Searching for the Treasure at the End of the Rainbow

There was a full moon. It hung over the sailboat shining down from the black sky, lighting up the deck of the sailboat. It was a warm evening with a slight gentle breeze, just enough to cause the skin to tingle. The rain softly fell all day, on and off, resulting in magnificent cloud formations. Every few hours during the day, thunder and lightning would pass through the marina, disappearing as quickly as it arrived, and the sun would come out. The sun was hot, but the brisk breeze cooled the body making living on a sailboat comfortable. Such is life in the tropics. Pure and exquisite beauty every moment of the day. I have been at the Puerto Bahia Marina in Samana, Dominican Republic for the past 4 weeks.

The full moon over S/V Ileana at the Puerto Bahia Marina

Six months ago, I loaded S/V Ileana on a truck and shipped her to Annapolis. With the stepping of the mast and rigging completed, Paul and Neil, my crew, helped me sail to Hampton, Virginia. Eager to begin our journey south to Antigua, we waited for a suitable weather window to open. We waited and waited. For almost 2 weeks. There were “pockets of energy” in the Caribbean, potentially developing into hurricanes, causing us to take the sensible precaution of staying in port until the weather settled. Finally, on the tailcoat of hurricane Nicole, we barrelled out to sea in mid-November. It took about nine days of open water sailing to get there. Ileana, my wife, met me in Antigua and we spent the next two months in Antigua with a one month break for the Christmas holidays in Canada.

In late February, Robert and Roger flew to Antigua to help sail to Samana in the Dominican Republic. The prediction from our weather router, Chris Parker, was that there would be little if any wind during the 450-mile voyage. When the winds arrived, they were gentle with following seas. With the spinnaker hoisted, the sailing was invigorating in the huge undulating swells coming from the north Atlantic winter storms. It was in the middle of whale watching season, and as we entered Samana Bay after sailing on the open ocean for 3 days, we saw the sprouts of water coming from whales.

The first impression upon arriving in Samana was that we found paradise. The sailors docked at the marina have full access to the hotel property, including the infinity pools, the restaurants, the gym, the billiard room, and all the other amenities available to the hotel guests. The sailors would typically meet at 6:00 PM at the Oceanview restaurant and bar to enjoy the two-for-one cocktail hour and to watch the amazing sunset over the Bay of Samana. There were many sailors that ducked into this marina to avoid a storm on their way either north or South but somehow ended up spending a month or longer here.

A typical day for me would begin with a 10-kilometre run through the mountains and then down to the ocean. After a breakfast of banana, mangoes, and papaya, I would take a dinghy ride into town to replenish my supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. The town of Samaná is about 5 kilometres away. Sometimes there was a local who offered to look after my dinghy for $5 while I went to the market, but I would always lock the boat anyway…… There are typically few tourists, although during whale-watching season, an occasional cruise ship would anchor nearby. The market was a beehive of activities. It was the place to go for fresh fruit and vegetables.

I went across the Bay of Samana for a second time to the national park. Shelley, our friend from King City, Ontario was visiting. She is a keen art historian and was excited to see the cave pictographs and stone carvings dating from 500 BC or earlier.

We docked S/V Ileana in front of the open-air palatial hotel lobby made of marble staircases, expensive, comfortable furniture, and a fully stocked bar. There are only a few guests in the hotel, so it is never busy and we usually have the lobby to ourselves. The best part about this perfect place in the marina is that when the other sailors walk past as I sit in the cockpit, they all stop and chat. The sailors come from all over the globe, and many have exciting stories. We always exchange our tales and adventures.

There are a great number of families with small children that come sailing in the Caribbean and they do home schooling. They have grand adventures. There was one family from Sudbury who has been sailing for several years. They were making their way back to Nova Scotia. I saw them at the National Park. The boys aged 12 and 14, completely covered in mud, dropped by in their dinghy to chat as I sat in my cockpit at anchor in the National Park. They were excited because they had found their own cave. The entrance was only about two feet wide, but once they were inside, there was a large, cavernous chamber. They dragged their sleeping bags down through this muddy hole and spent the night in this dark, bat infested cave. Not something that Ileana and I would have at the top of our bucket list……

On Saturday, Ileana and I are flying back to Toronto. I am returning to Samana at the beginning of May to sail back to Toronto. The plan will be to go through New York City, up the Hudson River, through the Erie canal to Oswega, and then cross Lake Ontario to Toronto. The trip will probably take 3 weeks depending on the weather.

The trip so far……..

The treasure at the end of the rainbow is right in front of us. There is nothing like experiencing new and wonderful things in life. With sailing, often unpredictable weather, and other factors might temper plans, causing us to travel down unknown paths. This makes for interesting and exciting adventures.

The treasure at the end of the rainbow…..