08/25/2008, San Juan Puerto Rico
A shot from our recent jaunt to Puerta Patillia about 25 miles east of Salinas.
Capt Chris and Janina
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Comments [1]
Love, Tracy
08/22/2008, Salinas Puerto Rico
Reacquaint yourself with Janina who currently lives in Clearwater Florida but is visiting Christa and I in Puerto Rico. You may recall from my 5/8/08 blog post that Jani and I had lunch together while I was visiting my parents in Florida in May.
Janina barely made it out of Orlando before Tropical Storm Fay became a big headache for Central Florida. Of course on my way to the San Juan Airport I got caught in what the newspaper the next day called "A Massive Traffic Jam." So I crawled for two hours and advanced two miles before being released from a very tense filled situation. Air conditioning would have been an asset in this situation. Unfortunately the Mirage lacks this amenity. But I was overjoyed to scoop up Janina at the airport. We decided celebrate her arrival by going to my favorite breakfast joint in San Juan called Pinkey's.
Since our arrival in Salinas we have slipped into the south shore grove. Janina has adapted well back into cruisers leisurely style. We had dinner on Tuesday at the Cruisiers Galley for meat loaf night, taken in a movie at a local theater and enjoyed dinner and movie night last at the Cruisers Galley. Yesterday we hopped into the Mirage and drove to the town of Coamo which lies somewhat in the mountains. We checked out a called Hotel Banos de Coamo founded in 1847. The major draw to the place is it has hot spring feed pools. It has a really cool outdoor feel with an open air bar and what looked to be a nice restaurant. The downside was it is old and not maintained very well. The pools had cracks in cement and such but it was great place to mingle with the locals. One of pools, a smooth 109 degrees in public so just anyone can come swishing in and enjoy some aquatic therapy. Word around the campfire is that the Coamo baths were considered the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon was seeking. The baths have been a place of rituals and pilgrimages. Now after soaking I was so dazed over the soothing water and more importantly Janina's presence that I lost the car keys.
The blasted weather! Janina is a wonderful distraction from my obessing about the weather. However I have not lost the ball. We are watching active weather possibly heading our way. Stayed tuned.
Capt Chris
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Dad
You can imagine my smile when I read your blog!!! Glad you two were able to connect again! Any chance of fast tracking it south?? As the next CP you must be in your element watching the weather. We all miss you. Hello to jani.
jenny
08/18/2008, Salinas Puerto Rico
A tropical wave has exited the west coast of African and "Invest 94" is born. All hands shall keep a close eye. Best of luck to all the folks in Florida who will be getting a visit from Fay within 24 hours. Good luck!
Capt Chris
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08/16/2008, Salinas Puerto Rico
Check this graphic out. As you can see "Invest 92" squarely hit Puerto Rico. By all accounts the system had reached tropical depression status by the time it was over eastern Puerto Rico and was named a tropical storm just as it entered the Mona Passage between PR and the Dom Rep. As I said in my blog post the other day that this low was pretty erratic and irrational. The center of the low actually tracked south of the island by almost 30 miles when all the forecast tracks had it going north. The lesson for me is that meteorologists cannot predict everything and even such with all the technology, the weather is very very difficult to predict on a micro scale.
One thing nice about my trip to the mangroves was it gave me a chance to use my sat phone again and practice getting my weather remotely. When ever you see a blog posted without a picture or graphic you know I used my sat phone.
I slept soundly last night and awoke to a pretty nice sunny day. Enjoyed a morning cup, pulled the anchored and re anchored in my old spot here in Salinas.
Capt Chris
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08/15/2008, Jobos Mangroves south coast Puerto Rico
It was not optimism that lead me to believe that I may not feel much influence as the tropical low passes just north of Puerto Rico. That really is what the forecast called for when I left Salinas yesterday afternoon. But this system is a good cautionary tale. The low raked right over the entire Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. It really is luck that the system did not develop and really cause Christa and I and the other boats in Puerto Rico much inconvience. So it always best to run for the mangroves when in doubt. In hindsight, I would have been fine staying anchored up in Salinas as the anchor had been buried in the mud for a month. But since I did move I think it would have been better for me to lash into the mangroves this time around instead of staying anchored in the mangroves. By 3:30am the wind was gusting to 30knots maybe a little more with severe thunderstorms everywhere. The rain was torrential. I am in a small well protected by bay, protected from all directions. There is one other boat in the bay lashed into the mangroves. The captain of that boat and I exchanged some words yesterday after I dropped my anchor, giving him plenty of room. The guy apparently lashes himself into the mangroves for the entire hurricane season then just lives aboard. It's a real unabomber type situation. He apparently believes he owns all the real estate.
So Christa again took good care of me. The Delta Set anchor held well in 12 ft of mud with 75 feet of chain. It can be difficult to gage whether the anchor is dragging. What I do is have my chartplotter zoomed way in and I'll start dropping waypoints that eventually scribe a swing circle. So if the boat icon starts moving outside of the scribed circle, I know I may be moving. I also shoot bearings the old fashioned way. So last night I think I moved slightly as the anchored buried itself in the mud. I just don't know the viscosity of the mud. If it is thin mud it is possible for the plow anchor to just plow. But it held into the low 30's, but with wind higher it's hard to know. So I'm tired but secure. The wind has died and the rain has stopped and the bugs are out in force. I'm to tied to move back to Salinas so I'll plan to head out tomorrow morning. For now I fired up the generator and am watching "Casino" on the DVD.
Capt Chris
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