It was an early morning anchor detail. I was up at 3 am having my morning coffee. I had the anchor weighted and stowed by 4am. With Snark just astern I motored south and around Cabo Rojo and made the turn to the east. At 5am the swell was down and so was the wind. Both Snark and I were pretty jazzed about the conditions and the forecast. I had decided to make a run for Salinas which is about 60 nautical miles to the east. But wouldn't you know it, right on schedule the trade winds piped up at 930, although the forecast called for NE winds at 10 knots. The conditions were SE 15 knots. So Salinas was clearly out of the question. So I made tracks for Ponce which was a long difficult 12 miles measured from the point the wind picked up. Snark decided to hunker down behind Gilligans Island as they were several miles behind me when they encountered wind. I had the hook down by 1pm. Ponce is Puerto Rico's second largest city and is an industrial center. I am anchored in a bight which holds the Ponce Yacht Club and some moorings. It is pretty protected from the prevailing conditions although you feel the full brunt of the trades. I am tired with my early morning today and if the winds calms down like it normally does I'll haul anchor tomorrow morning around 3 am to make the 22 mile jump to Salinas.

I really hope I can make Salinas tomorrow. The whole gang is anchored in Salinas. Word is that Salinas has a Luperon feel to it. Meaning it is a congregation point for many cruisers and is a cruiser friendly place with two or three marinas. I have an appointment with Hector the Yanmar on Weds to do the 1200 service on the engine. I also plan on doing so more inland travel up to San Juan on Thursday and maybe stay through the weekend. One last note. Some of you may recall I had my coveted Maui Jim sunglasses crushed in a hatch back in Fort Pierce. I had them repaired in December and promptly missed them in every port I went to. I spent about $400 in shipping charges to get them back. So it was with great pleasure that Kim delivered my mail the other day. I'm back in the saddle with the Maui Jim's.



Capt Chris