After spending a “boat unit” (BOAT is an acronym for Break Out Another Thousand) we had our dinghy davit repaired and were ready to move on. Our first leg from Puerto del Rey Marina was 55 NM to Salinas. The next day we did the 61 NM to Boqueron.
Light house on southwest
point of Puerto Rico
We enjoy Puerto Rico, but we had enough. Puerto Ricans are consistently rated as some
of the happiest people in the world.
They have great weather, strong family ties and really seem to enjoy
life, especially on weekends! If Puerto
Rico ever becomes a state, I question their true assimilation. They will always be Puerto Ricans first.
Our next hop was the 145 NM through the Mona Passage (see
archived posting, Mona, dated April 16, 2012).
The Puerto Rican trench north of the Mona is some of the deepest water
in the world. In the middle of the Mona
is the Hourglass Shoal. Water flowing
from the trench and hitting the shoal can get quite confused. Additionally, the Mona is the gateway to the
Caribbean and thus has considerable large ship traffic.
It takes Motivator
about 20 hours to do the 145 NM, so we have to make the passage at night to
avoid departing or arriving in darkness. We had a great passage! We departed Boqueron at 2:00 PM and got to
watch a whale breaching. During the
night our AIS picked up several ships including one that was 1083 feet long,
but they all passed with plenty of sea room.
Puerto Bahia Marina
We arrived safely at Puerto Bahia Marina, Samana at about 10
AM. Now it is time to enjoy the resort
life (see archived posting, Samana, dated April 14, 2012).
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