MASTER AND COMMANDER.......................

AND OUT OF THE BLUE, the Commadore of the Cruising club of the Dominican Republic invited us to join in the parade of "TALL SHIPS" to be held along the 'malecon' (the foreshore) of the city of SANTO DOMINGO including a free stay overnight at the downtown marina........... And of course we said "YES", Si, GRACIAS".................. And so four yachts set sail from Boca Chica to go 22 miles north, spend a night in the city, and the next day (today) beheld a sight for sore eyes................. Seven grand ships, seven huge sail-training vessels in line, with sails and sailors in full glory, and with flags as big as Texas on their sterns......................From as far south as URUGUAY and as far west as CHILE, then BRAZIL, VENEZUELA, COLOMBIA, EQUADOR and MEXICO......



You really have to double-click on each of these photos to get the full picture........... And the brown water in the foreground is what emerges from the river that runs through the city.............



We were so close most of the time, and the ships so big, that at times we couldn't get the whole ship in the picture............. Venezuela on the left and Colombia on the right.............. Crews singing and whistling as they sailed by........... then again the "Queen of Florida" was on deck in a bikini with camera.......... I too, have been known to break out in song................There were heat-waves of testosterone coming off these ships................. I swear it is true............ particularly BRAZIL......



Sprucing up everything before the big "PARADE"...........The vessels would end up docked in SANTO DOMINGO after the parade...................



How about a Mexican flag inside a Mexican flag...........



EQUADOR on the left and VENEZUELA on the right, a bit hard to tell apart but doable....



Double-click the photo on the right, if you want to see some real Mexican sailors, that are not 'French'................



There had to be at least several hundred crew on each of these ships but we could see only one long-boat on this one on the left............"So, this time, if there is to be a mutiny, the Captain gets the longboat together with a handheld GPS"............That's the Uruguayan sail-training ship on the right.......



If you need more pics of sailing ships, just let us know........ we have another hundred......



The names of the sail-training ships were difficult to read, but these are so much easier, despite the fact that one is left wondering why they were chosen in the first place..............these vessels were inside the SANTO DOMINGO harbour....

All in all an incredible day of sights............... thanks to Hector Duval and Jose Manual Lamarche Ruiz who made our joining-in possible................In awe, we motored back to Boca Chica and then promptly slid right on by our mooring............ Back to do it again............more sail training required, I guess.

FAREWELL TO FRIENDS......................

We are so fortunate to have been able to enjoy this part of the DR with Lynette, Richard, Mary and Don. They leave tomorrow for Florida and Georgia.......... And together we have driven past these piles of stone alongside the highway.......... Almost all of the construction in the DR is in concrete and cement blocks....... but to do a quality finish you add a natural stone exterior........ It is amazing to see these piles of slab stone and even sheets of "SLATE" more than 8ft long and only 1 inch thick, and various other varieties of stone........... There is even a pile of old Spanish bricks............ Take your pick, load it up, pay for it and drive away..........



Lynette and Richard getting in their sailing practice in these protected waters on a 'Sunfish' and all of us for the necessary "photo op" at the pool in their hotel, the 'Don Juan Beach Resort'..............This is an all-inclusive resort..... all you can eat and all you can drink.............Don and Richard are brothers and at times we have trouble telling them apart........... Mary and Lynette are easier...... Here on the right with Mary making her 'sarong' selection............



The weather continues to be incredibly hot, grey and humid, ................... visibility down to a mile or less and the Laurie mumbling comments like......."This would be great if I were a banana tree,... but I'm not ... God' it's hot"........



Preparations for hurrcane season are now on our mind and with excellent internet service we have been exploring potential hiding places in Puerto Rico.....The season promises to be more active than normal if there is such a thing as NORMAL....
Meantime we are secure on our mooring and next week we fly to meet my son, Remy and his family and even meet the youngest grandchild for the first time............... Friends and Family............ It doesn't get any better than that............. HASTA LUEGO..... See you later.................

We are learning Spanglish one word at a time......

SANTO DOMINGO...................................

NO, This is not a terrorist on a motorcycle.............. This is an ordinary guy going about his business delivering oxygen bottles around the city.............. It would probably help if he secured the bottle a little better, but what the heck............The guy on the steps, reading the paper, washes cars from his bucket.......... He's on his lunch break at the moment........... SANTO DOMINGO is a bustling city of two and a half million people, most of whom we did not photograph........... In fact, we went directly to the old part of the city built by the Spanish, with their thick-walled coquina construction and their many arches....... Everywhere the buildings are pretty spectacular and dated from the early 16th century..............If those walls could only talk........



We marvelled at building after builing, with elaborate facades and in many cases the wrought-iron bars on openings had been removed and replaced with modern windows and air-conditioning. A great many of them have become hotels and embassies........... There was a large fort overlooking the harbour, with hundreds of cannons still in place,....... Strange to see....... A real step back in time...............And below that are the photos of the oldest hospital in the western Hemisphere, now under restoration.......... This was constructed during Columbus's time............... Amazing to see the outer brick roof domes still intact................The plaque dates it as 1504......That's not exactly yesterday.................



These then are the cultural faces of the Dominican Republic........... Descendent Spanish, Indian, African and various mixtures along the way.............. But the games of draughts and dominoes is a serious business and onlookers are always welcome............. Personally, I prefer to sneek-a-peek at what comes up the stairs on these old walk-ways............



This part of the city is heavily patrolled by the Tourist Police, whose job it is to make sure that I don't look at the Queen of Florida for too long.............. They also take care of the locals who have learned a trick or two from their neighbours in Haiti............. To know good Spanish would be a real help................



Once you get into the real Santo Domingo and the outskirts you find the beehive of little shops and businesses in tiny spaces trying to make a living like this shoe repair place we peeked into............ They have been here for probably thirty years



Fruit sellers from the back of a pickup (ute or bakkie) and this clothing store with the latest............. And you have to be careful with names because "ONE SIZE" actually means "SIZE ONE"......



THE BACK STREET BOYS



This guy is a door-to-door saleman selling rolls of toilet paper one at a time...... we watched him do it....... different strokes for different folks.......... but here's a wonderful new invention in logical science..... They put SALT in plastic sealed containers...... not cardboard, now that's brilliant..............

ZARPAR, BOCA CHICA, DR........................................

ZARPAR MARINA is one of the best marinas we have ever seen........Not only is it exceptional for its facilities, but outside the gates, the Dominican world is the Dominican world........ What makes it so special is really the work of some very dedicated people who have a vision for what future yachting will bring them......One of the masterminds is a Mr Frank Virgintino, who has written a beautiful "Cruising Guide to the Dominican Republic" giving alternative strategies for heading south to the rest of the Caribbean against the prevailing trade winds........... This is what we have followed, nothwithstanding our torn sails, the passage has been way less arduous than taking the other side of DR........ And at the end we are tied to a mooring ball here in ZARPAR, with free showers, free high-speed WIFI, new washing machines and driers and free delivery and pick-up to the supermarket in town compliments of the Marina.............It doesn't get any better than that after a long journey if you are sailors...........And in the back streets we found this artist hard at work painting beneath a make-shift awning out in all weathers, for it certainly rains here............... a half-dinghy full at a time..........



Motorbikes are the go in DR...... Motorbikes everywhere and if you need to go somewhere just stick you finger in the air and there will be one there in no time at all..... tell him where you need to go and give him 50 pesos ($1.50) and you get taken in grand style............And not just you alone...... time again we have seen as many as five people on a bike.......... no helmets.....no fear, just smiles. Then again the roads have so many bumps and potholes, you are not exactly doing the ton.
.......Had to laugh when this guy came along and his wet slippery dolphin fish took a dive onto the road. The car behind him swerved to avoid the fish in the roadway..... I held his bike while he picked it up off the road and put it right back behind the handlebars........... 'C'est la vie"......



An assortment of seafoods in the 'OLE' Supermarket....... Including full size squid and octopus and lots of shell food................ Very interesting stuff....... always hoping that this was not 'road-kill'.............Excellent prices when converted to understandable currencies.......... You have to do that, you know until you can do it blindfold by which time you are in the next country and you start all over again..............$ 595.00 for a pack of 50 blank DVDs,....... Which is actually $ 17...... Not bad at all..................



El CAPITANO hard at work trying to frustrate himself by attempting to repair the mainsail with a sewing machine incapable of sliding such a huge sail under the sewing arm...............Give it up Robbo........... Give it up, mate........... Now with only 40 registered sailing yachts in the whole of the Dominican Republic, sailmakers are non-existant............... But an upholsterer can be found....... And we did................. Sail fixed.......... Frustration gone. Meantime our bosom buddy, Tommy White at 'www.winddancersailmakers.com' is making us a brand new mainsail for the rest of the journey to Australia..............



Street hawkers selling land crabs all neatly tied together............ Not sure how long they had been tied up, but we are being careful with food purchases.......... Particularly after buying a large block of cheese in a store when we first arrived in the DR, in order to change some money and pay Customs and Immigration........ Turned out that the cheese had the same effect as biting into a tube of 3M 5200, smooth enough to begin with, but it soon sets..............No need to go further on this issue............. The cheese on the fridge mat as a 'message' speaks for itself.........The cheese that was left was given away..............Which brings us to the photo below on the left.......... What do you do when you run a little bar/ restaurant on the end of a pier............. Well you convert a yacht to a bathroom of course, complete with vanity basin and towel rack................ Subject closed...



Lynette, Richard, Don and Mary



For those that have been following our blog you will know that we had a most wonderful time last summer in Vero Beach, FL, tied to a magnificent dock with swimming pool attached............. And the people were a delight and so they had decided to come see us in the DR by booking a hotel suite two miles from the ZARPAR Marina........... sailing down in one of the Hotel's 'Sunfish' and all of them joining us for dinner on board "ARITA"........... Our signature Bahamian Mango rum served in conch shells (small ones) and a main course of Lobster and Wahoo steaks........ What a way to live............. We join them again later today to see the city of Santo Domingo..........

IT IS HOT AND STEAMY AND WE ARE BACK IN THE TROPICS AS SEEN FROM THIS GINGER FLOWER IN FULL BLOOM....... BACK TO WEARING INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH DEODORANTS.............



Oh, and before we forget, today marks the official start of the 2010 'HURRICANE' Season..........

Double-click on the picture if you really want to see some devastating "silly string"..........