03/21/2012
Wednesday, Mar 21
There isn't a good place to leave a dingy on the beach, so we decided that after shuttling our stuff to the beach in Wind Shepherds dingy, Ginny tied it back to our boat and then swam in to shore. We took the very obvious path, just past the sign and headed up a steep incline to the top of the hill, then followed the very gentle slope all the way to the chained gate that gave us access to the parking lot for the beach. As we jimmied our way thru the gate, we experienced our first indication that these lovely islands were all part of prior military use....the sign on the other side of the gate warns of unexploded ordinance...hmmm, oh...guess that is why the gate is chained, or maybe it is us to stop people from driving there, as it is easy enough for walkers to make there way thru. The beach here (supposedly one of the worlds top ten) is beautiful, with pounding surf and white powdery sand. After relaxing for a while, we wander to the left to see the two tanks left to decay on the beach and also find one of the prettiest campgrounds just back from the shore, in the shade of the trees, with a breeze off the sea. Lovely! While John took in some rays, Ginny, Jim and I explored the other side of the beach, and passes thru a lovely guest house setup on our way to view the Flamingo Lake. We found out that there really aren't any Flamingos here...but there used to be, hence the name of the lake and the beach, so we returned to the main beach, by We bought some lunch from the vendors set up at the beach, quite possibly the best beach food I have ever eaten, Chicken Parmiagiana Sandwich, Italian sausage and Calamari? From a beach vendor?! We eventually made our way back to thru the locked gate and back to the boats we left on the other side.
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03/20/2012
Tuesday, Mar 20
Today we up anchored and headed around the point for the national park on the western side of Culebra. After a Biig trip of perhaps 6 miles, we picked up two moorings off Tamarind beach. A pretty spot with what seems to be good snorkeling, a few people on the limited beach and just a few boats on moorings here.
We jumped in the water to check out the bottom and found a few squid lingering around. In general there seem to be few fish here, but the coral heads are nice and the live coral is quite extensive on the northern part of the beach...Unfortunately we enjoyed a leisurely float toward the end point which meant a stiff current heading back....we had to work for it heading back to the boat!
It appears that you can take a 20 or so minute hike from here over to Flamenco beach, on the north side of the island...so that will be our event for tomorrow!
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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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