Luperon, Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico—the Dreaded Mona Passage

After enjoying and exploring the areas near Luperon for almost 3 weeks, it was time to start looking for the next weather window. Our weather guru, Chris Parker, suggested that it was immediately time to go straight to Boqueron Puerto Rico, as ‘now’ is a great opportunity and could be the best time for a few weeks or even a few months. The timing wasn’t perfect for us—we had hoped to visit some friends on vacation in Punta Cana as well as check out the city of Samana and a really cool looking national park, Los Haitises, before leaving the Dominican Republic. Knowing there are lots of other amazing ports ahead of us, and having a healthy respect for this passage, we decided to make the jump through the dreaded Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.

Since I started researching our trip and route, the Mona Passage has been the most daunting part of it all for me. This passage is located between the eastern end of the Dominican Republic and the western end of Puerto Rico. It is a water passage that goes very close to the Puerto Rican Trench—the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean at about 26,800 feet. Just off the eastern shores of the Dominican Republic, there are the hourglass shoals—very shallow water dropping very quickly. So, I kind of imagined the ocean here being like an underwater waterfall with crazy currents, water that appears to be boiling, and waves crashing upon themselves in all directions. Then, you add in the wind and heat from the island which creates its own weather—generally a series of thunderstorms off of both the Dominican Republic coast and the Puerto Rican coast that form each evening as the land cools off. These can build into raging storms or trickle out—but it’s hard to predict…There are lots of sailing stories of really rough rides through this area. But, there are also ways to avoid the chaos—mainly waiting for the right weather (light winds and small waves from the right direction), avoiding the areas where the depth changes dramatically, and always having a bailout plan. Thank you, Bruce Van Sant for sharing this wisdom with us in your book and at your talk. So, given the chance to cross at a great opportunity was not to be missed. We had an easy uneventful sail—which we didn’t mention until we were safely anchored 47 hours after departing Luperon. I should also mention that I did pray to Poseidon and the gods of the wind as we were sailing under the stars that night!