Yesterday we rented motorcycles with Dirk and Nancy and headed west along the coast to El Castillo and La Isabela. At the end of the day we rode around Luperon a bit then headed back to the boat. Then dinner at the marina…which was excellent yet again.

Selfie:

Guy on a horse:

“Couple” out for a morning walk:

We stopped along the side of the road…

…to take a picture of the beautiful countryside:

…then…STAMPEDE!!!

Road to El Castillo:

Then…another STAMPEDE!!!

Cattle lookout??

After a beautiful ride we arrived in La Isabella:

Left turn and a stop at the Church of the Americas. A reproduction of Christopher Columbus’ church which was built for the Pope’s visit to The Dominican Republic in 1994 (I think). Everything is in spanish but I think it had something to do with the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’ first settlement here:

Then onto the archeological site of Columbus’ settlement. Again, no translation so you’ll have to figure it out:

Library at the museum:

Signage and artifacts:

Mr. Columbus picked some prime real estate for a new settlement:

Bridge to the ruins:

Or ruinas:

Then back on the bikes and onto El Castillo. We sat by the beach, had some food and drink, went for a swim:

Then headed back to Luperon. Local transportation:

Haitian laundry:

Country homes:

Local transportation:

Down the windy road:

Along the coast:

More laundry:

Countryside:

Luperon Harbor from the hill to the south:

Beautiful countryside:

Then we took a side trek to the coast just northeast of Luperon. After a long and bumpy ride we found the particular road we needed fenced off and under (sleeping) guard, so along the way back we stopped to watch the local ball team practice. As we were leaving, the coach (I assume) invited us to play but it was getting late and we had a long spine tingling ride back. Would have been fun if we had more time…

That’s it for now. We’re still looking for a window east but the winds are howling 30+ knots every day. We need a weather system to push deep to the south east and suppress the trade winds AND the seas long enough for us to move. Right now the seas are steep out of the north east so even when the winds subside at night we would still get clobbered by the swells and waves. If we’re stuck here too much longer we may have to exercise “options.” Maybe we head west, windward passage to &#%!, then Jamaica, Caymans, Central America. Just tossing ideas around. Not giving up yet!!

More pictures I found on the tablet…

Tanya’s father Bob flies a couple of thousand miles to visit. We take Bob to Wendy’s Bar one day where he meets Norm. Norm is married to Wendy’s sister and has lived in the DR for 15 or twenty years. Norm is from Maine, two towns over from our hometown…

…and Norm begins a friendly lecture on the finer points of running a municipality in rural Maine:

The marina here in Luperon has a very nice restaurant with consistently delicious food:

Dinner at the marina:

Fish, pork chop, chicken:

Evidently “terrible” this time. Pretty sure all of our plates looked like this:

Dirk and Nancy on Renegade finally made it in after unexpected repairs in the Turks and Caicos. We went to Putulas for a late lunch yesterday, then hit a bakery:

…or was it Dirk and Tanya, AND Nancy?

This is more like it…:

People here are pretty passionate about thier dominoes (the game not the pizza). They slap their dominoes down hard and things can get pretty heated:

That’s it for now. We’re still looking for a window to head east. The few boats that have departed in current conditions have reported a very tough and uncomfortable slog, something we’re not interested in……………yet.