The above is the definition of Cruising according to Wikipedia. But talk to any cruisers, and their definition is - repairing boats in exotic places.
Yup, we have now officially joined the Cruisers club. You have read about our experience with our fridge/freezer - that was the initiation. I'll give you an update on that in a minute. But first, let me explain how we have become full fledged members.
We left South Caicos on Saturday morning with a beautiful sunny sky, a good strong wind at about 15 to 20 knots and a hope to see some of the Humpback Whales that winter in this part of the world. It was going to be a 5 day trip, sailing through the nights to get to BVI in good time to meet up with Antje on February 4th. The plan was to get through the Mona Passage before a patch of bad weather coming through on Tuesday/Wednesday.
Jens and I do the night sailing - actually Jens does the sailing, and I take a pillow and a blanket and sleep in the cockpit. Late in the first night there was a huge bang! Jens could see that it was a broken rope. Luckily it was only the reefing rope for the Genoa sail that broke. Nothing that would prevent us from continuing on our way.
We saw the whales on Sunday afternoon. Fantastic! A little far from the boat, but close enough to see how big they are. There were two of them jumping out of the sea and splashing back in again. What a sight.
And then, another bang!!! This time it was the halyard rope holding up the Genoa that broke. (In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a sail, a flag or a yard. Thanks to Wikipedia for the definition), The sail started coming down and falling into the sea. OMG. Jens and Eric quickly got the sail down completely and tied it to the bow of the boat. The Genoa is the sail that gives us most of the speed and works together with the main sail. We couldn't continue without it. Next action point was to find the nearest harbour where we could stop in for repairs. It was another three hours of sailing before we reached Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
We are now at Ocean World Marina. Monday was a national holiday, so the marine stores were closed and we couldn't get the ropes we needed. However, luckily they had a refrigeration specialist on duty and he came by and fixed our freezer. Ice cubes are now ready Khaled!
We'll buy some new rope today and get our Genoa back up and then we're ready to roll. However, we've lost our weather window and can't leave before Thursday.
Boating and recreational boating yacht itself is almost as old. Egyptian Pharaoh recognized the buried water swim with the brilliant and well-barge transport them through the grace and style in the afterlife.
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