Thursday, April 09, 2009 5:22:16 PM Location: Santa Barbara de Samana The boat position was not recorded. This weather observation was taken on Thursday, April 09, 2009 5:13:47 PM local time. Observation location: Santa Barbara de Samana. Observation position was not recorded. The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 12 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 10 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1019 millibars and steady. It is getting hot here. Spring has arrived and the town is gearing up for Easter. There are setups now all along the waterfront and the party starts early. The open air market was just jammed this morning with chaotic activity. Two cruise ships arrived and that added to the chaos. The kids are out of school for the week and have been cavorting in the water all around the bay. High intensity fun. We're going in tonight to take part. Mary arrived on schedule and we went to the big American style grocery store in Santo Domingo. $600 later, we headed back to the boat. It is taking some time for both of us to get used to being on the boat together again. Every day is better though.. The refer is still a problem. I attacked the door seals yesterday and the latches today to keep the doors closed more tightly. I've been surfing the net for info and the Tundra seems to be the best replacement. Hopefully we will make it to GA. The temperatures here are now hot through the middle of the day, like in Cartagena. And the evenings are cool. Nights come down and make sleeping comfortable. I've met many people on in the town and we will hook up with some tonight. It takes about a month to establish friendships and really begin to share experiences with them. The folks here are good people. The town's economy is based upon tourism, but is very organic, very spontaneous. I think few Americans can take the disharmony of it all, especially if they are coming down from the east coast. They haven't adjusted. It isn't orchestrated like in the states. Mary brought down "flopper stoppers" for Jenny. They hang 10 feet underwater and keep Jenny from rolling around at anchor. We have them hooked up to the lines that secure the booms to the hull for our running stabilizers. They only weigh 18 pounds, so are easy to drop in the water and pull out. We've had them on the deck until this evening when the roll picked up. So I dropped them in and we are now much more comfortable. On Monday we will go into the fuel dock and pick up 200 gallons of diesel for the trip back to the states. We could probably make it easily on the fuel load from Cartagena, but just in case, we will take on a little more. The bash up here chewed up a little more than I expected. We plan to start looking at weather next week and catch the next really good weather up to the Turks and Caicos. Once there, the water seems a lot calmer and the passages short and protected. We will both like that. Life is good. David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com