As dawn broke we spotted the rugged coastline of Dominican Republic ahead of us. Judging distance at sea is deceptive - it's always further than I estimate. Four hours from seeing land to arriving at the entrance to Luperon. From the pilot book we knew this was a shallow entrance with reefs on either side. I was on the bow but the water was solid green and I couldn't see the bottom although it was only just over 2m deep. With almost no buoyage system to follow it was touch and go. Rather more touch than go as we had our very first 'going aground'. Always told it was 'when, not if' we had our big iron keel sitting in the soft mud. David had chosen an historic site for our inaugural incident - the same place Christopher Columbus had grounded his boat too. We were luckier as there are now big fishing boats that can throw a line and haul us off.
They threw a line that I attached the big centre cleat at the bow, their revs increased and suddenly we just popped off. Hurrah! We continued very gingerly to anchor close to Iato and Blue.
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