland and very protected.  From here we sailed around to the top of the island to an area just loaded with reefs.  They started at the beach and extended across to another small island call Booby Cay which is a bird sanctuary.

7/26 We snorkeled right off the beach and saw so many tropical fish.  We did some more beachcombing.  The most interesting thing we found was a computer monitor.  Logan found a pretty bottle and later wrote a message and put it in the bottle.  We will toss it into the Atlantic on our way back to Georgetown.

7/27  We headed back to Georgetown a day early as seas were due to pick up in a day or so.  A beautiful downwind sail on the way back and we got another really big hit on a rod that just broke the line like nothing.  Glenn moved up to 80 pound test but all we caught was a very fat barracuda.  When we got to Georgetown everyone climbed up a 100 foot hill (but me) and that was our day.

7/28  Back up that hill and we followed several trails along the top of it.  What a beautiful view.  We then went snorkeling under some small overhanging cliffs in about 4 feet of water and it was absolutely beautiful!  It was like a miniature world.  There were very healthy coral, sponges, sea fans, feather dusters, small tropical fish and huge starfish.  It was right there off the beach where we anchored in Georgetown.  We cleaned up and went to dinner at the marina.  For some reason everyone was all excited about sitting in air conditioning, having ice in cold drinks and ice cream.  They talked about it all day.  Our showers have been get wet in the saltwater, soap up, rinse in saltwater then rinse off again with fresh water.  We have also washed the dishes in saltwater with a fresh water rinse as we really had to conserve water with 6 people for 7 days.  Everyone did a great job as we had 15 gallons when we got back.  Way to go team!

7/29  We went shopping in the mall at Georgetown.  At least that's what Glenn kept telling the kids we were going to do.  We did go into 3 stores, 2 of which were air conditioned.  All got t-shirts and then we bought ice cream in the grocery store and rushed back to the boat for banana splits.

7/30  Sadly, our company left today.  We had such a wonderful time and I am really going to miss them.  They were wonderful guests and we certainly kept busy.  My article in August Sail Magazine is out. 

7/31 - 8/05  We have to wait here in Georgetown for hurricane Chris to pass.  It is south of us so we can't head back to Luperon.  We are just walking on the beaches, and went back over to snorkle the miniature world.  It appears that it  may come quite close so we have decided to go into a hurricane hole and prepare the boat.

8/06  Well that was quite an experience.  We put out 3 anchors, 2 land ties, took down our jib and mainsail, put fenders out all around the boat then turned around the next day and took  up 3 anchors, untied 2 land lines, put up 2 sails and took our fenders in. 
Gee, that was fun.  We have decided to look upon it as a learning experience, a sort of dress rehearsal.  We ended up with 20 KTS of winds which, of course, is nothing.  Seriously, we are thankful.  Now we are waiting for the waves to go down so we can head back to Luperon.  The waves are going DOWN to 7 feet Tuesday so we may leave then.
While we have been hanging around Georgetown we have been listening to the local radio station.  They play 50's music and a lot of old songs remade by artists that I don't recognize.  It's quite relaxing, no rap.
The commercials drive me nuts.  They make the women out to be dumb.  Two different electricity commercials are about the woman not paying the bill because she either bought a new dress, or thought they could stretch it and take a trip to Miami for the weekend.  The wise husband explains to dummy wife that they will lose all of the food in the refrigerator, have no TV, not be able to see the dress in the closet and have to pay more to reconnect their electric.  "Oh" says the enlightened wife, "I'll go pay the bill tomorrow."  It's very interesting listening to the local news and commentary.
We had a little excitement here.  While we were at Conception Island with Glennie and group we saw a gorgeous 155 foot yacht anchored next to us.  You could see the chandelier through the windows.  We were teasing with the kids about going over to borrow some ice cream.  A few days ago we saw it again in Georgetown.  We finally saw the name of the yacht "Privacy" - Tiger Woods' boat.  Kind of neat.

8/9  The winds have finally settled down enough for us to leave Georgetown.  So off we went straight into the wind for 13 hours to go 44 miles.  What a day.

8/10 We spent the day traveling 60 miles to Crooked Island.  We have found out that the reason the groceries are so high is that there is a 33% surcharge on all imports to the Bahamas.  There is no sales tax and no income tax so it's not as bad as it appeared.

8/11  We spent the morning snorkeling and walking around the island.  There are two markets here.  We found onions in one and potatoes in another.  The mailboat was to arrive with supplies that afternoon.  Glenn asked the woman what time it would arrive and when they would unload.  The woman just kind of looked at him and said they will unload as soon as they dock.  She was probably thinking "that man does ask some stupid questions."  Someone else told us the mailboat arrives tomorrow.  There is no such thing as a time that the mailboat arrives.
The past few days have made me realize even more how we have no control over life.  I already knew that in the large sense - death, sickness, accidents, actions of others.  With our current lifestyle I realize even more how true this is.  Weather is the biggest factor that controls us.  I used to go to the grocery store with a list of purchases.  Now I go to the store and see what they have and figure out what I could cook with them.  As Americans we buy what we want and expect things to run on schedule.  Third world country attitude is it will be here when it gets here and then we wil see what items we ordered that we will actually get.  There aren't a lot of things to buy here, very few toys.  Growing up this way seems to make the people much less demanding and more accepting of things as they happen.  As I begin to accept this attitude I find myself much less stressed.

8/11 We left Crooked Island around 1:30 in the afternoon and headed for Luperon, 275 miles continuous sailing to arrive 8/14 at 11:00 a.m.  The seas were rough the majority of the time as we were again into the wind.  Neither one of us can eat much under these circumstances.  We enjoyed the beautiful waters of the Bahamas and loved having Glennie and group.  Luperon is a very different lifestyle, so much more interesting.  As soon as we got here we went and ate a massive lunch of salad, chicken, rice and beans for me, potatoes for Glenn and a huge beer.  The bill was $8.  We then went to the bakery for a loaf of French bread and 6 eggs for 89 cents.  We went back to the boat and were in bed by 8:00.  It is cooler here, we sleep with a sheet.  Some of this breeze comes from Glenn's latest creation - a windscoop made out of a small plastic box with a hole cut in the side.  It really works great.  Then there's the solar arch he made out of a ladder and his rain gutter from a piece of steel yardstick.  I told him we should have named the boat McGyver.  It ain't pretty but it works.

8/28  Thanks to those who have e-mailed us concerned.  We did not get Ernesto.  We had rain for a day and a half and actually no wind.  Now we have to worry about it heading for south Florida.

We rented a van with a driver with two other couples, and went to Puerto Plata to get new glasses for Glenn.  Something has happened to the coating of his 4 month old glasses and he basically can't see.  We went to the hospital where they took us by the hand to the office door of the ophthamologist.  We explained to the girl that he didn't need an eye exam, just new glasses.  She called a local optical store and the girl from there came to the hospital and walked us the block and a half to the store.  The doctor left the hospital and came to the store to talk to Glenn to see what he needed.  He talked to us about our trip and was interested in our personal life.  He told us about his weekend home in the moutains near Luperon.  We were able to leave Glenn's glasses and they told us to come back in a week.  No down payment necessary.  I then took Glenn's hand and lead him out of the store and down the street.
Talk about traffic, imagine a city of 100,000 people with no stop signs or traffic lights.  Intersections are the "honk, I'm coming through" area.  There is also construction all over due to the installation of new sewer pipes.  It looks like they tore all the roads up and then are putting the pipes in bit by bit.
We went to a supermarket for the first time since leaving Florida.  I got yogurt, broccoli and bok choy.  However, Glenn is going into withdrawal as we just can't bring ourselves to pay the price they want for peanut butter.  It was even more here than Georgetown.

We met a nice man from England in Steve's Bar and invited him to bring his two daughters to our boat tomorrow.  It is so interesting to just talk to people from foreign countries about their ordinary daily life.  His proudest statement was that they have a pub for very day of the year in his home town of York.  He said he goes to the pub about 3 days a week.  They play darts, dominoes and socialize.   The entire family someties goes.  He tried to explain cricket to us but we still didn't get it.  Looking at the dent in his forehead, we don't really want to learn how to play.  This is what I like about traveling; learning how people from different countries live their daily lives.

We went to a nice dinner at Gina's Saturday.  They have a pianist and sax player.  I got them to play happy birthday to Glenn.  Of course, he loved that.  We actually danced one dance.  The best part is that we were in a restaurant where we knew the name of everyone else in it, all fellow cruisers.

We are enjoying the cruising family here in Luperon with meals together, visiting each other's boats, visiting the book exchange, flea market, potluck dinner, yoga classes, walking groups, chess club and dominoes.  There is also the pleasure of waking up in the morning to the sound of a rooster and occasionally a donkey braying in the distance.

9/5  Topmost on my mind are the two passings we had on our boat this week.  It is very sad but my African violet that I got for Mother's Day five years ago from Duane and Roberta has blackened its last green leaf.  Its slow demise began with being put into a black plastic bag and placed in the back of a pickup truck from Florida to NC.  It never really recuperated from this horrid treatment (by Glenn!).  It hasn't yet had its burial at sea but it will be very soon.  I have to compose my epitaph first.
The second passing, not quite so light, is the hard drive of our computer.  We are going to attempt to have it fixed here.  I really want the information off of our hard drive as we had not backed up our photos yet!  I have last year on disk, but not this year.  Shame on us.

Our biggest adventure was going back to Puerto Plata to pick up Glenn's glasses.  We took the local way this time.  First a taxi with just the two of us to Imbert - 9 miles - took half an hour and a year from my life.  It was very nerve wracking as I could really see well out of the windshield.  Passing on the curve here is standard procedure.  Oncoming motorcycles mean nothing.  Then we took a bus for 11 miles to Pto Plata.  This took an hour.  The seating is for 2 on one side and one on the other.  Then there is a fold down jumpseat in the middle.  However, by the time they are done there are 5 across every row.  Local music playing on the radio and it was actually fun.  Being in a big bus makes the driving less terrifying.
We went to the opticians and picked up Glenn's glasses.  They turned out just perfect.  It was so nice to not have to lead Glenn around any more.  We then went to the Amber Museum.  DR had the best amber in the world and it was very interesting.  There were insects and plant life in a lot of them.  It also comes in about 6 different colors.  Remember the movie Jurassic Park?  It was filmed here.  I actually recognize some of the scenery here from the film, minus the dinosaurs.
We then had lunch on the beach and headed back.  Another similar bus trip and then from Imbert we took a gua gua.  This is a van with usually as many people as they can stuff in, including on top of laps.  We were at a kind of off time so we only had 12 in our van, half a load.  It was pleasant as we stopped at several spots and we got to see a lot of the local homes.  We had a local talk to us the whole time he was on .  I kept saying "no intiendo", but he kept talking.  Who's going to argue with a man with a machete in his lap?  We just let him talk.  When he got off the locals made the sign of crazy.  (It seems to be an international sign.)

We went to a birthday party for another cruiser at Gina's.  Reservations are always made ahead as they cook specifically for the amount of people coming and there is always only one seating a night.  I tried a local drink of orange, pineapple, coconut and rum.  It was delicious.  They had music videos on a big screen.  Well, we were waiting our turn for the dinner special and they ran out.  The kitchen closed.  We did get a piece of birthday cake.

We were so upset to here about Steve Irwin.  What a shame.

We rented a car and took a tour of the country.  The driving actually gave me a headache every day and Glenn was the one behind the wheel!  Maybe 5% of the country's traffic lights work, there are very few stop signs and even fewer street signs.  We went to a museum owned by the Jiminez family and went into a cigar making factory(?) there.  It was very educational.  The manager reads the newspaper while the people roll the tobacco and they discuss issues in the paper.  They actually have vacation time and a decent pay.
We visited a city botanical garden which was huge but many of the exhibits were closed, most likely due to lack of funds.  We went on a trail to a waterfall and then visited the southwest part of the country.  The lodge we stayed in was beautiful, the owner was a wonderful cook, but there was only cold water in the shower and no air conditioning.  We just laid on top of the beds sweating under a ceiling fan.  Then the electricity went out sometime during the night.  When it came back on the fans didn't come on by themselves and we didn't realize it. The scenery was beautiful as we could walk down a cliff to the Caribbean Sea.   From here we headed further west to go through a park.  We didn't seen any signs, no street signs and roads were really bad.  We just kept driving west when we saw two men, with machetes walking down the road.  We asked them what direction a town we were looking for was and then didn't know.  We suspect that they may have been Haitians sneaking into the country.  We actually stopped going west and gave up looking for the park as we were afraid we were too close to the Haitian border and we didn't want to accidentally cross into that country.  As we were headed back east we were stopped by local soldiers and questioned as to where we were going.  The point of the entire thing was so that they could look in our car and make sure we weren't smuggling Haitians into the country.  Obviously, they have a huge problem because the Dominican Republic is sooo much better than Haiti.
After about nine days of touring the country we headed back "home" to Luperon.

After a few days of our return from our walkabout of the DR we decided to sail west on the north coast to a place where we could actually get into the water.  Another cruiser from England, John, decided to come with us.  We spent a week.  The reef was nothing by Bahamian standards but it was nice to snorkel and cool off in the ocean again.  We cleaned our bottom and it sure made a difference in our speed.  We also kayaked around one of the harbors.  We taught John how to play Canasta, alas too well, as he ended up winnng one night!  We took turns having dinner and the company was nice.
We went to an island that was really nothing more than a large sandbar.  It was 100 feet by 50 feet and had five thatch roofed huts on it.  Several boat loads of tourists are brought in until there were about 50 people standing around drinking rum & cokes.  They had snorkeling gear, but few went in.  They came, they drank, they left.  We anchored for the night and had quite a thunderstorm with 30 KT winds.  We were surrounded by reefs so it made for a lightly nervous night.  It was quite rocky.  We were happy to get to a nice anchorage the next day.

On our first day back to Luperon we went to lunch at a restaurant on the busiest corner in town.  We sat there for a while amazed at the near misses as motorcycles, pedestrians, cars and trucks whizzed through the intersection with no visible rules of direction.  But most amazing was when a very large man, on a very small motorcycle, drove up to the restaurant with one hand holding a 100 lb. full propane tank across the back of his motorcycle while driving with the other hand.  Fortunately, someone came across the street and helped him balance the tank and motorcycle as he climbed off of it.  It brings to mind other motorcycle sightings.  The most people we have seen on one motorcycle are a man, wife and two small children facing towards each other in the middle.  Another interesting sight was a woman dressed in black skirt, matching turquoise shoes and satin blouse stopped on a red dirt road talking on her cell phone.  Our resolve to never rent another motorcycle was furhter enhanced when we met up with a limpin, scab-covered cruiser who had run into a cow on a rainy road, three weeks before.  The motorhoncho guys hailed him as the latest memeber of their "run into animals in the road" club.  Motohonchos are guys on motorcycles who will drive you around for a fee rather like a taxi.  Imagine a taxi driver's need for speed and reckless driving and combine it with a motorcycle.
The second day back we were in Steve's for several hours visiting, using the internet, playing with Steve's one year old daughter, Stephanie, the usual; when a woman asked if we were from a boat and what our names were.  I introduced myself and thought I understood the word agriculture from what she said but that was about all.  She had been there for quite a while as we were just haning around.  She was actually rocking Stephanie at the time.  It was about 6:00 as we started walking down the road toward the dock and the same woman came running out of Steve's after us saying "wait for me."  We finally realized she was from Agriculture and needed to come out and check our boat as we had just cleared back in.  She had just sat there waiting for us to leave.  This puts me back to the attitude I was mentioning in the Bahamas - patience, acceptance. 

A few days ago, I was in the salon of the boat and Glenn was out in the cockpit fiddling around with something (he's always fiddling around with something - he would probably refer to it as fixing something).  Suddenly I heard, "Oh shit!".  As I stepped into the cockpit he threw his glasses at me and dove in the water.  He had been trying a new place to tie the dinghy and it started floating away.  He swam after it, got in, and drove it back to the boat.  Meanwhile, I got the soap, shampoo, mouthwash and chlorine.  He immediately stripped in the cockpit, added chlorine to the water and took a rather severe shower.  The town gutters run into the harbor, along with approximately 75 sailboats using it as a shower, wash and sewage disposal.  We wash our hands anf face every time we take a dinghy trip and we have hand sanitizer that we use every time we touch the line that we use to tie the dinghy to the dock.  We e-mailed Duane and asked him to look up our international immunization card to check up on the date of our Hepatits A shots.  We were actually teasing him about the harbor water and he believed us.  We actually wanted them because we were comtemplating going to the dentist here.
We have since gone to the dentist for a cleaning.  I practiced abierto - open, cerrado - close, but couldn't quite get left - izguierda and right - derecha for instructions to turn my head so I figured she could just push it around by my chin.  Well, we're doing fine and she points and says something.  I said, "what", she said it again.  I said "como se dice en espanol", thinking I might understand the Spanish for left or right, because obviously she is pointing in some direction.  I didn't understand what she said in Spanish.  Finally she motions with her mouth, pointed again and said "rinch."  Dah! Lightbulb.  I finally looked where she was pointing and there was the cup of water to RINSE with.  We had a good laugh at that.  I hate going to the dentist and my mind tends to freeze up when I'm stressed so I was quite a bit more dense than usual.  Total bill for both of us $12.00.
We went back to the dentist as we each had a couple of small cavities.  Glenn is getting some more extensive work done.  I had my two little cavities taken care of in 20 minutes.  The dentist did everything herself and didn't have all of the usual tools going into my mouth.  It was actually very easy.  I was outside waiting for Glenn when the electricity went out.  The dentist came out and cranked up the generator.  This happend about three times before it stayed running.  I was imagining Glenn in there with his mouth hanging open, half completed and the electricity constantly going off.  There is no air conditioning, just a ceiling fan right over the chair.  After an hour and a half Glenn came out.  He had three cavities filled and a crown started.  We had a total of 5 cavities filled for $49 by the gentlest dentist we have ever experienced.  No Novocain for either of us.

By the way, there are some benefits for a female in the cruising life.  I have my laundry washed and folded for me.  You can't beat that.

10/07  We had a bit of excitement in the harbor.  About 25 of us were at a party on a boat.  There was a lot of thunder and lightening in the moutains and we all did the usual, "is it coming this way?  Nah, it never rains in Luperon."  As it got closer several people decided totake their dinghies back to their boats to close hatches, just in case.  It was funny to be at a party and haver everyone leave in boats to go close windows at home.  Minutes after everyone left the storm hit.  We had winds up to 44 KTS, it came from every direction on the compass and the sky was constantly lit with lightening.  The captain of the boat we were on turned his engines on to be prepared in case his anchor gave.  The common harbor channel on the VHF radio was full of calls.  One called that the boat behind him could no longer be seen.  Two boats had their dinghies flip - motors in the saltwater, another called that his boat had been hit by a dragging boat.  Two hours later Glenn came back to rejoin the party.  It rained three inches but the wind was the main concern of the storm.  The next morning the radio was busy with calls offering help to others and details of damage done.  these are the highest winds we have been in on our boat and we were very happy with how well our anchor held, especially since we had just gotten back from our trip and the anchor had only been down for a day in the mud and hadn't had a chance to settle in.

Glenn had his own personal adventure the other day when he went in to Puerto Plata to get our alternator repaired.  Steve drove him to three different "shops".  At the first one the repairlocation was under a big tree.  It was rejected as not professional enough.  The second one had gone out of business and the third on actually had a test bench, tools and meter.  The mechanic knew his stuff, he had it apart in minutes and replaced the bad parts.  Total cost $19, a similar repair in the US would be over $100.  Of course, it took a rented car, a guide and two hours to get it accomplished.  He also went to a Spanish bank, handed a note to the teller and walked away with money.  The guard didn't even chase him.

We had a nice visit with Janine during the past week.  We took her sailing and spent two nights at Isabella.  We had a pod of about 15 dolphin swimming with us for at least 45 minutes.  It is such a thrill no matter how many times you have seen it.  A baby and mother were jumping in unison.  Our own little show.  We walked down to the beach and spent a day, went to the yacht club and sat by the pool, had dinner at the marina, played canasta and dominoes at night.  Janine loved the red beans and rice here and managed to sample it at several different restaurants.  We certainly enjoyed having her and of course miss her even more now that she has left.

The weather has begun to change here.  We are getting cold fronts which, in Luperon, means afternoon and nighttime rains.  It certainly hasn't made it any cooler, just more humid.  The change of weather means that we are ready to go.  We have enjoyed our stay in the DR but we are more than ready to move on.  We want to travel!  We will be going back through the Bahamas, up the US coast to leave the boat in NC.

Glenn just walked up - OUR PACKAGE HAS ARRIVED!!!!  The day before we leave.  Glennie sent a birthday present to Glenn on Sept. 15th and it was sent USPS.  We just got it. We totally didn't expect to get it as customs is very tricky here (thievery, they can't decide what to charge, you may have to go to the airport to pick it up, etc.) and obviously mail is quite slow.  It is a fishing reel so we really thought that we would never see it.  What good luck.

We are back in the Bahamas.  The water is so beautiful.  We had to move fairly rapidly to Georgetown as there is a cold front headed our way but we did stay overnight at Rum Cay.  We snorkeled there.   It is such a pleasure to get into the water.  We had originally planned on this trip being a snorkeling/swimming based trip.  Getting stuck in Luperon totally eliminated getting in the water.  It is so nice to be in crystal clear water again.  Unfortunately, there are more mosquitoes and no seeums.  I guess there is no such thing as total paradise.

We went through quite a storm when we headed from Luperon to Mayaguana.  We had constant 30 KT winds and 8-10 foot seas.  The worse part was that it was in the middle of the night, and it was pitch black.  We had to steer into the waves for several hours, before we could get back on course.  Then we had another storm of the same intensity several hours later, still at night.  It looks like our trip home will be one of dodging cold fronts.  One way or another the wind appears to be on our nose.

I was on watch, headed from the Bahamas to the coast of Florida, and the Coast Guard came on the radio and called for the vessel at 78W / 25/N.  I looked at our chartplotter and that wasn't us.  It was midnight, and there was no one showing up on our radar except 12 miles in front of us.  nother call and still no reponse.  I looked at our chartplotter and realized that I had our cursor activated which meant that the latitude and longitude that I was looking at was for the cursor and not where we actually were.  I deactivated the cursor, a third call on the radio and I knew it was me.  I ran down and woke Glenn up and said I think the Coast Guard is calling us.  By the time we walked out into the cockpit we had a beam on us like daylight with a blue light flashing.  I picked up the radio and meekly said, "this is Meercat."  They put us through a half hour of questions, came right up beside us and looked at our name and told us to have a nice night, and if we needed anything just give them a call.  My adrenaline was so high when I got off watch at 1:00 it took me an hour to get to sleep.  We never did pick them up on our radar.  That was exciting.  I told Glenn it's a good thing it wasn't a Coast Guard warship calling or I would have really panicked.  The warships call to make sure you give them a 5 mile radius.

There are some things we miss about Luperon but we are happy to be headed home.  Last year I wasn't in a rush to come home but this year we were both ready.  The DR was nice but 3 months in the same place is just too long.  Our purpose in sailing was traveling and we just didn't get to travel enough this year.  It was just too hot in the DR.  I was thrilled when we got to north Florida and a cold front came through and the fleece came out.  I like the cold.  It is nice to be back in the US.  The first excitement was going to Publix.  Beautiful, fresh fruit and vegetables and steak.  We don't have to pay for the water we fill our holding tanks with and we can drink it without worry.  It's exciting to travel to foreign countries but the third world countries really do make you appreciate some of the things we take for granted.

It's good to be home.