Silver Banks

[lagoon100]

Hello, question about the Silver Banks.

- Is it legal to sail there?
- Is it legal to stop and Anker there?
- Is it legel to Snorkel?
- Is it legel to Dive?

Where to get Maps?

best regards
Marco

[GordMay]

As part of the Sanctuary for the Marine Mamals of the Dominican Republic, all activity on the Silver Bank must adhere to strict guidelines set forth by the office of the Sub-Secretariat of Protected Areas & Biodiversity of the Dominican Republic, and overseen by the on-site Coordinator of the Silver Bank. Among other things, these guidelines limit the number of vessels on the Silver Bank.
Apparently, no vessel may visit the Silver Bank without a permit.

[lagoon100]

thx for your info, weher does one have to apply for the permit, do you know, do you have a web site?

cheers
Marco

[osirissail]

When it comes to the Dominican Republic don't expect to see much in the way of presence there. The biggest presence in the Silver Banks is the large drug freighters off-loading into "cigarette" type boats for the final run to the USA coast. Charts are sparse and way out of date making roaming around rather dangerous and there is little to no place to hide should a storm come along.

[Caribsailors]

I crossed the Silver Banks on the way to the TCI's from the BVI's in March 2004.......Permit!?........Make sure you do it in the daytime as mentioned in the previous post. If I had had crew a dive would have been interesting....... Calving Season by the way..... Had to steer around cow\calf pairs of whales and watch the males in the deeper water having a breaching contest......amazing!

Saw no signs of any other vessels. Other then a beached freighter. on the North Eastern edge.

Cheers

[lagoon100]

Hi Caribsailor, so if i understand you right you crossed the Silverbanks whiteout a permit and took the chance, i guess i gona do the same thing.

Where you not afraid of the wales ,,,, that they would attack as they had a calf, how much distance is good to keep betwen the boat and the wales as fare as one can control it?

Does someone know the fuel prices for Domrep, TC, Bahamas, as here in the BVI's i find it rather expensive.

best regards and thx a lot for the Info
Marco

[osirissail]

I think you will find the lowest fuel prices in the USVI and Puerto Rico. Everywhere else the fuel costs are quite high mainly due to government taxes on fuel.

Diesel fuel prices in the D.R. will vary nearly 100% depending upon who you know, how much you want and where you purchase it.

[lagoon100]

hei, thx alot, to bad i can not stop in the US as they make it to compilcated for an EU boat to enter ... to much hasle.
How are the prices in the Bahamas ... i will need 300gal.

best regards
Marco

[osirissail]

Last July diesel was $3.25 in Nassau and $4.50 in the Abacos. I don't think you will find much change from that. Last time I went through T&C and purchased diesel it was the same as the Bahamas outlying island prices in the $4-5 range.