CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored in Ensenada Honda, off the town of Dewey, on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico

18 18.245' N, 065 17.867' W

Sorry, dear Reader, but as you can see from the title of this one, it is not a tale of our exciting explorations around the island of Culebra. Oh, the photo of the waterspout? More on that later.

Today we focused our attention on some much needed but never enjoyable chores. I sat in the salon surrounded by paperwork, making the initial foray into doing our 2007 taxes while Sheryl worked on deck, applying two new coats of Semco to the teak.



As morning became afternoon, Sheryl called from topside (in an all-too-calm voice), "Doug come up if you want to see a tornado." Needless to say, I rushed up the companionway. I found Sheryl looking out in the direction of the entrance to Ensenada Honda. My eyes followed her gaze, and there (stretching from the clouds to the water) was a well-formed waterspout.

We stood there, transfixed. My mind immediately began to consider any precautions to which we should be attending. Should we begin stripping canvas, secure items on deck, let out more anchor rode? Instead of acting, we simply stared. Over the course of a few minutes, we were able to determine the general direction of movement of the waterspout and (more importantly) to extrapolate that it was not going to enter the harbor. Whew!

After the excitement of several water spouts, forming at the edges of a HUGE squall which passed by without touching us, we each returned to our respective tasks for the day. There is not much else to report from here in Paradise, dear Reader. We simply hope that you all are staying warm and are looking forward to Spring (It's right around the corner).