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January 26, 2005
Hello to all our family, friends and fellow MTOA members,

On January 16, with great anticipation we hoped to take advantage of a brief and somewhat dubious weather window to leave Luperon. All that was necessary was to check-out of Luperon.
But, the check-out process at Luperon held a couple of small surprises. The first was that when you check into the country the tourist card says that you may remain only 15 days without an extension. We questioned it at the time of check-in, but the immigration official just said it was OK and not to worry about it. He said we had three months before an extension was needed. We chalked it up to the wonders of bureaucracy. However, at check-out they counted up our days and charged accordingly-, another $40 please! In the previous newsletter I forgot to mention that checking into the Dominican Republic cost $80. It would be slightly less for just two people.

The second small surprise was that we had to go through a somewhat lengthy process with the Harbor Commandante. He filled out several sheets of blank paper with our particulars (again) and then someone had to inspect our vessel before departure. They are very sensitive about the possibility of the smuggling of Haitians; having had 25 or 30 Haitians drown just outside the harbor with a capsized boat a few days before our arrival.

Our vessel inspection was completed about 3:00 PM and an hour later "Francesca" and "Simplicity" weighed anchor and crept out of the harbor. If you will recall, in the previous newsletter, the seas were predicted to be large (7 to 11 feet), but there was to be little, if any, wind. We were warned by some that the seas would be terrible and that we should not go. However, all indications were that the seas would be only long period swells with little, if any, chop. We opted to leave early enough in the afternoon such that there would be time to evaluate the conditions and make a daylight retreat back to Luperon if necessary. Outside of the harbor we found that the swells were running about 6 feet and with about 2 feet of chop. Not wonderful, but not bad for that time of day after the trades had been blowing, albeit lightly, for 8 hours. Then, as the reddening sun met the horizon, the wind calmed and we settled into a mostly gentle rocking horse ride with swells sometimes 8 to 9 feet, but having a long 10-second period. The seas were quartering the bow and it was trawler heaven, well mostly anyway.