03/19/2012
After a quiet and peaceful nights sleep we headed in to explore the town of Dewey and have lunch. This is a quaint town with lots of hikers and visitors on the streets. Slightly hilly, enough to make it a nice walk, but not too much, with shops, guest houses, restaurants and local homes all jumbled together. We wandered down to the ferry dock and after finding a few treasures headed to a restaurant called Mamacita's for lunch. This was recommended by some people we met on the street who have rented a house here on Culebra for 3 months every winter for ten or so years, it turned out to be a lovely recommendation.
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03/18/2012
By 9:45am we had cleared the end of the runway and were headed to Culebra! Our first trip to the Spanish Virgin Islands and we are very excited. We were able to motor sail most of the way, and by 1:45 were nested into Ensenada Honda in Culebra just off the main town of Dewey (after the famous Admiral, of course). After calling the number for customs, and discovering we needed to head to the airport to secure a Decal necessary for these waters, we dropped the dingy, collected Wind Shepherd and were off to shore. None of us have been here before so our conversations are peppered with...do YOU know where the airport is?...Nope...do YOU know where the Dingy dock is?...Nope...well somehow we figured it all out. At the top of the hill we asked a lady sitting on her porch where the airport was, She didn't understand my (nearly non-existent) Spanish ...Auropuerto?, but fortunately she spoke English and directed us straight down the road perhaps a mile or so where we saw the airport.
The US Homeland and Border security officer could not have been nicer or more friendly to us, and we had quite a fun time in the office while he completed the paperwork and gave us our receipts. After heading thru the downtown area and discovering nothing was open due to three factors, the time of day (after lunch, but before dinner), the fact that it is Sunday, and an election day to boot, so by 4:30 we were back on the boat and relaxing. Tomorrow, more exploration, and perhaps a new location!
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03/17/2012
After a slow start to the morning, we head out thru the skinny cut near the waterfront and slip behind the airport to Brewers Bay. This is a beautiful bay with a white sand beach and the University of the Virgin Islands just behind...what a place to study! We enjoyed watching the jets take off and land all afternoon, and grateful that most flights stop by 9pm... pictures are sure to follow. We had a swim and said hello to the ray waiting for us under the boat, then headed over to Wind Shepherd for a traditional Irish dinner of Corned beef and cabbage, and corn bread...DELICIOUS!
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03/16/2012
After that marathon travel, I needed a few days of rest but come Friday, March 16th - we loosed the mooring line and said farewell to Trellis Bay. Three hours later we pulled into Sopers Hole, West End in order to check out of the BVI's for this year. We discovered that Frank & Dense were there - so after clearing customs, we stopped by to say a quick goodbye to them, then it was off the mooring again, and headed to St. Thomas where we pulled into Charlotte Amalie at 2:30. Our friends Ginny and John, on Wind Shepherd, are waiting for us and they stop by shortly after we get our anchor set to say hello. Then the rush begins as we have much to do this afternoon in order to be ready to leave the waterfront tomorrow. First - head to customs and check into the BVI's, then fill our jerry jugs with water and fuel, and return them to the boat, then meet Ginny and head to Pueblo for our provisions, and then back to the boat to put everything away, and finally...head out to the Shipwreck for a great burger to celebrate us all joining up.!
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03/01/2012
Feb - Mar
After saying farewell to our friends...we relax for a few days in the Bight, then head to BVI YC for the remainder of our electronics work, and decide to book a quick trip home to spend Jim's moms Birthday with her. When done, we move the boat over to Trellis Bay and take a mooring for a month, then make arrangements with Danny, the collector to take us to shore on Thursday Mar 1st, 8:00am where we proceed to take a ding, to a taxi to a ferry to a taxi to a plane to a plane before arriving in Chicago at 11:25pm.
After a lovely visit home with family and friends...we headed back to the boat via a return excursion (limo - plane - plane - taxi - ferry - taxi - dingy!) and finally we were back to the boat just before sunset...
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