12/9/09 Leaving Hispaniola – dan
It wasn’t easy leaving the Dominican Republic. We had a wonderful stay, saw much of the beautiful country side, met lots of interesting people, many of whom we would have loved to get to know better. But we were already over our budgeted time of two weeks for the D.R. and still had half the Bahamas to traverse, not too quickly, towards Georgetown where we were planning to hook up with Susan’s two children; Chelsea and David for Christmas.
We started our last day in Luperon early at the street side vegetable market that happens every Tuesday just up the street from the town square. It’s a rapid-fire business that’s half commerce and half street theater for most everyone involved. A farm truck is unloaded on the side of the road. A scale is hung from a slim tree branch and the market is open. Vegetables are dropped onto the scale as soon as the previous order is removed, sometimes sooner, pardon me. Some of the shoppers are deadly serious as they scrutinize each carrot, tomato and cabbage head. Others step back from time to time and take in the beautiful spectacle that is all-of-us; the buyers and sellers of fresh vegetables on this beautiful Dominican Republic morning.
After Shaggy’s we headed to Customs & Immigration to check out of the country. They had power today and it was colder that the frozen foods section of any supermarket inside. Next we had to see the Commandante (Navy) for our departure clearance. We had seen him on the quay when we arrived but unbeknownst to us they were too busy to inspect us; he had just waved us on. We entered the Naval compound by traversing a dubious footbridge and short up hill walk. The Comamdante was wearing US brand of hunting camo, a big smile and gave us a warm handshake as he motioned us into an office. We sat across the desk from him, next to a TV that was playing a mob movie staring AL Pachino, in English, which is strange. It’s not strange that the Commandante has a TV going, everyone with any kind of an office in this country has them on all the time. It’s just that the Commadante doesn’t appear to speak English. He called out the door for someone to translate. As we waited I wondered about the image that we (the USA) project to the world; soap operas & gangster movies? A young man, wearing corporal stripes on the latest digital fatigues, comes in and sits next to Susan. He’s carrying an M16 and is the first person in this country of many firearms who is carrying one like it’s a weapon. Then I notice his magazine is empty. Like the Barney Fife routine from Mayberry; you can have the gun, but you only get one bullet, and that you must keep safely in your pocket son.
Finally a young man in civilian cloths came in and interpreted for us as we completed the formalities. Since we hadn’t been inspected when we arrived they would do so now. We followed the young corporal down to the quay where we met several other men in civilian clothes with 45s tucked into the front of their pants. One said that they were in the Navy and that four of them were going to inspect our boat. The wind was blowing pretty strong and one of them asked; how big is your dinghy? We showed them our dink, a rapid-fire conversation in Spanish ensued and he announced that three of them would be able to complete the inspection. So the five of us, Susan, myself, and three navy guys piled into our 10’ dinghy for a wet ride out to Gypsy. They boarded and asked for some blank paper, they were out of forms, and proceeded to do the “paperwork” in the cockpit. They then asked if we had any firearms or other dangerous weapons aboard, took a brief look below and said we were free to go as soon as we took them back to the quay. I guess they save lots of money on boats, gas and uniforms that way. Perhaps our own navy could take a lesson in these tough economic times.
After returning the Dominican Navy to the quay we headed to the Yacht Club for dinner. The Yacht Club occupies a very lovely location with invisible horizon pools, and the upper deck where we dined provides an excellent view of the harbor, sunset as well as getting a nice breeze. All that and it’s a very low-key, warm, friendly and fun-loving place. We had a delicious dinner and more good buys to new friends. While we were eating we heard “Gypsy, Gypsy - Sand Dollar” on the clubs VHF radio, which like the rest of the harbor, is always tuned to channel 68. I answered and made plans to meet them after dinner on their boat.
Sand Dollar is a 43’ double-ended cutter crewed by Lisa and Cade. Lisa was the first person to welcome us to Luperon and we really enjoyed getting to know her and her husband Cade during our stay. They are treasure troves of local knowledge and generously shared with us lots of valuable information, even invited us on a couple of trips they had arranged into the countryside.
She was a chemist and he a chemical engineer before they started their cruising life eight years ago. Lisa is a very warm and caring person. Cade is Spanish speaker, a keen observer of cultures and a good storyteller. My favorite was about a trip he took into the jungles of Panama with a bunch of Kuna Indians to fell and mill a huge mahogany tree for their village.
The crew of Sand Dollar had been contemplating returning to the states and work life, which they’ll do, like everything they do; deliberately and after lots of careful consideration. Their time schedule for leaving Luperon and short-term destinations coincided with ours and we were looking forward to seeing more of them in the Bahamas. It got Susan and I thinking about our own return to land life; what would trigger that, where would we land, what were the essentials that we’d be looking for in our new home.
Several people we met had bought land in the D.R. and either already had houses or were planning on building. It’s an incredibly beautiful place to settle, great climate, little tax, decent health care, very affordable land and labor prices. When I say it’s beautiful, I mean world-class beauty. It a huge island, the second largest in the Caribbean, lots of coast, huge interior and mountains over ten thousand feet tall. But when Susan and I talked about it we both knew on many levels that the D.R., as nice as it is, wouldn’t be the place for us. But what & where would, we wondered?
Long-story-short it started a very interesting conversation between us that centered around the question; where in the world would we come to ground when we’re through sailing and on what criteria would we base such a decision. It’s something I had considered when initially planning this trip. You see I’m a fan of the Covey principles and one of my favorite is; Begin with the end in mind. It an open question that I won’t go any further into in this post, as this post is growing overly long and it’s a rich enough topic to deserve it’s own post.
Just before our departure the crew of Sand Dollar had an interesting development. Cruiser friends of theirs had bought a small (50 acre) farm near Luperon and asked them if they were interested in helping to get it started. It has a caretaker’s house that needs a roof. A generator house that needs a generator and a cistern that has to be overhauled. All to be done before they would start building the couples new home on the property. After careful consideration Cade and Lisa said yes for a while anyways, as long as it’s good. And so a new chapter and a new adventure begins for the crew of Sand Dollar.
