Life is pretty simple here but the people are very happy. There is plenty of food but not much in the way of material goods for many Dominicans. Luperon is fairly poor with most people owning a business out front and their homes in back. There are cows, horses, goats, chickens, dogs and cats wandering about freely. Santo Domingo has a bit more money and is much more city like.(see pics further down). There were shoe shine boys to Hummers, street peddlers to movie stars, homeless to affluent jewelers. 

Luperon is wonderfuly simple. The mountains are gorgeous, the people friendly and helpful. The service is door to door, for example this man carries fresh milk each day on the back of his donkey. 

Since there was no wind on our trip over it got pretty hot. Don decided a salt water rinse would be nice. I had to talk him into putting on a bathing suit so that I could take a decent picture. 

As you already know the sail over from French Cay in the Caicos islands was very smooth and easy. This is the sun setting over our friends Jerry and Terrys boat, "Gymnopedies" (it means Naked Feet). We are about 75 miles from the closest "salty peice of land". 

We thought dinner in the cockpit would be nice so we had HAMBURGERS!! 

After.... I think he looks sexy, but he said I will not be allowed to touch his head ever again! 

Before... He just couldn't take it anymore. I tried to talk him out of it...not very hard.... but I did try. 

This boat reminded us of my parents boat, Eryngo. 

We decided to take a long weekend to travel to Santo Domingo which is the first established settlement of the new "Americas". Discovered in 1492 by Columbus, Santo Domingo was settled in the early 1500s after several attempts at settlement in several other locations in the Dominican Republic. Because of hurricanes and earthquakes settlers were forced from the north side of the island to the south side where they were finally able to build their forts. At the time the island of Haiti/Dominican Republic was home to over 150,000 Taino indians. After the settlers arrived their numbers dimished to 40,000 due to illness and hard labor. Later in history, ALL the Tainos were removed from the island and sold as slaves. Santo Domingo is home to Christophen Columbus' remains. (His real last name is Colon.) The remains have been positively identified by DNA analysis. One of Columbus' main goals was to convert the natives to Christianity. The statue behind Don is of man who was quoted in the early 1500's saying that all men are created equally and that the Tiano indians should not be treated badly nor taken as slaves. 

Sandi and Pebbles peak out of the slits in the fort where soldiers used to sit and shoot at invaders. 

Don gets friendly with one of the many armed guards that patrol the city to keep it safe for "gringos" like us and for the safety of the Dominicans. 

These are "monsters" who scare away bad luck. They also stop traffic and in order to keep things moving the drivers have to give up a couple of pesos. 

We happened to catch sight of a couple of monks on the back streets of Santo Domingo. They didn't see us taking pictures of them because they were busy taking pictures of "monsters". 

We happened across a group of people who were filming a movie. I caught these two actors during some down time. They were to adorable to miss. 

Don's booger infatuation gets the better of him. 

I swear it wasn't me!!! 

I'm pretty popular around here... 

While in Santo Domingo we came upon this "home". There were several people and a couple of dogs living here. Beach front property baby!!!! 

These are more pictures of the ruins of the first major fort in the "Americas".  

Map of the Caribbean

I was asked to put a map of the Caribbean on the website so that it would be a little bit easier to see where we are. I hope this helps. You will have to click on it to make it big enough to read. -Studying Sandi

Dominican Republic

We have made it to the DR!! It is wonderful here. Much greener than the islands we have been visiting lately. The trip from Turks and Caicos was very easy. The water and wind so calm we had to motor the entire 30 hours it took us to get here. I will not be putting in pictures today but will update fully in a week or so. Today we bought some eggs (huevos in spanish). You could tell they were fresh...they still had chicken poopy on them. HA! Love the Amazed Allens.

Long Island, Mayaguana and the Turks and Caicos

Friends, Family, and all those in-between,
Well we have officially left the Bahamas and are now in the Turks and Caicos awaiting a weather window to head further south to the Domincan Republic. So, for those of you who are interested about the journey itself, it was absolutely amazing and truely exciting!
We departed Long Island, Bahamas, about 25 miles east of Georgetown and headed out for a 130 mile sail to Mayaguana, (the furthest easterly island of the Bahamas). The morning started out smooth, and I mean oil slick smooth. The Atlantic was calm, with hardly a swell to be felt and not a breeze to even ruffle the sails. We motor/sailed for the first 8 hours and then the winds finally started to pick up and we were on our way w/o the noise of the motor to detract from the journey. After about 15 hours the winds really started to pick up, 20+ knots and unfortunately so did the seas, although they were off our stern, which made it manageable. After sailing through the night and having the winds increase to 25+ with up to 35 knot gust, and 10-12 foot seas, we were cruising along at 7-8 knots.... giddy-up baby, this boat wants to sail:))
We arrived in Mayaguana after about 32 hours and words can not express how amazing it was to actually smell the island before it was hardly in sight... Amazing.
So we hung out in Mayaguana for 6 days riding out the 25+ knot winds before we finally got a window to head off to the Turks and Caicos.
We left Mayaguana @ 10pm and sailed through the night and into the morning arriving @ T&C around 9am..... and the coolest part was seeing two whales breach upon our arrival! Pretty kewl to see them in their natural habitat and not at some theme park.
So for all you snow birds stuck in, what, about 20 degrees.... (if your lucky), snowy, gray skied, Midwest USA, we wish you could be here!
Love to all and stay warm,
Dominican Don & Spanish Sandi!!

Well.... we're in the Turks and Caicos. Its been quite a trip so far. The sun is setting on another fullfilling day. Our next destination, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  

A view from our boat at Sapadilla Bay, in the Turks and Caicos. 

Our friend Rob owns this boat. He is the one on the Left. He is single handing his 28ft boat and heading south. He doesn't know where his final destinatin is. He and Tom and Amy accompany us on the first leg our trip from Georgetown to Long Island. 

While in Long Island we enjoyed our friends, Rob, Tom and Amy's company. Rob is pictured here. 

A shot of one of the nights we spent at sea. 

Then things got rough.... We ended up spending 32 hours sailing and 8+ of them were in 10-12 ft waves and 25+ knots of wind. We weren't scared.... well.... maybe a little....