Sailing Day 47 and 48: Overnight Anchoring in Big Sand Cay Turks and Caicos and 80 NM overnight sailing passage to Luperon, Dominican Republic!

We woke up at 5 am and it was still dark. I needed Jonathan to set up our propane tank so I can cook our breakfast, and he also had a lot to do to prepare for the overnight passage to Luperon - check our oil, refuel from jerry containers to our fuel tank, replace our genoa with a smaller jib and a lot more. While cooking, I prepared Captain Ahab’s food, and I had to clean the boat again because of our messy cat’s litter pebbles and rocks all over the boat! We know when he’s been on the bed because he brings a lot of rocks from his litter tray with him! We only have a small kitten, but I have to clean every day. What more if it’s a real baby.. hahaha!

We raised the anchor and started our journey by 7:20 am.

We didn’t expect that our boat could perform so well on a beam reach.. we were constantly doing 6 to 8 knots of pure sailing without being overpowered, she’s incredible! We were heeling a little but it was smooth, and I was able to watch Netflix and sleep!

Unexpectedly, we arrived in Dominican waters by 8 pm! Every experienced sailor we spoke to reminded us not to enter any unfamiliar harbor at night and accdg to what I read online, we should never go close to the land since the waves are breaking and there are a lot of fishing nets. Jonathan is less keen on night sailing, so I said I'd take over the helm, but he should start the engine so I can point the boat to the direction I wanted. I decided and learned how to heave-to but the wind and waves started picking up.. well, this route is very unpopular as the beginning of “thorny path of the windward passage”!

So, I switched off the engine by 9:30 pm and played around looking for a direction that wasn’t uncomfortable for the boat and decided just to sail away forming a triangle on our chartplotter.. instead of floating and getting banged by the waves. I was “sailing” with two reefs of mainsail up and doing less than 1 to 2 knots to kill time. By 2 am, I woke up Jonathan so he could take over and for me to take a quick nap and took the helm back at 4 am.. by 4:30 am, I called Jonathan so we could make way to reach and enter the harbour by sunrise time.. with the drifting I did that night, we ended up being 10 miles away from the harbour, so we put the mainsail down and motored in to Luperon.. exactly at 6:30 am, we were outside the mangroves and following the buoys and chartplotter carefully until we reach the harbour!

By 7:30 am on Friday the 13th, we finally made it! Found a mooring ball, met the owner and paid $50 for the monthly fee.. took a quick nap while Jonathan was cleaning our cockpit!

At 9 am, we went to land and cleared at the customs and immigration! We paid 4000 Pesos (80$) for our sailboat and crew then $10/ person (total of 20$) for the Tourism fee and another $10 for the Harbour fee! We walked to town and bought a sim card and phone credit for $5, but there’s almost free wifi everywhere! Faster inland than in the harbor! 🤗🤣

Met a lot of people including Mama Lynda for our laundry.. it was a happy and very productive day for us!

Tired afterward and just crashed out on our bed! Thank God, the three of us made it safe and sound!❤️