In this episode, Kelly gets bucked off a horse while horseback riding and we install a sailboat mooring in Luperon, Dominican Republic. It was a tough decision, but we decided to make Luperon our home for the upcoming Hurricane Season. For us to feel safe, this means installing our own heavy duty mooring.
Watch this video to see:
- Horseback riding in the Dominican Republic
- Kelly gets bucked off a horse
- We build our own sailboat mooring
- Motorcycle ride to Playa Cambiaso, Dominican Republic
Background Information
Lunch in Cambiaso
Boys playing on a donkey at Playa Cambiaso, Dominican Republic
Once we arrived at the beach, we sat down at Mario’s restaurant. We quickly ordered a few large Presidente’s and picked our freshly caught fish to be cooked. The fish took at least an hour to prepare but we didn’t mind. You get lost in the sounds of the waves crashing, conversation, the music, and the chill vibe. It’s not hard to spend 1/2 a day in this spot. Once our fish came out, it was quite a surprise to see it still whole. It was tasty! This quickly became one of our favorite ways to eat fish in the DR.
Enjoying some beer at Playa Cambiaso
Sailboat Mooring
Since we decided to make Luperon our Hurricane home, we wanted to put Satori on a secure sailboat mooring with no worries. This meant we had to have our own sailboat mooring built and installed
Handy Andy and Domingo preparing to install mooring screw
Any of the local boat caretakers can arrange for a sailboat mooring to be built for you. Domingo, Handy Andy, or Papo. All of these guys own their own mooring that they rent for about $2 a night or $50 a month. Anyone can own a sailboat mooring in Luperon Harbor, and these guys are more than willing to help. I think the un-written arrangement is that whoever installs it gets to keep the mooring when the boat leaves or when the boat owner returns home and never returns. That seems to be a common narrative in Luperon.
Since we are keeping our options open, I have a contract with Domingo that says he can rent our mooring on our behalf. He gets to keep the money in exchange for maintenance and making sure it’s available whenever we return. If you plan to sail through Luperon, make sure you contact Domingo on channel 68 and ask for the Satori Ball.
Concrete Barrel
There are two kinds of moorings that they install in Luperon. The first is a 50-gallon barrel filled with concrete. These apparently work well in Luperon Harbor because there is a deep muddy bottom. The barrels eventually settle into the mud and hold tight. This seems to be the most common mooring installed in Luperon. The cost to install this type of mooring is between $150-$200.
Chain and Shackles for Mooring
Screw Anchor
15 foot Mooring screw
Our mooring is a screw anchor design. This type of design is best for the soft muddy bottom. Two guys dive down and hand screw the mooring into place. It’s hard to believe, but each screw digs 10-15 feet into the mud. The cost to install a single screw is $250. We decided to add a second screw for an additional $100. That is just for the mooring installed in the bottom, I had to come up with the remaining parts. I needed 40′ of chain, 2 swivels, 4 shackles, and a mooring ball. I borrowed the chain from my spare anchor rode. The rest of the hardware was available in town at the hardware store and Freddie’s, a boat chandlery in town. All said and done, we were into the mooring for about $450. Not a bad price for a full season’s mooring and the peace of mind.
Horseback Riding
Kareena and I had been talking for weeks about going on a horseback ride. Our friend Cliff suggested we go with Mario. (a different Mario from our Cambiaso trip!) He has a local farm with a few horses. Back in the 90’s, Luperon had a very successful hotel/resort. Mario worked for the resort taking tourists out for scenic horseback rides. Although the resort has been closed for quite some time, Mario still has his horses. They aren’t used to taking tourists out anymore and it was obvious when we arrived. We didn’t mind though, always an adventure!
Kelly riding the horse that would later buck her off
Mario took us through the mountains and went over some history and educational information on our tour. Our plan was to ride down to the beach, however, we had a bit of drama happen. I was bucked off my horse! “Mantequilla” (my horse) got spooked by a smell. He did a sidekick and that was all it took. My saddle was a little loose, to begin with. It slipped to the side and before I knew it, I was upside down. I knew I had to let go or else I would be in serious trouble. I dropped to the ground on my ribs and started to tuck and roll. All my years of dance training (fall and recover) certainly paid off at that moment.
Kelly and Kareena posing with one of the horses
Bucked Off A Horse
I’m used to falling so it wasn’t that scary. What was scary was the pain in my back. I felt it immediately. After my injury, any little thing adds to my pain. I was worried I did some major damage. After a few days, my ribs and back were feeling better. Although to this day, I can still feel a little something off back there. Regular visits to the chiropractor help, but not always easy to come by while traveling. Yoga and exercising certainly help as well. As for the rest of our ride, needless to say, I got right back on that horse!
Full Episode
Related Links
Previous Episode – https://sailingsatori.life/sailboat-solar-setup/
Suggested Post – https://sailingsatori.life/sailing-to-luperon/
Facebook Throwback
Here is what we were posting on Facebook during this video
Instagram Throwback
Here is what we were posting on Instagram during this video.
View this post on InstagramNothing to see here…just Nick riding a donkey on the beach! 😝 #donkeylife #sailingsatori
Song Credits
- Intro Song – Carribean Cuisine 4 – Magnus Ringblom
- 0:29 – Fiesta Carioca 1 – Joachim Nilsson
- 1:55 – Tijuana Sunrise 9 – Martin Gauffin
- 3:04 – Fiesta Carioca 1 – Joachim Nilsson
- 6:11 – Light And Happy – Christian Andersen
- 8:45 – Strolling In New Orleans 4 – Henrik Nagy
- 11:43 – Breaking The Glass – Johnny Berglund
- 14:34 – Double Heist 3 – Rannar Sillard
- 17:40 – Corny Farmers 10 – Magnus Ringblom
- Ending Song – Figure It Out – Daniel Gunnarsson
Download these songs for free at Epidemic Sound
Video Transcription
INTRO (SAILBOAT MOORING & BUCKED OFF A HORSE)
Kelly, Where are you?
LUNCH AT PLAYA CAMBIASO
Gracias, Senor. That’s awesome. Don’t feel like you’re in Mexico? Yes. I like this place. [Music] yeah hey that’s why I’m like no to be left alone with a horse, I mean mule. Bring him back over this way big guy. There you go. He listens. He wants some beer. How about this. Going to start that bike up and wake them up real quick. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
LOOKING FOR A SPOT FOR THE SAILBOAT MOORING
Lupe-around, loop-around in Luperon. We’re building a mooring for hurricane season. We are looking for a spot to put it. It’s kind of, not overly crowded, but it’s kind of a crowded. What does Arthur think? I don’t think he really cares. [Music] this is pretty much where we would live. Not too much farther than where we are now. It’s right next to where we are, the only downside to this. I see is that we got to stare at this derelict boat right here. I’m just worried about the bugs, as in mosquitoes and noseeums. Do you think it’d be much different over there? It’s closer to the mangroves. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
SAILBOAT MOORING FIRST LOOK
How deep I think it IS? Like 20 feet? Right now it’s low, it’s low. Okay, do I need more chain then? Maybe I need more chain. No, Nah, the screws are solid. We’re marking a spot for our morning. Domingo is going to dive on it and make sure everything’s good. We marked the spot we want we’re going to test to make sure that the way all the boats swing, that there’s enough room there.
And right now he’s bringing me over to take a look at the mooring screws that they’ve welded up for me over the last couple days. So we got it. We got like one-inch rebar steel. They painted it. There’s two right? Yeah. Where’s the other one, still being worked on? Is it shorter? Yeah. Do you turn it? Yeah. Just one man turns this into the mud. Two guys. Who helps you? The guy is professional about that. Good. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
SHOPPING FOR SAILBOAT MOORING PARTS
Today is a shopping day. I need to go into town and pick up some parts to make this sailboat mooring. I have to supply the chain and the shackles and everything else. But they’re putting in the screw anchor; I guess you call it. So we got Arthur in his little rain jacket. He’s not happy, he doesn’t like to wear clothes, but I think he’ll appreciate it when we get out there. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
SAILBOAT MOORING CHAIN
Finding chain here is a little difficult because, I think there is chain here, but it’s not really of high quality. And so I’m just gonna take probably 40 feet off of that chain for the spare rode. And then I think once I get to Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands I’m gonna try and come up with some more 5/16 inch chain that I can actually use on the windlass. I think it’s better if I use this chain for this sailboat mooring that we’ll be on for you know, four or five months. And then I’ll find some other chain for as a backup. But I’ll still have a backup anchor rode with at least 20 feet of chain on it which is not ideal, but for a backup, I think it’s fine.
And with our Mantus and our ground tackle, the way it’s set up, it’s highly unlikely we would ever need or use that second anchor. I just have this little Dremel tool with, like a carbide cutting blade at the end. It’s good enough to cut, you know, a link a chain two sides. [Music] Kelly started drying her hair, trip the Breaker. Tell the ladies when you’re using power tools, lay off the hair dryer. Can I dry my hair now? Yeah, I’m done. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
SAILBOAT MOORING OVERVIEW
So the main hook up, this will be one screw right here. That goes way down 15 feet into the mud. Got 10 feet of chain, it will attach to a secondary screw. This ones gonna be a little smaller, just how they made it. It’s about 10 12 feet down in the mud. That’s a backup. From that screw, we have a shackle and then a swivel. About 35 to 40 feet of chain that’ll go up to another shackle, to another swivel, and then this big-ass shackle. That is totally overkill, but I had it on the boat since I got it. I never knew what to do with it, but this will make a nice clean attachment to tie our mooring lines too. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)-(sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
SAILBOAT MOORING INSTALL
Is it the same material? It looks different. More better material. It’s a thicker material. Yeah, cool. Domingo! What do you think Arthur? [Music] yeah. Okay, yeah. So I’m going to tie on to right there. A sailboat mooring ball. Yeah, okay, good. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
PICKING HORSES (BUCKED OFF A HORSE)
Yeah, horseback riding. In the Dominican Republic. Oh wow, he’s gonna be pretty dirty. For sure. What are you doing? That’s a baby. Those are razor teeth. Yeah, that’s a puppy. Look at that tummy, yeah. Pull back twice. Easy. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
HORSEBACK RIDING (BUCKED OFF A HORSE)
Those bushes are all. Are you scared? I gotta maintain just a little bit, but then if I want him to stop, I just. It’s like I increase it by like less strength and it would take to like move a pencil across a piece of paper, you know. Yeah. There’s my girl. Hi baby. Just kind of roaming around these countrysides. These hills, and it looks like kind of like cattle roaming fields. The scenery is just absolutely amazing. Just all just natural, tropical. You okay back there? So Kelly is on the stallion, and of course, I get the mule. Right. And there’s Karina on the Karina horse who’s got Attitude. All right please don’t bite me, please don’t bite me. Mario just busted this tree apart for us. Go! ya, ya. oh!
BUCKED OFF A HORSE
Kelly, where are you? Did he throw you off? Where’s the saddle? You okay baby? So Kelly’s horse just came up the hill without Kelly and she her saddle came off, but she’s okay. What’s up the cliff? How are the horses, are they behaving? Well, we thought so, until Kelly got bucked off her horse. Like, yeah these aren’t really rental horses. Yeah, he said he smelled something bad when he was on the mule. He said the mule kind of reacted to a smell. I think it’s a plant or something over there. Oh, it looks like the saddle actually broke. The strap broke. Easy boy. Look it’s like Arthur. Oh, that’s nice.
That’s what yeah that’s what he had to do. It is. Aren’t they sweet? Yeah, he’s walking up the hill, something spooked him. I don’t know what it was, but he got freaked out, and he went like this. And he did a kick. And the next thing I know, I’m like this off to the side. Did you land on your feet? No, I landed it on my rib. Oh, and I did a roll because I didn’t want him to step on me. Luckily it was soft grass there. Yeah. That’s your worst fear you land on your ribs, and you’re glad you didn’t land in horse crap. Yeah. Are you gonna get back on him? Yeah. Get back on that horse. After a glass of wine. I think I hurt my back. Oh no really? Yeah. Oh sorry. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse)
BRINGING THE HORSES HOME (BUCKED OFF A HORSE)
Oh, it does smell good. It’s like a cross between mint and basil. Are you doing baby? [Music] [Music] I told you, man. [Music] he’s trying to feed. yeah, I was trying. (sailboat mooring & bucked off a horse).
ENDING
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