Bill, with the dinghy tied to him, dives on the reef, searching for more turtles.

After a little stroll around town and a pastry, we wandered toward the ferry dock. Sitting on a step in front of the Pizza place was a guy checking email on an IPhone. We asked him what was worth seeing around the island... After talking for a while we invited him to join us on a sail. We were headed to Culebrita for the day... He had never been on a sailboat... And joined us enthusiastically. From Washington DC, he was here for a weekend of R&R: camping out and snorkeling.

When we arrived at Tortuga bay, it was packed with at least 30 powerboats. So we headed off the wind for a circumnavigation of the island. I dug out the spinnaker, which hasn't seen any action in months and set it for a 1 hour downwind sail. Nate had been at the wheel almost the whole time. Lara asked how he was doing... And he sheepishly said he was being lulled to sleep! We encouraged him to stretch out on the cockpit bench... Which he did... 20 minutes later he awoke with a grin, saying how wonderful his nap was. We rounded the west end of the island, doused the Spi, and tied up to DNR mooring. Within minutes we were in the water to check it out. After lunch we did an extended snorkel with Isobel riding in the dinghy. The reef here is in remarkable shape... Probably thanks to the Navy restrictions, then the quick implementation of lots of moorings.

After tea, we delivered Nate back to the beach so he could be back a camp before dark. His plane home was at 7 am tomorrow... We really enjoyed having him aboard...

18 19.664'n 065 19.995'w