Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Mon 20 Feb 2012 17:58
17:55.19N 71:39.569W
Monday 20th February 2012
Distance run: 291 nmiles
We slipped the lines in Port Antonio mid-morning on
Friday 17th and set off for Boca Chica once more. This would be a fairly
challenging passage as we would have to pass around the south-western tip of the
Dominican Republic against the wind and current. We needed to time the
rounding of the cape for late-ish on Sunday for the mildest weather. Once
around, we would need at least 24 hours to make Boca Chica before the weather
would begin to deteriorate with the arrival of a cold front.
So with all this in mind, together with the usual
back-up plan of bolt holes if needed, we set off. The seas were lumpy and
the wind light and we motor-sailed to keep up speed in order to make the
cape. The headsail was in and out like a fiddler's elbow as the wind
constantly headed us, and the seas were one minute calmish and the next
lumpy. We made reasonable speed with the aid of the iron topsail in
changeable weather.
One of several rain squalls we managed to avoid
using the radar to track around them.
All was well until the seas became very unfriendly
and we began bashing into fairly big waves and taking a lot of water over the
bow. Not ususally a problem for us as it all drains over the side or
through the deck drains, but for some reason it decided it wanted to drain into
the starboard aft deck locker, under our bed and into the prop bilge at the foot
of our bed and thence into the engine compartment! The bilge pump dealt
with the water in the engine room, but we needed to bail out the prop bilge too
often for comfort, and with all the movement of the boat water was beginning to
get into places we didn't want it.
We decided that in the current conditions it would
be foolhardy to attempt to round the cape, and it was somewhat of a relief to
turn towards the western coast of the Dominican Republic, turn off the engine
and sail towards Cabo Rojo. With only 20 nmiles to get there, the wind
gradually freed us up and instead of being close-hauled we sailed on a close
reach right into the bay. This was the most pleasant part of the entire
trip and a timely reminder of why we like sailing!
The water in the bay is crystal clear and we looked
around for a sandy patch in which to drop the hook. We found one in 4
metres of water and were soon anchored in a very pleasant bay (if you don't look
to the north to see the loading jetty for the bauxite works!)
Looking towards the beach at the anchorage is a
better view...
than
the bauxite loading jetty!
Water so clear we could see this starfish on
the bottom, 5 metres below.
We opened up the aft deck lockers, emptied them,
bailed them out and spread their contents over the decks to dry. Then
we set about finding out why the starboard one in particular is leaking.
It appears that the rubber seals on the hatches are not making a proper seal in
places, so we stuck some foam strip around the locker edge and then, whilst
Steve curled up inside the locker, I blocked up the drains and threw several
buckets of water over the hatches. It appears that the seal is now
watertight. The port locker was left till today.
The black sealing strip on the hatch isn't
sealing. The
contents of lockers drying in the sun.
We try to work on the principle of our
glass being half full rather than half empty. This is such an example: we
occasionally had water appear in strange places - it is now no longer a
mystery! Water was running under the hatch seal and if on the right tack
(heeling over) it was running back to where the deck drain pipe is "boxed" in
except it was NOT boxed in at the top.... It therefore created a wonderful
conduit for water to run down the pipe deep into inaccessible places in the
boat. We'll do a "Blue Peter" job on it with Gaffa tape and plastic until we can
complete the job properly. Mind you we have hopefully stopped water getting
in there but better to be safe than sorry....
It is peaceful and calm here, and we had an
excellent night's sleep. Some local
fishermen came out to the boat this morning to tell us that customs and
coastguard wanted to visit the boat. They would bring them over for us
if we gave them some petrol (a common occurence apparently). It seemed easier if
we did it ourselves so the rib was duly lowered and the officials collected. We
were expecting the worst as we had not checked into the country at a Port of
Entry, so we explained the situation re the leak and where our destination was
and they were polite and helpful. We can collect our despacho from them tomorrow
and continue on to our next port. This was all achieved despite them not
speaking English and us not speaking much Spanish!