Zipping thru Dom Rep

We arrived in Boca Chica on the 10th at daybreak, after suffering again a dirty fuel episode. This time though, all that was required was to change the Racor filters to be able to continue on.
The only goal in Boca Chica was to allow Robert to fly back home in time so as not to upset his boss too much, but also having a little time to visit family in the vicinity. Mission accomplished. We took time to have a nice meal on the 11th with him before he flew off (so to speak) to the airport.
The plan was to leave on the 12th early morning so that we would arrive in Puerto Real, Puerto Rico on the afternoon of the 13th, as Scott wanted to be able to join his friend Art who lives in Rincon.
This was forgetting the formalities in Dominican Republic. This time, they decided that since we were going to Puerto Rico, the  boat has to be searched by a sniffing dog, and the dog had to come from Santo Domingo. So, instead of an early start, we left at 10:40, making arrival early afternoon a challenge.
While sailing along the island of Mona, we got a call on the  radio from the Coast Guard, calling us by the name of the boat, although we had not seen any boat, helicopter or aircraft. Stange !
And one hour before arriving in Puerto Real, we were boarded by the US Coast Guard, nice and polilte as always, checking mostly  the safety equipment on the  boat. All they found was that the flares were slightly out of date and they insisted that we should get fresh ones in PR.
So we only arrived at 6:45 p.m., in time for drinks and dinner at the Marina Pescaderia, too late for Scott to join Art, but he could talk to him and agreed to meet him the next day in Rincon.


For me, I was relieved that this meant the end of a long rush, with constant pressure on time, and a not too nice crossing from the  west end of Haiti to PR, against wind and seas. Looking forward to two weeks of relaxation.