Date: Monday 23rd February 2015

Position: 18:01.348N 67:10.649W

The week we spent in Samana was quite splendid but we were ready to take advantage of any good weather to continue making our way further eastwards against the prevailing winds.  This came on Thursday 19^th so after having completed more formalities, and of course donating another small gift to the local officials, we were on our way.  The eastern coast of Puerto Rico was our intended destination and this would be another 24 hours at sea. As was by now becoming the normal pattern, the three musketeers were also taking advantage of the good weather to press on, so we again sailed close to them for most of the journey. We motor sailed most of the way, through relatively calm seas and with fairly weak winds.

During the late morning whilst about 5 miles off the northern coast of The Dominican Republic we encountered many whales, spread over an area of several miles.  As humpback whales are known to congregate in the area at this time of year then this is probably what they were. They never approached closer than about 300 meters, but we could see them quite clearly as they broke surface for a few seconds at a time.  Even when they were too far away for us to see them clearly we could still see the plumes of spray that they made as they exhaled.

The sun setting over the northern coast of the Dominican Republic:

We dropped anchor off the small town of Boqueron in Puerto Rico at about 8:30am on the morning of Friday 20^th. The three musketeers had dropped a considerable distance behind us during the night, but they elected to go into a different anchorage from us so for the first time in several weeks they were not anchored close by us. 

As we still had a valid US Cruising Permit from our time on the US east coast I was hoping that we could complete the entry formalities by telephone, but after consulting his superiors the customs officer we spoke to told us that we would have to go to Mayaguez, at town about 20 miles away, to clear in.  So after a short sleep and a cooked breakfast we phoned a local taxi and made the trip into town where we did what was necessary in about 20 minutes.  We had used the same taxi driver when we were last in Boqueron about a year previously, so it was good to catch up with him and hear what was new. On the way back the taxi driver stopped at an out of town supermarket so we were able to stock up with several days’ worth of victuals.

The town had not changed noticeably since we had last been there, except that they done an excellent job of repairing the town dock.  It was not only now elegant to look at but it was safe to walk on.  It was still the small sleepy seaside town that turns into a raving party location at weekends.

As in many Spanish speaking countries, English expletives are used to make a good joke.

They sell a lot of seafood from roadside stalls.  Its very hot and these guys have set up shop a little too early so I hope their stock is still fresh by the time the crowds appear.