Tag: Thorny Path

Our First Weekend in Puerto Rico

Our First Weekend in Puerto Rico: Thursday, April 25th – Sunday, April 28th

Puerto Rico is great! We are eating delicious food, drinking multiple fruit flavored mojitos and meeting interesting people. Plus, we are visiting unique places and speaking Spanish whenever possible. Our first weekend in Puerto Rico was a success!

The sailing here is challenging, hence the name “The Thorny Path.” Winds are strong and waves high most of the day. We’ve adopted the popular cruiser tactic of beginning to sail at or before the break of dawn. By doing this and making short passages of less than 20 miles at a time, we can avoid the worst of the elements. Overnight the sea dies down but by mid morning it roars again.

In between sailing, we enjoy downtime at the different ports and the company of fellow cruisers. Here’s a recap of our first weekend in Puerto Rico!

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Sailing Overnight Alone (and together)

Part of the reason we hired Jeff, the captain who came with us from Provo to Luperón, was that we were nervous about our first night sail. While that passage was not easy, and a few things went wrong, we made it fine. Next up: getting to the south of the D.R, by sailing overnight alone.

Long Passage For Two Sailing Overnight

The next passage, from Luperon to Samaná, was almost the same distance. And we knew we had to do it with just the two of us. Sailing at night is challenging, especially when the auto pilot isn’t working, which ours wasn’t at the time. Someone has to be at the wheel the entire time. So shift work is required.

Loving Luperón

Luperón, Dominican Republic is likely not a place you have heard of unless you sail. This is a messy, crazy, friendly town and there are lots of reasons we are loving Luperón .

Hurricane hole

Luperón Harbor, where we have been moored since Friday, is known as the best hurricane hole in the Caribbean. Even if the wind is howling at sea, it is relatively calm in the anchorage. We are sleeping very well with barely any movement at night.