Some of the times, well, most of the time, hmm...actually, all the time the wind dictates the direction Dragon's Toy is able to sail safely and comfortably. So when the wind was predicted to blow from the east (the direction we wanted to go) for the month of January we went west from the US Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico. Our good friends, Judy and Torben, on their boat Tivoli came along.
Thank you winds for sending us to Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth of PR is an unincorporated territory of the United States 30 miles west of the Virgin Islands. Vieques, Culebra and Mona are smaller islands that are considered part of PR and called the Spanish Virgins. Puerto Ricans are US citizens.
We checked into PR at the little island of Culebra where we were happy to again be in a Spanish speaking, laid back environment with loud salsa music. We do miss Mexico, but here there were no big hotels, golf courses, no fast food just sugar sand beaches that are muy tranquillo.
For over five decades the US Navy used more than two thirds of Vieques for military target practice. The war games ended in 1999 and the US Fish and Wildlife made 70% of the island a refuge. It is gorgeous and has some of the most pristine beaches we've seen.


Scooters provided us the means to see this beautiful island including dodging the many, many wild horses. Vieques also has the highest concentration of phosphorescence in the world - known as Bioluminescent Bay - touring the bay is magnificent in a kayak at night with fish whipping up bright green sparkles below the surface and shots of light flying from the paddles in the water. Took us two tries to do the night kayaking as the first night 6 of us were piled into a van for the trip and the engine wouldn't start. Not really a surprise as the van looked like it was held together with baling wire. Tom and Torben, along with several local guys including a "mechanic", made their best effort at repairs. Not going to happen. Oh, well, mañana.

On to Sunbay Marina in Fajardo, Puerto Rico where we were reintroduced to all things American including a Walgreens on every corner. The four of us rented a car and headed for the sites including El Yunque, the only rain forest in the US, Observatorio de Arecibo, the largest radio telescope in the world, massively amazing with a 20 acre dish, and looking like a revolving spaceship or something out of a James Bond movie which it was in Goldeneye, the Caves of Rio Camuy - the third largest network of stalagmite caves in the world. Walking through was a unique, unearthly experience.


And lovely San Juan looking like Havana with a face lift. The Hotel Casablanca in Old San Juan was a great find and gave us the opportunity to experience the city on foot. Driving was relatively easy since Torben could back up easily, make u turns quickly and not get flustered when going on what looked like the wrong way on a street that was actually for busses only. Tom proved he could drive with one eye on the road, one eye on the iPad to navigate all while missing pot holes the size of small cars.
We made the most of the American stores loading up at West Marine, Walmart and Costco. Hard to imagine we could squeeze at that stuff into the car along with the four of us. We will return to Puerto Rico.


We are now back in the Virgin Islands waiting for the Monday, Feb 3, weather window to go east to St Martin.

In the meantime GO 9ers!!! Super Bowl! WooHoo!!