Cruiser's Running Guide: Luperon, DR

Location: Luperon, Dominican Republic
Distance: 4.3 nm
Customizable?: Somewhat
Overall Score: 9/10
Hilliness: 5/10
Variety: 9/10
Scenery: 8/10
Safety: 9/10
Stray Dog Potential: 2/10 (but all non-aggressive and lazy)
Type: Urban & rural asphalt
Time of Day: Late afternoon


NOTES: This is one of the most enjoyable runs I have done in a long time. The scenery change is tremendous. You begin in the heart of the vibrant town of Luperon, and soon enter a quiet rural road. Following this up a slight hill, you are granted excellent views of the harbor before being taken down through some woods and out into the Caribbean sea on an old jetty. If you've sailed to Luperon, chances are you've used Bruce Van Sant's cruising guide; thus finish your run with an SG&T at Shaggy's in town.
This run is listed as an out and back, but feel free to shorten it by finishing with your SG&T at the Luperon Yacht Club and arranging a dinghy pick-up from your helpful crewmates instead. Enjoy!


START: From the Luperon town dinghy dock, take a right towards land.

.2 - Keep R at the Y (Shaggy's is up about 50 yrds on the left of the Y).

.27 - 'Pica Polla Comedor Waly' is on your right; an excellent spot for a local meal.

.36 - R at the ornamental stoplight onto 27 de Febrevo. Follow this out of the town.

1.11 - R through large arched gate (follow signs for Puerto Blanco Marina).

1.56 - Enter roundabout, keep R.

1.68 - L at intersection (R if you want to go to the Marina or Yacht Club).

1.82 - R in front of Hotasa Tropical Beach.

1.99 - Go around metal and wire gate (path on R). Follow the same road straight and to the L.

2.29 - Run out to the end of the breakwater. A small beach is on L, and the entrance to Luperon Harbor is on R. Turn around and re-trace your steps into town.

4.08 - At the ornamental stop light, go one more block.

4.13 - Turn L.

4.30 - Finish at Shaggy's! Your first beverage in Luperon is free.

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My Favorite Constellation

I've never been extraordinarily skilled at picking out constellations. I truly enjoy a dark night sky. In the right circumstances, I've been able to pick out the milky way, the moon, the northern lights, and the occasional shooting star. However, constellations fail me. Maybe I'm not imaginative enough, but I find it hard to see how a set of four stars looks like a bear.

The constellation I most enjoy is Orion. A feature of the winter sky in the northen hemisphere, Orion reminds me cold, crisp winter camping trips, campfires, and snowfall. Also, he's ridiculously easy to pick out. His three star belt, hanging sword, and four stars signifying his shoulders and legs are clearly visible in all but the brightest skies.

I never figured out why society had settled on a hunter for Orion. When I tilt my head just right, I see a butterfly, kite, or even a delightful bowtie. I had heard stories of a head, arms, and a cocked shoulder pulling back a bowstring, but I had never seen them.

That is, until our crossing from South Caicos to Puerto Plata. I had an evening watch on a calm night. The winds were trying to decide whether to be light or variable (but not both), and the ocean was almost as calm as the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Looking up, I basked in the dark night sky, but all of a sudden I noticed something.

I saw a clear semi-circle making up a stressed bow. I saw a bow string. I saw an arm holding an arrow, muscles quivering, ready to release. And I almost even saw the squinted focus in the hunter's eye.

With just a few more pieces of the puzzel, Orion began to look like so much more. I had never seen it quite like that before. Now, even hidden my the nearby city lights, I still see the hunter in all is glory.

And that's why Orion is still my favorite constellation.

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The Cruiser's Running Guide: Puerto Plata Cross Training

Not every workout needs to be a run, and when you're near Puerto Plata, Mt. Isabel de Torres provides a wonderful opportunity to get a really nice hike in. Although I have plenty of trail-runner friends back in North Carolina that would not shy away from the chance to run up a mountain, I consider myself a more moderate athlete.

In all my prior 'Cruiser's Running Guide' posts, I list all distances and turns to make with two-digit accuracy. I've brought a handheld GPS on every run, along with a piece of paper and a pen to take notes. I didn't do so today, so you'll enjoy a more narrative description, rather than mapquest-esque instructions.

Location: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Distance: 2700 ft vertical elevation; (2 hours up, 1.5 hours down).
Customizable?: You can take the Tram back to the bottom
Overall Score: 8/10
Hilliness: 10/10
Variety: 5/10
Scenery: 9/10
Safety: 8/10 (don't get lost)
Stray Dog Potential: 2/10 (at the bottom, but all very lazy)
Type: Intermediate mountain hike. Single track, switchbacks , some mud, and a bit of scrambling.
Time of Day: Morning

NOTES: This hike is well worth it. The mountain rises 2700 feet from the edge of the city and provides wonderful panoramic views at the top. There is a cable car ($10) that can take you to the summit where you'll also find a small café, gift shop, botanical gardens, and a Rio-esque statue of Jesus overlooking the city.

The most difficult part of the hike is finding the trailhead. We had heard it was near the base of the tram, but once we started looking, we were swarmed by locals wanting to serve as tour guides (we were quoted $25 per person for a guide to take us to the top). Feel free to take a guide if you'd like, but if you're comfortable hiking in the woods, there is no need for a guide. The trail is not marked, but once you get going, it is rather easy to follow.

Make sure you make all regular preparations when going on a hike. Bring water, good shoes, keep your wits about you, and watch the weather.

START: From Ocean World in Cofresi, take any wawa bus into Puerto Plata. You can pick them up by walking about a mile up the road and past the Lifestyle Resort onto the main highway. There'll usually be one sitting on the far side of the road and cost 25 pesos per person.

While riding in, keep an eye out on your right for the mountain and cable car. A bit after you cross a bridge over a river, there will be a wide road going up and to the right. There will be a large billboard advertising the 'Telefrico' up to the top, as well as a pack of kids washing their motorbikes on the side of the road. Hop off the wawa and walk up this road.

After about a mile, you'll get up to the end of the road where you'll see the base of the Tram. Ignore all the guides and turn back onto the road you just came. Take your first right onto a paved road into a residential neighborhood. After 300 yrds, take your first right down onto a side residential street (unpaved). Take this road down the hill until you get to a yellow bridge over a creek. Turn right and 50 yrds up, veer right between the buildings onto the slightly narrower, yet still clear road. You should be walking along the creek with a school to the left of you.

Up ahead you will pass a baseball field to your left, and you will see the path you are on go into the woods. You are now on the maintenance road that goes up to the Tram tower. Walk all the way up to the base of the Tram tower, then turn around and take your first left onto a single-track path about a quarter mile down (there are several other paths splitting off the maintenance road, so using the overshoot-and-backtrack method ensures that you take the right one). About 500 yrds ahead on the singletrack, the trail will turn right and go over cobblestone looking rocks. 25 yrds ahead is the foundation of an old house. Turn back around to where the cobblestones began, and take a right (as if you had kept going straight originally). The correct trail isn't as clear here, but it will become more obvious within 50 yrds.

From here on out, you're pretty much golden all the way to the top. Stay on the obvious trail. You'll rise up quickly, begin a series of switchbacks, and come out onto a ridge with your first great views. Right where the switchbacks begin, it looks like there's another trail that goes off to the left. Take the switchbacks upward.

You'll pass under a low-hanging powerline and eventually leave the ridge and switchbacks and traverse upward on the western face of the mountain. The forest gets denser and muddier here. At one point the trail levels out and follows the contour for a good ways.

The forest will eventually get denser, and you'll find yourself scrambling up a mixture of creek-bed washout and trail. At this point the trail gets steep again. Work your way up the most beaten path and you will shortly pop out onto a paved road. Take note of where you popped out onto the road (right near where the yellow curb ends and the power lines cross from the downhill to the uphill side of the road) for your trip back.

Follow the road up about another mile, and you'll come out to the summit, great views, and a great spot to eat your lunch!

ENJOY!

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The Sun Also Rises

'What do you do all day?'

'We sail a boat.'

'Yeah, but what do you do all day?'


Sailing can be a rather involving, yet also oftentimes relaxing, proposition. It requires you to always be aware of your surroundings. 'Is the boat on course?' 'Is she trimmed as well as she could be?'

While offshore, sailing is much like traversing a steep icy driveway in loafers. You develop a slight hint of nausea as the boat bucks and yawls through the waves, and you nervously hang on to your mental focus, lest you lose your footing and plummet to a state of useless misery.

But when you're in the lee of land or crossing protected banks (as we are today), sailing is the kind of venture you could shamelessly bring your mother along for. Days like today are truly relaxing. Even more relaxing than being anchored in an uninteresting locale (as Provo proved to be).

With nothing to do you sit; and it's more relaxing to sit, knowing that you're on your way to new territory.


So, 'What do you do all day?'

'We sail a boat.'


This means many things: offshore you cling to your stomach, food, and sleep. At night you soak in the desolation. And on a beautiful day like today, I like to read.

Almost every marina has a 'book swap' shelf. Most of the time you have to shift through a sea of gripping romance novellas to find any real gems, but once in awhile you find something useful.

In New Bern I picked up a cookie-cutter Grisham (good to pass the time). In Ft. Lauderdale I picked up a book on developmental econ (still in the que). And in Nassau, I picked up 'The Sun Also Rises' by Ernest Hemingway.

I'm going to avoid starting a 'Cruiser's Book Review' series, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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"My Greatest Discovery Was Bimini" - Ernest Hemingway

Although Ernest Hemingway was talking about the small Bahamian island off the coast of Florida, here on the William T. Piquette, we're proud of our own bimini (the blue sunshade over the top of the cockpit). Much like the soft top on a convertible car, our bimini can go up our down at our heart's content. It usually stays down during night or in heavy winds/seas, but when the sun comes out, so does the bimini!

Although life outdoors in the near tropics is great, staying out of the sun is a daily chore. Long sleeves and sunscreen abound; while any opportunity to put some canvas between us and the sky is dearly relished. The bimini really changes the quality of cockpit life, and we would not want to cruise without it.

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The Cruiser's Running Guide: Georgetown

Location: Georgetown, Bahamas
Distance: 3.6 nm
Customizable?: Minimally
Overall Score: 6/10
Hilliness: 2/10
Variety: 8/10
Scenery: 4/10
Safety: 8/10
Stray Dog Potential: 6/10
Type: mixed - asphalt and broken rock
Time of Day: Sunset


NOTES: Somewhat of a hectic run (a busy road for one stretch), but you end up getting plopped out onto some back roads and you see a side of Great Exuma Island that few do. The route starts in the familiar vicinity of Lake Victoria, but soon thrusts you into rural, undeveloped land, before sending you back through a mild suburban neighborhood. This run also provided me the motivation to take my first shower of 2010. Enjoy!


START: From the Exuma Markets dinghy dock, take a right, keeping Lake Victoria to starboard.

.13 - R at intersection; continue on the Lake Victoria loop road

.24 - Eddie's Edgewater on L

.49 - L at intersection. Cars here travel fast so be careful.

1.12 - L at Ministry of Works and Utilities. Stay on road as it turns right. Rural road begins soon.

1.34 - L at T

1.48 - L at bottom of the hill (optional: this is a short out and back that gives you some additional miles, but isn't worth all that much otherwise)

1.62 - bear R

1.69 - road ends, turn around

1.90 - back where you were, turn L

2.07 - L (follow powerlines)

2.17 - abandoned bunker on L

2.24 - massive pile of old refrigerators on L, gravel pit on R, continue straight and to the left through the tunnel of trees

2.47 - L at T (back on asphalt)

2.54 - L at T

2.94 - R at T (back on busy road)

3.05 - Lots of coconuts on R at abandoned motel

3.24 - L at Y (back on Lake Victoria loop road)

3.60 - END at Exuma Markets


All distances are in nautical miles.

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A Quick Stopover In Staniel Cay

Since leaving Nassau, we've picked up a new type of cruising schedule. Instead of sailing long stretches and then visiting a location for a solid day, we've been waking up at sunrise, sailing about 15-20 miles, and then spending our afternoons on location. We haven't traveled through the night since our crossing to the Bahamas.

The stretch of islands we've been hoping down are called the Exumas. Most are small, uninhabited, and picturesque cays lining the edge of the Bahama bank. We've seen quite the sites:

Day 1: Allen Cay (Iguanas!)
Day 2: Normans Cay (sunken airplane!)
Day 3: Shroud Cay (mangroves!)
Day 4: Warderick Wells (Boo Boo Hill!)
Day 5: Staniel Cay (Thunderball Grotto!)

From here on forward, we're going to do some minor repair work in Georgetown (oil change, varnish touch-up, cleaning, gear inspection, etc), and then start thinking about the Turks and Caicos!

The Bahamas have been great, but due to the proximity, we still feel like we haven't left the US yet. There are almost as many mega-yachts as in Fort Lauderdale, all the sailors are American (or French Canadian), and all of the local Bahamians know who they're selling to (fresh bread, although delicious, was still $5 per loaf).

The islands, however, are immaculate. The water is almost crystal clear and the areas in Exuma Park are teeming with wildlife (less so elsewhere).

A great time, but personally, I'm still looking to get lost in foreign cities and truly leave the beaten path.

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