Rob is 30! Finally! He would often remind me of our age difference, but now his jokes won’t have the same effect since we are both in our early 30’s. We pulled away from Providenciales in the early hours of Captain Rob’s birthday (April 14th). The wind was nonexistent and the water was very calm; almost like glass. We always want to sail, but without wind, we had to motor across the Caicos Banks. The calm conditions and blue still water reminded us of our trip across the Great Bahama Banks.
We exited the banks around 1:00pm and started to head south along the shelf. It was time for the fishing lines to come out. So far Rob’s birthday was proving to be pretty boring. The only gift he had received so far was some burnt chocolate chip oatmeal cookies that I made despite not having any butter. It’s the thought that counts. We were testing out a new cedar plug lure and it wasn’t long before we had a fish on. It had been awhile since we caught anything, so we would have been happy with any edible fish. As Rob reeled it in, we realize that he finally scored the tuna he’s been after since we left Florida. It was a nice size skipjack tuna and the birthday boy was thrilled. Only a few minutes later and we had another dolphinfish on. It was a great birthday present, but mother nature had one more gift to deliver.
Shortly after the fish were filleted and stored in the freezer, winds picked up to about 12-15 kts from the east. This meant for the first time since leaving Florida, Kairos was sailing on a beam reach! We are so used to sailing with the wind on our nose, we forgot how lovely a beam reach can be. We shut off the motor, enjoyed a peaceful dinner, and watched the sunset while Kairos kept cruising south. We were able to sail throughout the night, making much better time than we had anticipated. It was the best sail we’ve had so far on this adventure, but we were going to arrive in Luperon at 4am. Navigating the anchorage in dark is not a challenge we wanted to take on, so we slowed down and waited for the sun rise.
As day light broke through the night sky, we could see the outline of the mountains in front of us. After seeing flat sandy islands for the last two months in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, we couldn’t believe the drastic change in scenery. As the sun rose, we could see the lush, green forests and smell the earthy soil.
We entered the anchorage and grabbed a mooring ball for $2 per day from Papo, the harbor master. Papo told us that the navy (comandante) would come out shortly to check us in. We took a much needed nap and awaited their arrival. When they didn’t show up after 4 hours, Rob went to clear us in. He visited 5 offices (Agriculture, Immigration, Customs, Tourism, Port Authority) and paid a total of $140 in fees. Agriculture only needed to see our rabies certificates to allow the pups into the country. No one asked to inspect our boat, so we were good to go. It was now time to take the pups to shore and explore this exciting new country.