We spent the morning after our arrival in Mayaguez making some repairs to Magic and checking out as much as we could to ensure that everything was still in one piece following our Mona crossing. After lunch we hauled anchor and motor-sailed the 16nm to Boqueron. A couple of hours later we were anchored in the bay.
Boqueron is a small town on the west coast of Puerto Rico. It is known as a 'party town' and at the weekends the bars and restaurants are full to bursting, mainly with students from the local universities, and competing to see who can play the loudest music. But on a Tuesday evening the town was dead. Only one restaurant was open and we dinghied in for dinner.
The anchorage off of Boqueron is very sheltered and has excellent holding. We wanted to explore a little of Puerto Rico and decided that this would be a safe place to leave Magic during the day while we took trips around the island. We hired a car with Shannon and Kathy for three days and set to planning what we wanted to see. We all needed to top up on provisions and Puerto Rico was the ideal place to do it. It's just like being back on mainland USA. There's Sears, Sam's Club, Kmart, Autozone, MacDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the list goes on. We decided to get the Sam's Club run out of the way first. This took most of Wednesday afternoon but fortunately when we got back to Boqueron a few more restaurants had opened up and we grabbed a pizza before heading back to the boats to stow all our newly acquired provisions.
On Thursday we decided that we wanted to take a trip to San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. On the way we stopped at the town of Ponce. Kevin, back at the boatyard in Annapolis, had kindly researched the location of a Quantum Sails agent in Ponce and we needed to get our staysail to him to be fixed. Fraito, the sail maker, said that he would make the repair while we waited, so within the hour we were back on the road with our repaired sail and heading for San Juan.
Like Santo Domingo in the DR, San Juan is a major city but with an historic district, Old San Juan, that we had been advised not to miss. We arrived in Old San Juan in time for lunch and chose 'The Green Parrot' as our dining venue. After a wonderful lunch, and a mojito or two, we took a stroll around the narrow streets of the old city enjoying the views over the harbour and the offerings of the local shops. San Juan was originally a walled city, and much of the early defensive system still remains. The largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World is the Castillo San Cristobal. Thought to have been started in 1539 the Spaniards spent the next 250 years adding to the fortification of San Juan. It was a prized location since through it Spain could control access and commerce in and out of the New World.
We arrived at the Castillo at a very opportune time. The 40th anniversary of the fort being made a National Historic Site was being celebrated. As part of the celebration the entrance fee to the fort had been waived, special talks were being given on the construction of the site and, to Dave's great delight, 'birthday cake' was being offered to everyone. We spent a couple of hours touring the Castillo and then slowly made our way back o the car. We had a 2� hour trip back to Boqueron, San Juan was further than we had expected, and we didn't want to be too late back.
We hadn't given any thought to the traffic heading out of the city however and were soon crawling along in a jam the M25 motorway around London would have been proud of. Then we spotted a very large mall and decided that we may just as well kill some time here as sitting in the car. As soon as we got inside Dave & Shannon headed for the Sears' tool department. Kathy, Caroline, Violet and I headed for Border's Books. After more than 3 months of limited retail therapy opportunities it's amazing how quickly consumerism again takes hold. We were like kids in a candy store. An hour or so later we were back in the car and got back to the boat around 10.30pm.
At 6am on 16th February, a day later, we left our anchorage at Boqueron. We were heading for La Parguera on the Puerto Rican south coast. Just after 8am we rounded Cabo Rojo, the cape on the south-western tip of the island. We were now officially in the Caribbean. We had begun to see for ourselves the challenges that we were now going to face going east along this south coast. The trade winds start to blow every morning at around 8am. They blow from the east, just south of east, or just north of east at between 20 & 30kts. The seas build at the same time until you see short swells of 6ft or more again from the east. We had left at 6am believing that this would give us time to be anchored off La Parguera before conditions really built up. We were wrong. The last half of our trip was another tacking battle, motor-sailing against wind and sea. For our trips along this coast we would have to leave much earlier.
La Parguera was another pleasant small town and we spent a couple of days there before moving on to Cayos de Cana Gorda a.k.a. 'Gilligan's Island'. This area is a national park and we had been told that the snorkelling here was not to be missed. Well, apart from finding the biggest hermit crab we had ever seen, Dave and I were not all that impressed with the snorkelling and the following day moved on again to Ponce.
We left Gilligan's Island at 3am and motored the 20 miles to Ponce Yacht Club. At least this time we had got our timing right and were safely at anchor before the trades kicked up. We topped up on fuel and water at the yacht club, and at 5.30am the following day moved on again. Someday Came spent an extra day in Ponce, but Doug and Sheryl on Prudence accompanied us to Isla Caja de Muertos, Coffin Island.
Some say that Coffin Island is named after its wedge-like coffin shape. Others say its name comes from the legend of pirate Jose Almeida who buried his wife there after she was killed a short time following their wedding. Whatever the correct reason, Coffin Island is now a national park and a beautiful spot to visit. Together with Doug and Sheryl we walked the trail up to the lighthouse, which is still operating and strolled along the beach by the anchorage. We spent the afternoon relaxing, preparing for another early start the following morning. Another 3am start, this time to run the 20 miles to Salinas.
Salinas is the Puerto Rican equivalent of Luperon; a good hurricane hole. The harbour is very sheltered and has good depth and holding. We were also impressed with the town of Salinas itself, especially 'The Cruisers Galley', a caf� serving a great breakfast and with a good internet connection, finally! Someday Came caught up with us in Salinas and after a couple of days relaxing here we all decided that it was again time to move on.
We left Salinas at 4.40pm on February 24th. Magic was heading for Vieques in the Spanish Virgin Islands and Someday Came was intending to stop off at Cayo Santiago, Monkey Island. In 1939 rhesus monkeys were brought to the island from India. The intention was to create a colony to be used for scientific experiments. Today the University of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Primate Research Center monitor the activities of the 700 monkeys on the island. Visitors are not allowed ashore, but the animals can be viewed from the water. Visiting boats apparently provoke the curiosity of the monkeys who often gather to watch, and you have to wonder who exactly is observing who!
For Magic this passage was another trial against the prevailing conditions. We tacked, motor-sailing, along the south coast and rounded the cape at Punta Tuna just after 4am. Finally we could turn the engine off and sail. By 7.30am we had picked up a mooring in Ensenada Sun Bay on Vieques' south coast. We'd made it to the Virgin Islands!