We have been
told many times that the crossing to Puerto Rico is a tough one. We agree!
After waiting in Samana for several days for optimal weather conditions,
we had a two day window, which is short.
However, the weather forecasted was NOT what we experienced. This is a 150 mile passage with unpredictable
currents everywhere, deep, rough shoals and thunderstorms, often severe from
Puerto Rico during the night. We
departed Samana on Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 8:15 am with moderate winds
and seas. The wind and the waves started
to pick up about 11:00 am and we had 20 knots of sustained winds with higher
gusts and 6 foot seas and higher for the next 24 hours. We were not able to sail as these winds and
waves were directly on our nose the entire time. During this time, our stern rail broke, the
set screw on the tubing holding the wind generator was moving around and caused
the stern rail to break. Chuck took some
dock lines and tied everything together to avoid any more loss or damage. Our engine stopped twice due to dirt in the
fuel, so Chuck had to change the fuel filter both times, bleed the engine, and
re-fuel from jerry cans while we were rocking and rolling. As we neared the Puerto Rico coastline, the
conditions improved with less wind and smaller seas about six hours before we
made the anchorage. We traveled with two
other buddy boats, China Rose and Ever After, and called each other on the
radio every hour for a status check. We
made our anchorage in Boqueron, Puerto Rico on Wednesday at 5:15 pm after 152
nautical miles and 33 hours. There are
no pictures, but I did make an attempt to take a video of one of our buddy
boats to show how rough it is crossing the Mona Passage.
