Once clear of the islands surrounding Tortola the wind increased to 15 knots, the sun was shining and the sea had a gentle swell. We unfurled the genoa, hoisted the blooper and raised the mizzen. We were tracking along at 7.5 knots in what I can only describe as the perfect day for sailing.
As I stare out to sea marvelling at the gold flecks of sunlight playing on the water I am surprised to see a giant ray leap clear of the water to land dive and then leap again. It was a truly magnificent sight that I doubt I will ever see again. The ray must have been 12 foot across flexing its powerful wings as it cleared the surface. With my limited grasp of marine life I believe that often fish leap clear of the water to evade a predator. I then start to wonder what manner of deep sea monster is big enough to scare a giant ray into leaping to the heavens, twice! As the implications of this turn cogs in my mind I decide to stop dangling my legs over the side of the yacht, just for the next hour or so.
We continue to surge west in fine sailing weather to be greeted by a pod of five dolphins who dive and jump in our bow wake. We all rush to the bow to observe the elegant creatures. We all can’t help but smile as the dolphins play in the bow wave and occasionally roll to one side and look up at you through the water.
Dolphins in the water!
Since starting the voyage I have read a novel entitled “Three Ways to Capsize a Boat”. Ironic I know. In this book the author describes the joy of seeing dolphins and how, no matter how salty the sea dog, you never tire of seeing them. He clearly did this in much more flowery and intellectual language than I am capable of. With this in mind I was surprised when for a moment I glace away form the majestic creatures and notice Old Grey Beard sat in the cockpit. Not only is he not up front marvelling with us but he is intently staring at his new rubber dinghy, now stored on the aft deck, whilst trying to rub a scuff from its bow. Obviously the poetry in the author’s heart and his perception of the world are not aligned with the practical outlook of my father.
In the afternoon of the first day the skipper tells me that he thinks it is best that we skip our stop in Puerto Rico to save time. The crew agree and we continue east toward the Ocean World Marina and the Dominican Republic. Neptune is smiling on us and we make good progress toward our destination. The crew enjoying glasses of rose at sunset and a great deal of time reading.
On the afternoon of the last day the wind dies and forces us to make a night approach to Ocean World Marina. We are not overly worried because the map showing the entry channel has more lit buoys than Heathrow has approach lights. This should be a piece of cake! As we skirt down the coast we are struggling to spot our Christmas tree of lights, musing that they must be lost in the cultural lighting of the city. We have to take evasive manoeuvres to dodge a ship that appeared anchored then all of a sudden surged forward and across our bow. This is already not an easy approach.
We eventually spot a dilapidated old light marking the entry to the marina. It has the appearance a battery powered torch on its last legs. Stranger still is the lack of channel maker lights. We can see a few in the distance but none at the entrance. We head towards shore using a search light which enables us to pick up the 5 buoys that mark the deep water. Only two are lit and they give a very vague suggestion of the safe water. With a great deal of shouting we manage to navigate the treacherous approach and enter the harbour.
On the bow I see what appears to be 3 youths waving at me with their mobile phones. I initially think, well that’s rather nice. Then their waving becomes more frantic and they seem to be motioning us to the mooring where they are stood. Could it be these 3 young men of barely 18 are the harbour officials or do they just get their kicks on a Friday night by marshalling unsuspecting yachts men into shallow water to run them aground?
Very cautiously we approach the quay all the time I have the spot light shone into the water to get an idea of the depth. We are helped to tie off and the oldest of the group introduces himself as an Officer in the Dominican Republic’s Navy. He is well spoken and obviously knows his stuff. We welcome him aboard just as another member of the Navy, in uniform, joins us. They take our details and search the boat. Luckily the 5 paying immigrants in the engine room remained undiscovered!! They bid us good night and leave. On entry and exit from the boat they are both very careful not to tread on the cockpit cushions which are blue and white stripe and easily made to look dirty. In fact my Mother has been known to put hits out people who have left foot prints on them. I think they may have heard how dangerous it is to anger the Mother Ship. All in all a very warm welcome.
As they leave we pause to take in our surroundings. A marina with very few vessels in it. A large Casino with live band blaring out Tequila! The Casino we now realise was the large red lit building that Sarah had believed to be an alien space craft. All this in front of Dolphin World, the Dominican Republic’s premier water park.
Ocean World Marina at dawn
Our two day stay at Ocean World Marina was fantastic including an extremely dangerous taxi ride to the market, swims on the beach, illegal swims in the pool, illegal entry and ejection from Dolphin World and sundowners. All of this will pale against the true highlight of the stay.
We decided on our last night to take in the show which was much publicised at the casino. Bravissimo was heralded as a Vegas style extravaganza embodying all the colour light and passion of the Caribbean! Its tag line “One night, a thousand memories!” I know you are probably thinking that is quite a claim, is this possible?!
I am happy to say that yes the night did live up to the hype. We started with a 3 course meal at a restaurant that could have been the set to the little mermaid. The food was delicious and the waiter very quickly realised that I was a man who wanted to make the most of the “all the beer and rum you can drink offer”. We polished off our steak and lobster main and it became apparent that in the Dominican Republic I am very approachable. I met a vast array of people who all seemed to want to talk to me about topics ranging from British pre World War Two history and poetry to the quality of the steak. Even while in mid conversation at the dinner table people were coming up to have a chat. This has never happened before and I don’t know what to attribute it to but it was rather amusing none the less. Maybe I looked like a member of the Bravissimo cast and they just wanted to meet someone famous.
After the meal we were ushered upstairs to where the assault on our senses would begin. I was first through the door, I think mainly because I ran up the stairs with the excitement of a school boy on his way to play soldiers in the park. I may have also been fuelled a little by the beer. The door opened onto what appeared to be a large rather drab conference hall. I jumped as my hand was grasped by what appeared to be a six foot three transvestite with wings and a feather crown. To say this caught me off guard is an understatement. I was lead by Priscilla to my seat at the front of the stage. I thanked her and then only realised that the cast were all queued up to usher guests to their seats and that the rest of Maximillian’s crew had been escorted behind me. No sooner had we all sat down to look at the cast when the dancer directly ahead of us decided to do some stretches. This placed us but a few feet from his lycra clad bottom which was at eye level. He then proceeded to lift one leg into a vertical splits. You can guess what was now all too close at eye level.
As if sensing my discomfort Manuel (we were getting on well at this point) appeared with another free beer. I thanked him and the lights dimmed for the show. They were correct in their advertising the show was vibrant, well choreographed and passionate. I believe every third word may have been BRAVISSIMO but I guess they just wanted us to remember the name of the show. It commenced with the leading lady in a very skimpy outfit being lifted into the air by the men whilst doing the splits and then spun around. I think this sparked the interest in some of the men who had been dragged to the show to please their wives. The next spectacle was the entrance of the leading man, who looked like a past-it cruise ship entertainer. He strutted onto stage singing with a strong voice. He too was clad in tight lycra trousers stretched to breaking point over a large cod piece. We assume it was a cod piece, if not he was enjoying his performance a lot!
We were amused watching the backing dancers who approached centre stage with elegance and smiles and then whilst flowing to the back of the stage (still in view) stomped like disgruntled teenagers with a lack of interest. The show built in tempo and the costumes became more elaborate. At one stage the women dancers entered the stage from amongst the crowd dressed as candelabras with strings of crystals dangling from under their arms. One unfortunate girl got a little tangled up and ended up with her arms tied to her sides whilst still dancing. Then at the back she showed escape skills that would have impressed Houdini. Quick as a flash she had freed her arms and continued the show.
The finale saw the dancers all dressed as creatures from the Caribbean. Rays, parrots, turtles, and zebras? The best costume had to go to our leading man though he was dressed as a wave made of feathers with three dolphins leaping out of it. How he still managed to dance and sing whilst carrying a contraption of that size I will never know. All too soon the show came to an end and we were ushered downstairs to the casino to lose our free chips, which we did in record time. With the odds being 50/50 we did very well to loose four times in a row on red.
Bravissimo!
We made our way back to Maximillian in high spirits following an evening that did hold a thousand memories. We got a good night sleep and again were allowed to sleep in to 0730 because the harbour office didn’t open till 0800 for Old Grey Beard to clear immigration. After the skipper managed to wake the drunken immigration official from his chair we managed to clear and put out to sea for the longest leg of our journey yet to Key West!
If anyone fancies seeing some of Bravissiomo please ask Katharine next time you see her. She has a few little snippets on her flip. Our one regret of the stay in the Dominican Republic was that we didn’t get a photo with the cast of Bravissimo!
