2
The trip along the north coast of the Dominican Republic leaves little room for error. If there is a north component to the swell there are no safe anchorages for about 130 nm between Luperon and Samana at the eastern extreme of the DR. After Samana you face the Mona Passage, famed for its potential ugliness. At any point during the passage there was an air of malevolent expectancy. Any serious chop that might develop upon the already large seas would be untenable and our best recourse would have been to retreat downwind, tail between our legs, for perhaps as much as 24 hours depending on where the conditions worsened. Fortunately, the forecast held and no such conditions developed. In the Mona, "Simplicity", took a slightly different route than "Francesca", and ran into some extreme conditions near the tip of Hourglass Shoals. They had to take a considerable tack angle for an hour or two to avoid an extreme roll. We, however, were lucky enough to have experienced only a few hours of mild discomfort.
Finally, after about 36 hours, "Simplicity" put in at Boqueron on the southwest corner of Puerto Rico. They were to meet and pick up some friends there. "Francesca" continued on to Ponce on the south side of PR, where we understood check-in was a bit easier and the port was more for cruisers. After rounding the corner of Puerto Rico the seas went flat. We approached Ponce about nine in the morning after 41 hours of running. Considering how bad the conditions might have been we had much to be thankful for. Our fishing record, however, remains unblemished with zero edible fish taken.
Flying our Q flag, about 5 miles out from Ponce, a police boat with 3 people aboard pulled along side and acted as though they were going to board. We pulled in the fishing gear, put out fenders and then they yelled, "be sure and check in with customs!" and left. Grumble, grumble. Then, arriving at Ponce and as we were getting ready to drop the hook, a "Homeland Security" boat with 3 uniformed people aboard pulled alongside and yelled, "be sure and check in with customs!". Hey, whatever happened to "Welcome to Puerto Rico?".
As you might expect Joan and I were very tired and anxious to get some sleep. Johann, however, got reasonably good sleep through the trip and was bouncing for some action. After dropping the hook in the very tight inner harbor anchorage we launched the dinghy and went to the marina to call customs. A gruff voice said, "When did you arrive?" Answering the question, I then tried to
give him our Customs Decal number. Not interested. He said that an immigration officer would meet us at the marina. Grumble, grumble. Thirty minutes later a uniformed person met us and checked our papers. He said that we would have to go to the Customs House immediately.
Harbor at Ponce, Puerto Rico
The Mona Pass, between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
Luperon to Puerto Rico, Part 3
