The authority came for a final inspection at around one, thereafter we had lunch and then we only had to wait for Handy Andy to return with the gasoline. We finally left Luperon at 4 o’clock in the afternoon on the 6th of December. It was so nice to hear the swooshing sound of the waves underneath our boat again. We looked back and you could hear a sighed of relief…. After 5 months of being here we managed to find a suitable weather window to continue our journey. We have made a lot of friends here in Luperon and so we left with one sad eye and one happy eye.
Everything went smoothly…. There was no wind and the sea was calm, just as the weather sites had predicted… all you could hear was the sound of the boat cutting through the waves. We passed Ocean World near Puerto Plata round about 6 o’clock and Captain Sven was very happy with the way JUCA moved through the waters. Julia and Carlos fell asleep in the cockpit at some stage during the evening and Sven and I enjoyed a quiet evening and the soft breeze, while the autopilot was set towards the Moona Passage and final destination St. Johns. We motored along the coast of the Dominican Republic for a while and it showed clearly the long coastline of the Island. Round about midnight we passed Samona and that meant we are coming close to the Moona Passage. The swell was quiet big and our JUCA went up and down that big swell. The next morning we entered the Moona Passage and the day went without any major incidents….as I said everything went smoothly. Once we passed the Passage and came to the north coast of Puerto Rico at round about midnight it started to get uncomfortable. The sea became quiet rough and the wind had picked up and being new moon it was dark outside… you could hardly see anything beyond the boat….from there on everything went down the hill or if you like the shit hit the fan….first Sven noticed that the oil temperature and pressure went down, so he took away the power and told me to watch the rudder while he was checking the motor….he added some oil and when he came back up we crancked up the motor and went on. An hour later he checked again and we still seemed to have a problem with the motor…by then it was pretty windy and the sea was very bumpy and it started to rain….again he said to me to watch the rudder that it does not move to much from side to side….I had my hands on the rudder and it moved from one side to the other so I tried to hold and it made a big bang……the autopilot broke down…oh great….by then we had a serious problem with the motor…the boat was going from side to side that it was not funny…I could hear the stuff down in the boat flying from side to side…. By then Sven had tried to check the autopilot to find that the chain was broken and unfixable for now….he left the covers open and some of the books and other stuff went into the whole of the rudder system which was filled with water…so maybe you can imagine what kind of state that put everything…. The boat was a total mess by then…. Sven hadn’t had any sleep for the last two nights and now the motor did whatever he wanted and it felt like we were standing in the waves…..it was horrible. Sven and I huddled behind the rudder to keep us awake and we had to steer the boat manual which was not easy. Half an hour later (approx. 2 am) we had to make a decision what to do….we had to go into the next harbor to look for shelter….but where should we go….we had a quick look on the GPS and our maps and during the time the waves and wind were playing with the boat….we decided to go to San Juan (Puerto Rico), but it was hard working the engine had a hard time to move against the current and the wind….at some stage it felt like we made no way at all. Half way there we decided to turn around and go to the west side of Puerto Rico moving with the wind and hoping for calmer sea, protected from the high swell of the Atlantic. We weren’t quite sure if that was the right decision, now we had the waves (15 to 20 feet) coming 100% from behind. It was pitch black and round about 4 pm and while moving towards the west coast we waited urgently for daylight to show up and giving us an indication where we heading. Finally it started to get light and I was searching in our books which harbor we could go to. The problem that we had… Puerto Rico is US and we did not have a VISA….but I said to Sven no one would deny us entry in an emergency like that. We motored slowly along the coast. Puerto Rico looked pretty and after that stormy night it also looked very inviting. We had left the Atlantic and were now in Caribbean waters. When we finally moved around the corner of the Coast we felt safer already and by 11 o’clock we anchored in the bay of Mayaguez. It was now the 8th of December and by the time we had everything cleaned and tidied up, it was time for lunch. Luckily I still had a Chicken Curry in the Freezer which I just had to warm up. After lunch Sven and I collapsed briefly on the lounge and a couple of hours later Sven had a look at the engine and our autopilot again. I said to him to leave it until tomorrow as he could hardly think straight ….however he did do damage control and it did not look very promising. The starter battery seemed to be damaged, so we could not start our generator so we did not have enough power to start the engine and to run our freezers and fridges. We had to really conserve water as we did not know when we can make water again, so no lights and just a cat wash to save water. We went to bed totally exhausted when it got dark. A couple days and nights we won’t forget for a while.
Everything went smoothly…. There was no wind and the sea was calm, just as the weather sites had predicted… all you could hear was the sound of the boat cutting through the waves. We passed Ocean World near Puerto Plata round about 6 o’clock and Captain Sven was very happy with the way JUCA moved through the waters. Julia and Carlos fell asleep in the cockpit at some stage during the evening and Sven and I enjoyed a quiet evening and the soft breeze, while the autopilot was set towards the Moona Passage and final destination St. Johns. We motored along the coast of the Dominican Republic for a while and it showed clearly the long coastline of the Island. Round about midnight we passed Samona and that meant we are coming close to the Moona Passage. The swell was quiet big and our JUCA went up and down that big swell. The next morning we entered the Moona Passage and the day went without any major incidents….as I said everything went smoothly. Once we passed the Passage and came to the north coast of Puerto Rico at round about midnight it started to get uncomfortable. The sea became quiet rough and the wind had picked up and being new moon it was dark outside… you could hardly see anything beyond the boat….from there on everything went down the hill or if you like the shit hit the fan….first Sven noticed that the oil temperature and pressure went down, so he took away the power and told me to watch the rudder while he was checking the motor….he added some oil and when he came back up we crancked up the motor and went on. An hour later he checked again and we still seemed to have a problem with the motor…by then it was pretty windy and the sea was very bumpy and it started to rain….again he said to me to watch the rudder that it does not move to much from side to side….I had my hands on the rudder and it moved from one side to the other so I tried to hold and it made a big bang……the autopilot broke down…oh great….by then we had a serious problem with the motor…the boat was going from side to side that it was not funny…I could hear the stuff down in the boat flying from side to side…. By then Sven had tried to check the autopilot to find that the chain was broken and unfixable for now….he left the covers open and some of the books and other stuff went into the whole of the rudder system which was filled with water…so maybe you can imagine what kind of state that put everything…. The boat was a total mess by then…. Sven hadn’t had any sleep for the last two nights and now the motor did whatever he wanted and it felt like we were standing in the waves…..it was horrible. Sven and I huddled behind the rudder to keep us awake and we had to steer the boat manual which was not easy. Half an hour later (approx. 2 am) we had to make a decision what to do….we had to go into the next harbor to look for shelter….but where should we go….we had a quick look on the GPS and our maps and during the time the waves and wind were playing with the boat….we decided to go to San Juan (Puerto Rico), but it was hard working the engine had a hard time to move against the current and the wind….at some stage it felt like we made no way at all. Half way there we decided to turn around and go to the west side of Puerto Rico moving with the wind and hoping for calmer sea, protected from the high swell of the Atlantic. We weren’t quite sure if that was the right decision, now we had the waves (15 to 20 feet) coming 100% from behind. It was pitch black and round about 4 pm and while moving towards the west coast we waited urgently for daylight to show up and giving us an indication where we heading. Finally it started to get light and I was searching in our books which harbor we could go to. The problem that we had… Puerto Rico is US and we did not have a VISA….but I said to Sven no one would deny us entry in an emergency like that. We motored slowly along the coast. Puerto Rico looked pretty and after that stormy night it also looked very inviting. We had left the Atlantic and were now in Caribbean waters. When we finally moved around the corner of the Coast we felt safer already and by 11 o’clock we anchored in the bay of Mayaguez. It was now the 8th of December and by the time we had everything cleaned and tidied up, it was time for lunch. Luckily I still had a Chicken Curry in the Freezer which I just had to warm up. After lunch Sven and I collapsed briefly on the lounge and a couple of hours later Sven had a look at the engine and our autopilot again. I said to him to leave it until tomorrow as he could hardly think straight ….however he did do damage control and it did not look very promising. The starter battery seemed to be damaged, so we could not start our generator so we did not have enough power to start the engine and to run our freezers and fridges. We had to really conserve water as we did not know when we can make water again, so no lights and just a cat wash to save water. We went to bed totally exhausted when it got dark. A couple days and nights we won’t forget for a while.
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