This is a picture of Cabo Cabron along the north coast of the Dominican Republic. This is what all the anxiety was about while traveling along the north coast. You can see that the weather was a near perfect calm. I am very happy that we decided to wait for the correct weather window to move along the coast. If a mechanical issue developed along the coast you could be in serious trouble as all the weather elements are pushing you squarely onto a inhospitable coast. The beauty of the coast however is striking.

Earlier on in my travels I was moving pretty fast, but now I am getting used to the idea of slowing down. I can hardly believe I have been in Puerto Rico for more than a week now. What have I been doing? Good question. I really haven't been doing much touring around as of yet. I have been working on the starter issue as some readers may recall. I have pretty much isolated the problem down to the cranking battery not truly being separated from the house bank. This pulled the volts down low enough to where cranking the engine became a problem. So I installed an On Off battery switch next to the cranking battery. I believe the problem is solved. I also have been splicing up new three stand line to make a towing bridle for the dink. And I have been spending a lot of time reading my cruising guides for PR and the Virgins Islands so I can get a handle on how fast or slow I should be moving. One last boat related item to pass on. I bought 123 feet of new chain and had it delivered to Boqeron. Jenny and Ottis from SV Indepence were so wonderful to loan me a 45 LBS CQR. So I am just about back up to speed in terms of my ground tackle.

Over the past week or so, myself and some of the other boats I have been with are just getting a handle on the local weather in PR. Some boats have moved around the corner (Cabo Rojo) and are moving east along the south coast of PR. However, over the past two days the trade winds have really breezed up which has prevented the winds from laying down at night along the coast. However, here in Boqeron the wind blessidly dies in the late afternoon and is calm all night into the morning. About 9am, right on schedule the winds pick up in the anchorage to 15 to 20 knots. My friends Dan and Kim on Snark two days ago went south to the anchorage right under Cabo Rojo to pre-position for a move east. They had 20 knots all night and the wind never did die. They came back to Boqeron. So the trades are forecast to blow themselves out by Sat or Sunday at which time I plan on making the 60 mile move east to Salinas. Salinas is considered a hurricane hole, with a marina and small town. It also is well known to cater to the cruiser types, with all the marine supplies one could ask for. I really am looking forward to Salinas as it is where I will leave the boat for a few days tour to San Juan. Speaking of San Juan.

My friend Kim from the Coast Guard is stationed in San Juan and is making the three hour trek today from San Juan to the good ship Christa. Kim is in charge of the adventure schedule. We will probably spend the night aboard Christa and then head out bright and early on Friday, heading inland to do some hiking in the rain forests of PR. We mostly likely will bivouak in some eco hotel or something like that. Or maybe even a five star hotel!