Yesterday the predicted track of Bertha was becoming uncomfortably close to Puerto Rico. But today's track has pushed the track further north and west. Yesterday afternoon I pulled out of the slip at the marina and sank my new anchor into the Salinas harbor mud to pre-stage myself in case a rapid move to the mangroves was in order. While this may not be necessary in terms of Bertha, I had plans on heading to the Jobos hurricane holes, about 5 miles away this week anyway. Just south of the Salinas harbor sits a series of "cayos" that have clear water and great swimming and snorkeling. So I plan on anchoring in the neighborhood to more easily clean the bottom of Christa, which by the way is a constant battle. I then plan to head into the mangroves and do a full hurricane prep dry run to ensure I have a handle on the scope of the job.

I really really have missed being anchored out. The anchorage is much more peaceful and cooler. The direction that the wind blows can make my slip uncomfortable during the day. But when the boat is anchored she snaps head to wind and nice breezes funnel through the hatches. The only downsides to being anchored out really is the lack of shore power and it can be a pain to use the dink to get back and forth to shore vice just stepping onto the dock. So I may stay in the anchorage from here on out instead of pulling back into the slip. For $100 a month you can still use all the ammenities of the marina, including the pool, showers, laundry and secure parking. So I have some time to think about it.

Now my sister and niece have been aboard visiting this week from Conneticut. It was a very relaxing week, with the exception of the day we took to the ferry to Culebra. Tracy and Alexa got the full Salinas experience. I'm encouraging Tracy and Alexa to write up a guest blog entry. Stay tuned.

Capt Chris