After the windy raucous night at Key Cay we moved to the Leeward side of Peter Island and tucked into Little Harbor. The bay is deep with a ring of shallow area near shore, so boats go stern to shore and use an anchor at the bow and a stern line to shore. Incoming boats provide free entertainment as it is a bit awkward to get your line to shore. In our case we dropped our anchor and Hunter swam to shore with the line and tied it to a sea grape.
For some reason the little "bait fish", silversides are attracted to the area under our hull. The tiny fish attract medium sized blue runners and a giant barracuda about 4-5 feet long. The little fish also attract brown pelicans, especially in the afternoons when the low light makes the silver sides easy to spot. The pelicans fly over head and dive just beneath the boat, making a large splash onto the boat and a noise that sound like we just ran into something.
|
Comments [1]
best
Michael & Diane
02/27/2011, Key Cay, Peter Island
The Turk's Head cactus are blooming and fruiting and the birds have not been keeping up with the harvest. We collected dozens of the fuchsia color, chili shaped fruits. Ate em all...
|
02/26/2011, Key Cay, Peter Island
We are anchored on the east side of Peter Island behind a reef and it is windy. The beach is coral rubble and I have found 6 Flamingo Tongue shells. In this photo you can see Arctic Tern and a catamaran. Our dingy is on the beach and we have paddled from our boat to explore around the island.
|
02/21/2011, USVI
Our water pressure tank is leaking so we are off to buy a new one. In this photo Hunter is preparing the tank for repair. It appears that it is not possible to repiar a high pressure tank from the outside.
|
02/12/2011, Virgin Islands
Brandon really wanted to see an octopus...
I guess he will have to come back
|
02/10/2011, British Virgin Islands
Our niece, Hunter and her beau, Brandon are visiting for a week. We have been taking a leisurely sail in the US and British Virgin Islands. We have been doing a lot of snorkeling and hiking, playing cards and eating chocolate.
In this photo Hunter B (Hunter Brooke Jackson) is at the helm as uncle Hunter looks over her shoulder.
|
Best Regards,
Mick Sabol
01/28/2011, Benures Bay, Nroman Island, BVI
Well, this is as good as it gets. We are in a lovely anchorage with very good swimming and good hiking (if you like dry thorny shrub). We spent a few days here and I am sure we will remember removing cactus spines from each other's rear ends. Now that is a story not for the blog!
|
01/26/2011, Coral Bay, St. John
Tito and Roberta told us about a "Blues Cruise" in Coral Bay, St John. Apparently the targeted audience travels on a small cruise ship and is dedicated to listening (and maybe playing) the blues. Part of their visit to the island was to bus to Coral Bay and listen to three different bands at three different bars. We stopped at two bars and enjoyed the bands with cruiser friends (Roberta & Tito from The Alleluia, Kathy and Tom from Yellow Rose and Terry and Jan from Kiva).
|
01/25/2011, British Virgn Islands
We had a great sail from Cane Bay, Tortola to Benures Bay Norman Cay. We most often sail to a destination on a straight line, but today we tacked about as many times as the 17 miles of the trip.
|
01/21/2011, Coral Bay, St. John, USVI
We are anchored in Coral Bay and got here just after noon. We lowered the dingy and went ashore to look about, deposit trash and scout the Donkey Diner for breakfast tomorrow morning. We passed a pink house and we both inhaled deeply and simultaneously proclaimed "ROTI". I walked to the window and asked the very friendly lady if she is cooking roti and she replied, "Yes, and you have a good nose. Have you had roti before?"
We had a busy sail this morning and had a very light lunch so we split a chicken roti- and it was heavenly. You know chicken roti tastes better with the bones. Ester is from Trinidad and makes here own roti skins and I have to say hers are the rest roti I have had since Grace's roti in Trinidad
|
01/15/2011, Isla Culebrita, Puerto Rico
After leaving the marina we motored to Palomino Island for the night. We got an early start and by lunch time we were on a mooring ball at Isla Culebrita. Two sea turtles were swimming around as we picked up the mooring ball. Isla Culebrita is about one mile in length and has a gorgeous beach and we took a short walk to the light house.
|
01/13/2011, Fajardo, Puerto Rico
We have spent the day doing chores. We have put on several coats of varnish in the cockpit and handrails (over the last several days), done the laundry (at my all time favorite Laundromat), washed and waxed the boat, unpickled the water maker, filled the water and fuel tanks and many other chores that we had on our list to do while on the dock. Our neighbors have been asking us why we are leaving and when we will be returning; they think that we have made this our home and we will be back next week. Our starboard side neighbors are sport fisherman and I have been tossing them their dock lines when they return and in return they share extra fish when the clients declined the fish.
I will miss Puerto Rico, our neighbors, the hikes in El Yunque, the green heron that sits on our dock line at night and gives his soft call and so much more (did I mention that I will miss the street food?), but it is time to turn ourselves to the Virgin Islands. See you there
|
01/10/2011, Fajardo, PR
We all know that there are chemicals in our foods and the products that we purchase but the findings of this book are a bit alarming. This book will make you think twice before purchasing anti-bacterial soap (triclosan), strong smelling shampoo (phthalates), or a Teflon coated frying pan (PFC). The list goes on but the significant thing how these chemicals might be affecting our bodies and health.
A review from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010801303.html
Photo of book cover by Amazon
|
01/07/2011, Near Aricebo, PR
Our first excursion was to the Guajataca State Forest. The forest is in karst geological region. Karst is formed by rock being dissolved by surface or groundwater. The result is lots of caves, sinkhole, limestone cliffs and mogotes. Think of an egg carton upside down and the hills are the magotes and the depressions are the sinkholes. We had a nice walk in the forest and went into a cave and explored the cave
|
01/07/2011, Western PR
Puerto Rico is roughly a rectangle in shape, 100 miles by 35 miles with a large mountain chain bisecting the middle lengthwise. We are staying in the NE corner and travel to the west side of the island takes a portion of a day, so we decided to spend a few days on the west side. We based ourselves out of a place called the Casa Grande Mountain retreat.
|
01/06/2011
Hunter really liked this bear advertising a bar.
|
12/31/2010, El Yonque National Forest
We were tickled to see a pair of Puerto Rican Todies today while hiking in El Yunque National Forest. They are so distinctive that I had no doubt that these were the bird I had on my "hope to see" list. You can see in the photo that they sport a bright red bill and bib, emerald green back and yellow on the sides of their belly. My Puerto Rican bird book says that todies have a voracious appetite; a captive specimen ate about 40% of its weight in insects daily. Studies have shown that todies eat 1.8 insects per minute from dawn to dusk. This bird is endemic to Puerto Rico.
You can hear a tody at:http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/caribbean/wildlife-facts/2002/wildlife-facts_sounds_2002/san_pedrito.wav
Photo courtesy of USFS
|
12/28/2010, Guvate, PR
High in the mountains among Caribbean pines and tree ferns the Ruta del Lechon awaits the hungry traveler. Roast pig or Lechón is a favorite food in Puerto Rico and the place to eat it and see the pig on the spit is the Ruta del in Lechón Guavate.
|
12/28/2010, Guvate, PR
We got to the strip for an early lunch and sniffed around. Pig was in the air and we were getting hungry. We made our decision on where to eat based on the attendance in the restaurant and the pig in the window. There was also roast chicken and turkey for the non-pig inclined. The next decision is what sides to chose. Of course there is arroz con grandules (rice and pigeon peas), pasteles (like a tamale), yucca and onions, tostones (mashed and pan fried green plantains), mofongo (mashed plantain) and other crispy fried things.
|
12/27/2010, Guvate, PR
The pig is marinated for a few days and skewered with a metal spit. The pig is roasted for four to six hours infusing the air with delicious aromas.
|
