CURRENT LOCATION: On a mooring ball near the reef in Ensenada Dakity
18 17.609' N, 065 16.813' W
If memory serves me correct, when we first arrived in Culebra (back in March), most every day presented blustery breezes. Well, it appears that those conditions may have returned. The winds have steadily grown stronger since Wednesday morning when we moved the boat out here to Dakity under calm conditions.
Here in the Caribbean, they have dubbed the strong winds which begin to occur frequently starting in December the 'Christmas winds.' Perhaps they are a little early this year. It is our only sign that the holidays are approaching. We don't listen to any commercial television or radio (so not a single jingle has reached our ears), we haven't unpacked our sweaters from summer storage, and there are no evenings of frost or flurries to announce the coming of winter.
'Tis the season for cold fronts. Actually, we are in a period of transition. The march of tropical waves coming west across the Atlantic from Africa has become less frequent, and the low pressure systems moving across the continental US dragging cold fronts behind them are drifting southward and beginning to impact our weather patterns.
Yesterday, we took a short trip out in the kayaks because Sheryl wanted to go to the southern Sea Glass Beach. Despite the fact that she is still coughing considerably (especially in the evenings) she was determined that some solar therapy would do her good. The passing of a tropical wave had the winds stirred up and a decent chop on the water (even inside the reef), and we paddled easily with the wind at our backs.
As we approached the cut to go outside the reef, I suggested an alternate course. The waves were pretty big out there and I was worried about two things: first was landing on the beach in this crashing surf; second was stressing Sheryl's respiratory system in what was certain to be a battle of a paddle back against the wind and waves on the return trip. Instead, I lead Sheryl across the reef and into a shallow pool tucked in behind a pile of rocks (marked X on the pic below). From there, she could climb across the rocks and explore Sea Glass Beach without having to crash down upon it like the shards of glass which she sought.
Since I am not a sea glass aficionado, I decided to see if it was as bad as it looked outside the cut. From the rocks, Sheryl snapped the lead photo of me out there. I didn't dare to come any closer because the waves were big and breaking. I turned and went back in through the cut, put on my snorkel gear, put up my diver-down flag, and hopped off the kayak (holding onto the bow line). Although the coral was not pristine, the schools of fish were plentiful and colorful. I drifted for a while, hovering over the more populated coral heads and truly enjoying my visit with the fishes. Unfortunately, the occasional purple jellyfish sighting and an eventual visit from a rather large barracuda detracted from the experience. I climbed back aboard the kayak and stowed my snorkel gear.
Ensenada Malena is one of my favorite spots on the island. This bay is absolutely beautiful. The protection from the reef leaves the water calm and the gently sloping sandy bottom creates a beautiful gradient of ever lightening blue water up to the shoreline. I kayaked around here a while before heading back to the shallow pool where Sheryl's kayak was parked.
After depositing my own kayak, I climbed upon the rocks and saw Sheryl still picking her way along the beach. I sat down where I could rest my back against a rock and watch the waves crashing only five to ten feet away from me. Unlike watching the waves roll onto the beach, there was no sand in the water, so I could see right through each wave before it curled into white water and crashed onto the rocks.
Once Sheryl was done, we battled our way back against the wind to our moored boat. With Sheryl still not feeling 100%, we stopped a couple of times on the way to rest. Once back aboard it was time for a well-deserved relaxing evening. The winds stayed strong throughout the evening and nighttime hours, and comfortably cool temperatures had us reaching for a sheet in the wee hours of the night to cover up (something we haven't done for months).
Tomorrow is Sheryl's birthday, and Mother Nature is bringing her a cold front as a gift. We will be evaluating the effect of this passing cold front for future reference. If it brings the right shift in intensity and direction of wind, a future cold front may be useful for us to gain eastward progress in our eventual trip to more southerly latitudes. Dakity should be an excellent location for watching the weather go by and quietly celebrating the day of my lovely wife's birth.