Messages from Mayaguana

Long passage setup (on a calm day)

Calm seas and great wind direction made our sail to Mayaguana from South Acklins, approximately 75 miles, a pleasant crossing.  We left the anchorage at noon and arrived the next morning at 6am into Abraham’s harbor at the south side of Mayaguana. 

Mike testing the new spinnaker pole on our way to Mayaguana

Mayaguana dinghy dock

Abraham's harbor, Mayaguana

Dinghy stranded at low tide at Abraham Bay, Mayaguana

Low tide in Mayaguana

Some local fisherman greeted us, when we arrived on land later that afternoon.  We saw their catch of the day, which included the largest lobster that I have ever seen and about 400 conch.  It was quite the catch for a days work.  We were told that the lobster would be sold in Nassau for around $100! 

Town of Mayaguana 

Dalton with his lobster catch

Power lines in Mayaguana knocked down from Hurricane Irene

We left Mayaguana 2 days later with two messages to send to the Dominican Republic.  The first was from our new acquaintance, Scully.  Originally Mike invited him to join us on our sail to the Dominican Republic, not thinking that he’d be interested, but immediately Scully said he would love to have sailed over with us except that he just got a job yesterday to watch J.R.’s boat in the harbor. 

Town of Luperon

Land sighted

Instead, he told us to tell J.R. in Luperon that he was watching the ‘other’ J.R.’s boat in Mayaguana.  He assured us that J.R. would know who J.R. was.  I guess, living in the island world you can refer to people on a first name basis and find them from island to island.  We accepted unsure of our success in passing on the message, but he was pleased and did not seem to doubt our ability to find J.R. in Luperon. 

Entering Luperon harbor

Luperon, Dominican Republic harbor

Entering Luperon

Our next message was from the restaurant and bar owner Reggie.  Who, coincidentally, was the cousin of Willie, the restaurant owner on Crooked Island.  He wanted us to pass on the message to Steve to call him.  We said we’d try our best to find Steve and pass on the message.  He told us he owned a restaurant in Luperon.  Little did we know, at the time, that Luperon would be so easy to navigate and find both J.R. and Steve to pass on the messages.

Outside of Steve's restaurant in Luperon

Captain Steve's restaurant