Teleférico: Puerto Plata Cable Car

The only aerial tram in the Caribbean is located in Puerto Plata.  It is a 8 minute ride up to the top of Pico Isabel de Torres, which is a 2500 ft. high mountain within the city. 










We took a taxi from our marina to the tram.  Toby, our taxi driver, dropped us off and we asked him to come back 2 hours later.  He charged us $50 round trip from the marina, a 30 minute one-way ride. 









While we were waiting for our turn to board the tram, a local Dominican band played for us... for tips, of course!  

The cable cars were packed! There were local Dominicans as well as tourists. We paid 350 pesos to ride.. which is about $8.50 USA. The local Dominicans paid 250 pesos.










View from inside the tram on the way up. Heads were bobbing up and down and cameras and cell phones were snapping. It was hard to take photos.

Susan and her not-so-welcoming Bee

As soon as we exited the tram departure area, LA asked me to pose next to some tropical plants, and soon after, I was stung by a bee! (see the photo for the little stinker!) It hurt! I wasn't about to let my trip get ruined by a little bee!  I asked a tourist to give me his cigarette butt when he finished.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  I took the tobacco and moistened it, and applied it to my bee sting.  Immediate relief!  It pays to know home remedies!

The view from the top was spectacular. Clouds drifted in and out. The white house in the background is where the tram lands. It was a short hike up to the top of the mountain.






The top of the mountain had trails that led to botanical gardens.  Before the trip started, there were guides hawking around trying to convince people that they would get lost exploring the top of the mountain. For a nominal fee, they would provide a guided tour of the mountaintop.  No, thank you! If we could get to the DR on a boat, we sure didn't need a guide here!

The top of the mountain features a 52-foot high replica of Christ the Redeemer statue, the famous statue in Rio de Janeiro. It is similar to, but smaller than, its' Rio de Janeiro counterpart.  Many photos are taken here showing the statue in different photo-ops. Yes, we were typical tourists!






Our spectacular view of city of Puerto Plata, the Atlantic Ocean, and the countryside! 










We had a beautiful day to take photographs and enjoy the stunning views.

Our boat is located at Ocean World Marina, which on the left side of the photo near the ocean. Click on the photo to get a close-up view.

The top of the mountain features a botanical garden with beautiful tropical plants.   We took an hour hike along the pathways and it was lush, green, and cool at the top of the mountain. 




Scroll down for more photos from the trip:

We enjoyed our cable car ride.  It gave us a chance to check out all of the beautiful scenery around us.  It left us wanting to see more of this beautiful country!  Until next time... 

Off to the Dominican Republic!

Weather finally turned in our favor on Christmas Day.  The winds and seas had calmed considerably.

We decided to leave Big Sand Cay on the day after Christmas, departing at 5:00 p.m. for an overnight passage to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  The 88 NM trip would take us an estimated 15 to 16 hours traveling 5.5 to 6 knots/hour with an arrival time of around 9 o'clock the following morning.  East to Southeast winds were predicted in the 15-20 knot range, hitting us right on the nose. Motor-sailing... again!  It's tough getting east around here!!  

LA getting Genesis Ready for our Overnight Sail

Since the winds were predicted for 15 to 20 knots, we figured we'd better get ready for 20 to 25 knots.  (Those weather reports never err on the side of calmer winds!) We reefed down the main to give us a smoother ride during the night.

As we left the island at sunset, the seas were pretty rough.  We expected this and knew that we would have to get away from the shallower water before the waves would settle down somewhat.  However, It ended up being a fairly rough passage. The seas didn't settle down as much as we'd hoped.  The waves were breaking over the top of our decks and splashed over the dodger periodically, so it made for a wet ride. We huddled up under the dodger and tried to stay dry.

Looking Bright-Eyed and Bushy Tailed in the Early AM

We took three hour watches at the helm. No big ships sighted on this passage, so it made our watches easier.  After my trip from Six Hills to Big Sand, I was worried I was going to have another bout of seasickness. Thankfully, none! On our off passage time, we took turns sleeping on the starboard settee, bolstered with pillows to minimize rolling. Neither one of us got much sleep until our last off watch.

LA, Looking Refreshed after an Overnight Passage

We manned the helm together starting at daybreak.  The seas had begun to calm considerably and the passage was nice.  We had coffee and watched the sun rise.

The sun came up and we could see the mountains of the Dominican Republic faintly in the distance.  They appeared through a fog and we thought we were imagining them, but as we got closer and the sun got higher, we clearly saw that we were indeed looking at mountains. It was exciting!  After looking at the flat lands of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, we were ready for some different landscapes! 








As the approached the islands, we got our first close-up view of the mountains!  














We are going to love exploring this island!








Here we are approaching Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata, DR.  We knew very little about the marina since we had not originally planned to make landfall there. The entrance was well marked on the chart and we had no trouble getting to the fuel dock. Ocean World is a very large marina complex.  

Once at the fuel dock, a marina representative brought three officials to visit our boat to clear customs:  Customs, Immigration, and the Navy.   We completed marina entrance papers for the marina representative, and two sets of forms for the officials.  The marina representative translated English to Spanish for the officials.  We showed our boat documentation papers and our passports.  We had our departure papers from the Turks and Caicos, but they did not ask for them.  We paid $43 cash to Customs for the boat to enter. We were informed that we would also have to check out with these same agencies... even if we were going to another port in Dominican Republic.  Unusual for us, but whatever... we're in the DR now!  Since we also had to check out with these officials we decided to give each of them a tip, which is the custom here.  We tipped them $20 each and gave each one a reggae-mix music CD.  They went away happy.  We were escorted off the boat and led to an on-site immigration officer.  We completed tourist immigration forms, had our passport stamped, received a 30 day tourist card and paid a total of $20. Another $20 tip and a music CD.   We were informed that the military division of Drug Enforcement would come to our slip to inspect the boat, but they never came.

We fueled up the boat at the fuel dock with the assistance of the dock master and his assistant, then headed to our slip where they assisted us in getting securely tied to the slip.
Another $40 in tips, two music CD's.  

Yes, we tipped a lot.  We knew before we arrived that it is the custom here.  We knew that we were going to be leaving our boat in the marina while we traveled to Santo Domingo for several days.  It was a small price to pay to make sure that our boat would be watched after by all in the marina during our absence, and that we would be able to check out through customs with no problems.  Just the cost of doing business around here.  When in Rome....

So, here we are in the Dominican Republic!  We are eager to get out and do some exploring in this beautiful country.  Until next time!

Genesis at the Dock at Ocean World Marina.
Note the Mountains in the Background!

What's a Sea-Bean?

Sea-beans on the windward shore of Big Sand Cay

Sea-beans (also known as drift seeds) are seeds and fruits that are carried to the ocean, often by freshwater streams and rivers, then drift with the ocean currents and wash ashore.

 Some "sea-beans" are technically fruits that contain seeds. Sea-beans come from trees and vines that grow along tropical shores and rain forests all over the world. The seeds or fruits fall from their parent plant into waterways, such as the Amazon River, then drift through inlets to reach the ocean. They travel with ocean currents until they wash up on a beach somewhere, perhaps thousands of miles from their origin.

My collection of sea-beans from Big Sand Cay

Sea-beans are quite hard and buoyant, which helps them survive their long-distance voyage.

There are several types of sea-beans.  The sea-bean we like to find the most is the seaheart, pictured in the photo above on the far left. The seahearts are not easy to find so they are a real treasure.  Next, left to right, as best I can identify, are the starnut, two "hamburger beans" (also unusual),  two laurelwoods, a crabwood, and a sea coconut (golfball).

Cruising sailors like to collect sea-beans. LA and I have spent hours on the windward sides of deserted beaches in search of sea-beans.  Sailors make things like necklaces, key lanyards, and paint designs on them.  Above is a decorative hanging piece LA made for me. LA also made a special keyring using a beloved seaheart given to us in the Bahamas by fellow cruiser Deana Jones in 2011. It was the first sea-bean we had ever received.

The front view of Deana's Lucky Seaheart

The seaheart supposedly inspired Columbus to find new land in the west. The Gulf Stream carried seahearts to European beaches, where they were commonly made into snuff boxes by polishing, cutting them in half, and attaching little hinges. The seaheart is often referred to as a Lucky Bean. Seeds have long been worn as good luck charms. For hundreds of years they have been seen as symbols of good luck, longevity, endurance, and fertility  Here is our lucky seaheart... painted especially for us by our Texas friend Deana Jones from s/v Storyville.

Back view of Deana's Lucky Seaheart

We have about 20 sea-beans that we have collected in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos.   I found a sea-bean website that I referenced to write this story.  I learned a lot of things about sea-beans. 

One thing I wanted to know was how to polish sea-beans.  You will need dry sandpaper with varying degrees of "coarseness" and "smoothness." Grit numbers 120, 180, 220, 400, 600 and 1500 are suggested. Cut the large sheets into smaller, easy-to-handle ones. Begin polishing with the coarse grits, progressively using finer and finer grits until a high, polished sheen is developed. Try to select beans free from deep pits, "dents" or other irregularities! The bean can be buffed with the "back" of the 1500 grit sandpaper and then apply light coat of furniture wax.  Each bean can take up to five or more hours of sanding, polishing and buffing. So, it remains to be seen how many beans will actually get polished on Genesis!

LuLu checking out my collection of sea-beans from Big Sand Cay

To learn more about sea-beans, click here: www.seabean.com.

Big Sand Cay, Turks and Caicos

Genesis at Anchor

Big Sand Cay is a remote and uninhabited island and is the jump off place for leaving the Turks and Caicos to travel to the Dominican Republic.  Boats stop here and wait for good weather for traveling. Charter boats visit from nearby Grand Turk.  We waited here for 7 days. So, what is there to do on Big Sand Cay?

At first glance, the island looks like a wonderful place to explore.  There are long, beautiful white sand beaches on the leeward (out of the wind) side with a big cliff for hiking.  We anchored for our first night in the place on the chart that was marked "ideal for east winds" because we were having east winds. However, the next morning, the wind clocked around to the northeast, and our "ideal for east wind" anchorage wasn't so ideal.  We weighed anchor and moved over closer to the big cliff for protection from the winds and swells.

  

There was one other boat in the anchorage, a 40 foot catamaran.  I tried to hail them on the VHF several times the following morning, but they did not answer.  I saw them out in their dinghy snorkeling and hailed them later in the day.  I finally got an answer, but they only spoke French. Oh well!

We put our dinghy in the water and decided to go to the beach.  It was quite windy and there were a lot of swells coming in.  When we got near the beach, we discovered why the Frenchmen were snorkeling and never landed on the beach.  There was a trough of deep water close to the island, and it was not going to be easy to land the dingy and keep it from getting swamped by the waves.  We rode up and down the leeward side of the island and decided it was just going to be too rough to try.  We returned to the boat and decided to try again another day to see if the waves calmed down.

The following day, the winds were blowing like stink and the waves were rolling in like crazy, quite gnarly, as we call it.  We saw the handwriting on the wall and decided it was not in the cards for us to visit the island.  We hoisted the motor back on the boat and raised the dinghy on the davits.  No need to let the dinghy bounce around in the waves when we obviously weren't going to make it to shore.




So, we used our time on the boat to relax, read, listen to music, nap, and eat. It rained... we saw a double rainbow. I prepared a nice veal dinner for us on Christmas Eve and we had a quiet little Christmas together all by ourselves.  It was peaceful and wonderful.

Seabirds flew by the boat and checked us (and LuLu!) out.

LuLu got in plenty of rest as well. She's one relaxed kitty!






But, still, the island beckoned to me.  I scanned the island through the binoculars and saw two ospreys on a nest that was built on an abandoned rusty lighthouse that had long ago fallen over.  The nest was not that high off the ground.  I convinced myself that if I could just get to that island, I could get a close up look at an osprey nest!

On Christmas morning, the winds settled down somewhat.  I knew it was deep next to the island, so I convinced LA to move the boat over closer to the island so that I could snorkel to shore.  Yep, that's right… swim!  He, of course, thought I was crazy! He didn't want me to do it, but I kept needling him about it… on and on and on! One thing in my favor is I am a pretty strong swimmer.  I have been scuba diving for almost 30 years and I am very comfortable in the water.   I told him that I would wear a life jacket. He finally acquiesced and I set about the task of getting everything together for my trip.  I took a waterproof backpack and loaded it with my small Coolpix camera.  (I wasn't brave enough (or stupid enough) to take our nice Nikon camera!).  I took some dry clothes so I wouldn't have to wear a wet bathing suit once I reached land.  I tried to convince LA to come with me, but he thought it would not be a smart idea for him to leave the boat in case I got into trouble on the beach with the waves rolling in and the deep water trough.

So, off I went!  I snorkeled over about 200 yards, got summarily washed up on the beach amid the waves (literally "beached"!) and walked up on the sand. I changed out of my wet bathing suit, put on dry clothes, got my camera and headed up the beach.








First order of business was to check out that osprey nest! I hiked down the beach about a mile through deep sand and then climbed up to the top of the cliff.  It was a bit of a workout after I had spent the last six days in the boat with yoga as my only exercise. It felt good to get out and move!










I'll have to admit... When I got to the top of the cliff, that old abandoned lighthouse structure creeped me out. It was spooky-looking and rusty.  













There were two abandoned out-buildings nearby that had trash in them, which added to the creep factor.  






One of them had graffiti on the side. Tourists!! Why do some people feel the need to deface property and leave their mark for others?? Can't they just enjoy unspoiled beauty like the rest of us??

I didn't venture too close to the buildings.  I kept waiting for some type of "critter" to leap out and welcome me to the island!  








Actually, I did see some "critters". Lizards were everywhere! They would dart out from rocks and cactus and startle the crap out of me.  I would see them out of the corner of my eye, and I would be thinking "snakes" and be infinitely relieved when it was just a little lizard!

I finally crept close enough to see the ospreys. The male osprey was soaring over the cliff near the water patrolling for fish.  The female osprey was sitting on the nest.  She was keeping an eye on me and making a slow chirping noise... an alarm call.  As I stood there and took photographs, she finally quit chirping. She didn't fly away as I cautiously approached.  




I got a good look at the nest. The male usually fetches most of the nesting material and the female arranges it.  Osprey nests are built of sticks and lined with bark, sod, grasses, vines, algae, or flotsam and jetsam.  I could see pieces of colored boat line sticking out and lots of sticks and pieces of sea fans.  It was a huge nest.  It looked to be about 6 feet across and at least 3 feet deep. As I got closer, the osprey finally flew away.  I really wanted to climb up and look at the nest, but the concrete structures were too high.  I walked around the lighthouse and found some old equipment and tried to drag it over to climb on, but it was too heavy.  I thought it was too risky to keep trying because of all the rust.  I was the only one on the island and had no one nearby to help me if I injured myself.  So, doing what "Plato" would do, I abandoned my "look in the nest" project.  






The female osprey flew back to the structure and sat there and let me take photo after photo.  It was magical!  

I walked to the edge of the cliff and looked north up the leeward side of the island.  The water colors were absolutely beautiful.  Although I missed having LA with me to experience the island, I enjoyed having some time just for me. I can't tell you when I have felt more alive or peaceful. 

The leeward side of the island had lovely white sand beaches and were very pristine.  I hiked along the shore and found lots of shells for my collection. I found a prized helmet conch (below)...

... and I didn't have to pay $45 dollars for it, either! (Remember Charles the Turks and Caicos' shell man?) Ah, ha! LA wasn't around to be the "shell monitor" so I finally got to bring my big shell on board Genesis!

After I collected my shell treasures, I hiked back up the cliff and made my way across to the windward side of the island.  Although it was only about 1/2 mile, it was slow-go as there was scrub-grass and cactus everywhere. I was in full "snake-watch" mode as I tipped my way through the brush to get closer and closer to the other side of the island. 

I was rewarded with yet another spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean. Big waves were rolling in.  Looking at the waves, I was reminded what was in store for us the following day when we were to depart for the Dominican Republic.  Oh, Katie Scarlett O'Hara! I'll just think about that tomorrow!

Meanwhile, I had more exploring to do!

The windward side of the island was a beachcomber's delight.  The amount of flotsam and jetsam on the island was unbelievable. Flotsam and jetsam is a nautical term used to describe goods washed overboard by waves (flotsam) or deliberately thrown overboard by a ship's crew (jetsam). I poked my way along the island looking for "treasures".  I found sea-beans and some beautiful sea glass.

What are sea beans?? Click here: for a link to my story about sea-beans.

After a long day of hiking, I was tired! I hiked all over the island for 5 and 1/2 hours! When I hatched my plan to snorkel to the island, I didn't think about how long I would be on the island, or how tired I would be when I got ready to swim back to the boat.  I trudged across the island with all my treasures and packed everything up for the trip back.  The waves were rolling in and I had to balance my stuff with getting my fins on and back in the deep water.  I was doing pretty good until one of my fins came loose and the strap got wrapped around my foot!  LA watched from the boat as I got pounded by the waves trying to put the fin back on!  Although it only took a couple of minutes, it seemed like forever to get going.  

Once I got going, I swam back to the boat quickly.  LA grabbed my heavy bag with my beach loot.  I was tired, but exhilarated!  I played show and tell with LA, displaying all my treasures with the bright-eyed wonder of a child. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Big Sand Cay. One of my best days ever!