Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
sandygay, I do not know of any bareboat chartering companies where you can rent a sail boat in the Dominican Republic. In the Bahamas, in Puerto Rico and in the US and British Virgins you can get bareboats for charter.
Perhaps you need to fly to one of those islands and sail there. The charts around the Dominican Republic are not the best. You need a lot of local knowledge to make your way around - talk to many sailors before you go out in a sailboat here. It is not deep water sailing and the conditions are sometimes not predictable. Also, the sailing around the Dominican Republic is not always a pleasure. There are other islands where the sailing is much better.
Skippy1, how will one get experienced if you don't go out and sail?
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My advice was not to sail bare boat charter especially if its the first time here. I think you alluded to this yourself. I wholely concur with you.
I have sailed the Caribbean many times my first trip when I was 15 and I am now well over 50. Owned a 56ft ketch for 11 years sailling out of Portsmouth UK , British Virgin Islands and Grand Cayman mostly. I had the best navigation equipment I could afford and still I would not want to sail off the Dominican coast without someone on board who knew the waters.
Deep water sailing is comparatively easy but avoiding the reefs and submerged rocks here is another. You are right the Charts for this area are not as good as for the majority of the Caribbean islands.
As for the Captain of the QE 2 which one? I have had the priviledge to know 3 of them in my time maybe we have a link that could be interesting.
Skippy