2018 Life Logs, Day 58—Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico Bound
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 52, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I finally did it. I booked a flight to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for next Wednesday, March 7. I didn’t book a return flight as I’ll have to figure that out once I get to Puerto Rico. If, for weather reasons, Windbird’s arrival in Puerto Rico is delayed, I don’t want to be pressured by a set return flight. But back to arrival. Sam and Dawn of Windbird will meet me at the Santo Domingo airport and deliver me to Windbird in Samana. We will then pick the best time to sail the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico. This can be the most prickly part of the prickly path from the Bahamas to Puerto Rico, but I have wanted to do this since I researched it a few years ago. The Caribbean weather guru, Chris Parker, is saying that early to mid-March looks good for this passage, thus the quick decision to fly down next Wednesday. In the meantime, Sam and Dawn will do the overnight passage from where they are in Luperon to Samana. That gets 24 hours of possible nasty conditions out of the way. Then we will leave Samana to sail the 168 miles to Boqueron on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico, or fewer miles if we land in Mayaguez. Some say the Mona passage is the most dangerous passage in the Caribbean due to its shoals, currents, and building storms, but I’m betting on Sam’s choice in timing to assure that we have a safe traveling conditions. If it is rough, however, it will be good that there are three of us. I haven’t thought ahead as to what will happen once we reach Puerto Rico as it all depends on when we get there. But at some point, I will get off the boat and head to Justin and Jo’s for a few days before returning home. I am so excited about all aspects of this trip. But now I have to focus on getting ready to go. And you know how that is. Anytime you are leaving home for any period of time, you always feel like there are things that just must be done before you go. I’ll work on those things, but realistically my list is too long and I’ll probably leave without having completed half the tasks. Regardless, when I leave, I’ll leave the worry of those tasks behind and look forward to a wonderful visit on Windbird and with the Puerto Rico Handley-Hunts post Hurricane Maria. I was there in February last year, so it will be interesting to experience the contrast. But most of all, it will be wonderful to spend a few days just hanging out with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco.
I went to Tai Chi this morning and a 5 pm class at the gym this afternoon. So, I got my exercise in for the day. I also spent a couple of hours this afternoon skimming Dr. Mark Hyman’s new book, Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? It came out today and since I pre-ordered on Amazon, I received my copy with the morning mail. I certainly haven’t read it from cover to cover, but in my quick skim, I found it to be the clearest guide out there to help us make decisions about what to eat. I love the title and I highly recommend buying this book if you are looking for the latest information on how to make decisions about what to eat to stay healthy. Many things that have been recommended over the past 50 years have been found to be dead wrong and this book corrects that information in a clear and research-based manner. Quoting from Dr. Mark Hyman, “What you put on your fork is the most important thing you do every day.” Since you get the chance to make a positive difference in your life three times a day, he recommends making the healthiest choices possible. But because the people we trust to give us nutrition guidance keep changing their views, food decisions can be very confusing. Again quoting Dr. Hyman, “All of this is enough to make you give up and just eat whatever you want, whenever you want, and in whatever quantities you want.” But that is not the answer and that’s why he wrote his new book.
My other big activity of the day was talking to good friend Linda Stuart. Much of our conversation centered around what to eat. She and Mike are bingeing on good food now that they are in California. Linda explained what a challenge it has been for them while in South America to get healthy food. They have both had gut issues, but after just a few days in California, they are feeling great. They are visiting with their son Garrett right now, but between now and October, they will bike around California, seek out house sitting gigs as a way of getting free housing for some of that time, bike to Canada and back, and in between all of that, attend Garrett and Katie’s wedding in July and then a cousin’s wedding in New York in late August. They will fly, not bike, to New York and will visit with family there before they head back to California and then fly to New Zealand to continue their ‘round the world biking adventure.
