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.
1 comment:
This trip looks awesome...Arita with all her flags flying. I remember them draped around my yard. Beautiful
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