4 November 2009 – Site Tour for Potential Marina in Bay de L’Acul
Toured a potential marina site on the east side of Bay de L’Acul (N19 44.216’, W72 18.493’) with Maurice Laroche. Driving through impoverished areas in a Mercedes G-wagon puts a different perspective on Haiti. Here, the line between helping people and taking advantage of them can be quite blurry.
5 November 2009 – Blog Posting and Rest in Labadie, Haiti
Spent the morning posting to the Blog at Tim Mangs’ place. Spent the rest of the day taking it easy and getting ready for tomorrow’s trip to the Dominican Republic.
6 November 2009 – Back to the Dominican Republic
Tim and Dillon Mangs, along with myself, drove to Cabarete, Dominican Republic. We stopped at Unibank in Cap-Haitien for money. A simple debit card withdrawal took an hour. Functioning ATMs handle this easily in a minute. Tim and Dillon were looking forward to a vacation from Haiti and my main reason for going was to actually get a visa for Haiti. Until now, I was an illegal immigrant. In the Dominican Republic, we had a flat tire. The tire shop workers put on a beautiful display of the Dominican talent for organization. Fluid motions, with no wasted effort, made for a quick repair that would put almost any tire shop to shame. We checked in to a three-person suite for the night at Ali’s Surf Camp in Cabarete and ate their free supper.
7 November 2009 – Basking in Civilization, Sosua, Dominican Republic
Renewed my acquaintance with Elena, the manager of Ali’s Surf Camp. A 22-year-old Russian girl who has lived in Cabarete for four years and is one of the smartest, most competent people I have met. Some lucky guy will win the lottery when he marries her. Spent the afternoon at Bailey’s Restaurant in Sosua talking with Tim Schwartz and Peter. It was amazing to be surrounded by such relative modernity. ATMs and grocery stores were a welcome sight. For the evening, a smorgasboard of restaurants and a Jazz festival on the beach were a welcome diversion from the filth and squalor of Haiti.
8 November 2009 – Back to Luperon, Dominican Republic
We headed to Luperon, where we looked at a local boat building operation run by a French expat. Tim Mangs is looking to buy a boat for his shoreside excursion business. I ate lunch at Steve’s Place, the best value in gringo food around. Haitians have a terribly low per-capita caloric intake, so getting enough food to eat is hard in Haiti. Tim Schwartz jumped in with us and we drove to Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, and spent the night at Hotel Milano, where $11 per night gets you a decent Dominican room.
9 November 2009 – Back to Cap Haitien, Haiti
Crossed the border into Haiti. This time, I actually did it legally. Once again it was market day, with thousands of people clogging the road. Tim Schwartz and I jumped out in Cap Haitien, went to the airport, and reserved tickets for a morning flight to Port-au-Prince to speak with the USAID Deputy Chief of Mission. After buying a cellphone, we spoke to the USAID guy and found out he was not available. That was fine with me because Jim Boernge had just sent me an email note that Mark Atchley, one of the guys mentioned in this blog sailing with Ray O’Quinn last February and March, had just died in a plane crash leaving St. Croix. We hung out in Cap Haitien for a few hours, seeing what was around. One of the girls Tim was talking to in Creole turned out to be a Jehovah’s Witness. We spent the night at Terez Boisette’s house, but the mosquitoes were too desperate to allow much sleep.
10 November 2009 – Back to Labadie, Haiti
Walked around Cap Haitien for awhile. Tim left to return to Sosua, Dominican Republic. I checked email at an Internet café and then rode the Tap-Tap back to Labadie. Got out of the Tap-Tap early to walk a side road that goes directly to where my kayak was stored and eliminate taking a water taxi. The mountains here make almost any walk good exercise.
11 November 2009 – Creole Lessons
First day of Creole lessons. Creole seems to be French Eubonics and Haiti is about the only place it is used. Noralis is a decent teacher, but I will soon hit the limits of his Creole-to-English translation ability. What scares me is that one day in Cap Haitien a girl asked Noralis where he learned Creole because it was different than her Creole. What kind of Creole am I learning?
12 November 2009 – The Boss is Gone
Spent the morning working on the computer trying to get a handle on some of the different projects and schemes floating around. Then went to a local Bed and Breakfast in Labadie named Norm’s Place, where Internet is usually available. Norm is 85-years-old and is currently in the hospital in the U.S. With Norm gone, there is no Internet. It is frightening how quickly things revert to nature when the boss is gone. Then spent about three hours surveying the harbor, paddling around in the kayak taking depth and GPS readings to build a chart of the harbor.
Toured a potential marina site on the east side of Bay de L’Acul (N19 44.216’, W72 18.493’) with Maurice Laroche. Driving through impoverished areas in a Mercedes G-wagon puts a different perspective on Haiti. Here, the line between helping people and taking advantage of them can be quite blurry.
5 November 2009 – Blog Posting and Rest in Labadie, Haiti
Spent the morning posting to the Blog at Tim Mangs’ place. Spent the rest of the day taking it easy and getting ready for tomorrow’s trip to the Dominican Republic.
6 November 2009 – Back to the Dominican Republic
Tim and Dillon Mangs, along with myself, drove to Cabarete, Dominican Republic. We stopped at Unibank in Cap-Haitien for money. A simple debit card withdrawal took an hour. Functioning ATMs handle this easily in a minute. Tim and Dillon were looking forward to a vacation from Haiti and my main reason for going was to actually get a visa for Haiti. Until now, I was an illegal immigrant. In the Dominican Republic, we had a flat tire. The tire shop workers put on a beautiful display of the Dominican talent for organization. Fluid motions, with no wasted effort, made for a quick repair that would put almost any tire shop to shame. We checked in to a three-person suite for the night at Ali’s Surf Camp in Cabarete and ate their free supper.
7 November 2009 – Basking in Civilization, Sosua, Dominican Republic
Renewed my acquaintance with Elena, the manager of Ali’s Surf Camp. A 22-year-old Russian girl who has lived in Cabarete for four years and is one of the smartest, most competent people I have met. Some lucky guy will win the lottery when he marries her. Spent the afternoon at Bailey’s Restaurant in Sosua talking with Tim Schwartz and Peter. It was amazing to be surrounded by such relative modernity. ATMs and grocery stores were a welcome sight. For the evening, a smorgasboard of restaurants and a Jazz festival on the beach were a welcome diversion from the filth and squalor of Haiti.
8 November 2009 – Back to Luperon, Dominican Republic
We headed to Luperon, where we looked at a local boat building operation run by a French expat. Tim Mangs is looking to buy a boat for his shoreside excursion business. I ate lunch at Steve’s Place, the best value in gringo food around. Haitians have a terribly low per-capita caloric intake, so getting enough food to eat is hard in Haiti. Tim Schwartz jumped in with us and we drove to Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, and spent the night at Hotel Milano, where $11 per night gets you a decent Dominican room.
9 November 2009 – Back to Cap Haitien, Haiti
Crossed the border into Haiti. This time, I actually did it legally. Once again it was market day, with thousands of people clogging the road. Tim Schwartz and I jumped out in Cap Haitien, went to the airport, and reserved tickets for a morning flight to Port-au-Prince to speak with the USAID Deputy Chief of Mission. After buying a cellphone, we spoke to the USAID guy and found out he was not available. That was fine with me because Jim Boernge had just sent me an email note that Mark Atchley, one of the guys mentioned in this blog sailing with Ray O’Quinn last February and March, had just died in a plane crash leaving St. Croix. We hung out in Cap Haitien for a few hours, seeing what was around. One of the girls Tim was talking to in Creole turned out to be a Jehovah’s Witness. We spent the night at Terez Boisette’s house, but the mosquitoes were too desperate to allow much sleep.
10 November 2009 – Back to Labadie, Haiti
Walked around Cap Haitien for awhile. Tim left to return to Sosua, Dominican Republic. I checked email at an Internet café and then rode the Tap-Tap back to Labadie. Got out of the Tap-Tap early to walk a side road that goes directly to where my kayak was stored and eliminate taking a water taxi. The mountains here make almost any walk good exercise.
11 November 2009 – Creole Lessons
First day of Creole lessons. Creole seems to be French Eubonics and Haiti is about the only place it is used. Noralis is a decent teacher, but I will soon hit the limits of his Creole-to-English translation ability. What scares me is that one day in Cap Haitien a girl asked Noralis where he learned Creole because it was different than her Creole. What kind of Creole am I learning?
12 November 2009 – The Boss is Gone
Spent the morning working on the computer trying to get a handle on some of the different projects and schemes floating around. Then went to a local Bed and Breakfast in Labadie named Norm’s Place, where Internet is usually available. Norm is 85-years-old and is currently in the hospital in the U.S. With Norm gone, there is no Internet. It is frightening how quickly things revert to nature when the boss is gone. Then spent about three hours surveying the harbor, paddling around in the kayak taking depth and GPS readings to build a chart of the harbor.
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