Puerto Rico, my hearts devotion...
26 February 2012 | 17 57.590'N:066 17.073'W
Eileen, 80s scattered showers, windy
Brian on the beach in Culebra
On Saturday February 4, we departed St Thomas for Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands, with Brian Powers on board. After a big night on Thursday, we had a very low key Friday night with dinner at the marina and were ready to depart early on Saturday AM. Culebra is around 15 miles due West of St Thomas and we had a 5-6 foot roll until we reached Sail Rock and were out of the lee of St Thomas. The seas became more confused from that point forward. Luckily, it was a short trip to the channel for Culebra and once inside the reefs, the seas laid down but not the breeze. Opting not to take a mooring - long story there- we anchored near Dewey and saw several boats that we knew already in the anchorage. Sol Mate and Joanna were making the trip over from St Thomas that day also. Once we got the dinghy in the water, it was determined that we needed to go to the airport for check-in and the crew from the three boats made their way together to the airport which was about a 20 minute walk. Plans were made for Happy Hour at Mamacita's and we were joined by Bob and Sue from Song who were already in the harbor along with crews from Sabbaticus and Blue Comfort. We stayed in Culebra for three nights and watched the Super Bowl at the Dinghy Dock Bar. Go Giants! Before the game, Brian and Kevin rented bikes and rode over the mountain to Flamenco Beach and on Monday, we took a taxi to a beach on the East side of the island. All good things must come to an end so on Wednesday, we sailed out of Culebra and down to Esperanza on the South coast of Vieques for our next stop in the Spanish Virgins
Esperanza proved to be a very rough and rolly anchorage with safety issues in the wake of a crime spree that started in the anchorage of Esperanza on Monday with the daylight robbery of one of the cruising boat. Brian had made arrangements to fly out of Vieques and coincidentally, Dean and Liz Clemmer from Virginia, were on vacation in Vieques that same week. We did not let the anchorage or the thieves deter us from having a good time. After taking a walk around town, we found Dean and Liz having a bite to eat at Duffy's Restaurant and Bar and made plans to get together the next morning. Vieques has some beautiful beaches and we went to Sun Bay with Dean and Liz and then Dean gave a us a quick driving tour up to Isabel Segundo where they were staying on the North side of the island. It was a beautiful day and it was great to see some friends from home. Brian's flight out was on Thursday and Dean and Liz departed on Saturday and I was sad to see our friends and family leave. Kevin and I were again on our own.
We left on Sunday for an anchorage off Puerto Rico near the small town of Pastillas. This was a one night stop and still rolly so we did not launch the dinghy. On Monday the 13th, we made our way into the Boca de Infierno and anchored in Salinas Harbor which is thankfully, as calm as a bathtub. Our clanging mast was silenced. The waves were not slapping against the hull. You did not need to hold on to move around the cabin and you could let go of your glass on the table without it tipping over. Oh the peace and quiet!
The town of Salinas is a mile or so from the water and has a couple nice grocery stores. Internet is sketchy in the harbor and the marina does NOT have internet. It is advertised and the marina staff will tell you it is broken but the regulars told us they don't have it. There is a bakery up the road a short way that has WiFi on their patio and also a restaurant called the Loco Pelicanos that you can dinghy to and sit in air conditioned comfort with a cold beer while you check your e-mail if you can wait until after 4. The marina is otherwise very accommodating and very cruiser friendly. You can rent a car here for $30 a day from Sydney and he will drop and pick up the car from the marina and the keys can be left at the marina office. We rented a car for three days last week and went to San Juan. Our original plan we to stay for one night but we had such a good time we stayed second night. What a nice city and Old San Juan was beautiful. We found the locals to be very friendly and most spoke at least some English. We stopped at the Plaza del Americas which is the largest mall in the Caribbean and has over 300 stores from Armani to Sears. One thing that stood out at the mall was that all the signs were in English but not everyone speaks English here. I guess "30% Off" is a universal language for a shopper! We noticed that most of the locals were dressed in the latest fashions. We, of course, were wearing our best cruising clothes meaning the ones with the smallest holes and the least stains! Macy's was able to help us out with that.
We needed to get our dodger repaired at the canvas shop in Salinas and Kevin asked Marianne, the owner, about the signs and the language issues here. She is from the states and has lived here for many years. She said the island is not third world, it is more of a 2.5 world and pretty much everyone has some kind of Spanglish they get by with. You have all the major stores and modern US style malls and infrastructure but you also have the laid back island attitude along with many of the same social issues you have in the mainland USA.
Our friends, George and Joanne on RomantaSea, arrived on Wednesday and we rented a car and did some land cruising on Friday and Saturday with them. The "North Swell" is running and seas are in the 10 ft range and supposed to peak tomorrow at 11. The wind is picking up and supposed to blow for several days. We still need to watch for a really good window to make the Mona Passage when the seas are down to make the Dominican Republic. For now, we are hanging here in Salinas which is a pretty convenient and safe place to be. The southern coast is the dry side of the island and wildfires are burning sending ashes onto our boat and you can't swim in this harbor. Those the main drawbacks to this anchorage. We are getting a little rain today so I hope that helps the fires. The temperature has been in the low 80s in the day and 60s at night so the swimming is not critical. There are mangroves all around here and manatees live in this harbor so it is a no wake zone and we don't have any commercial boats. A few fishing charter boats and a dive boat go out but they observe the no wake zone. All around this is one of the calmest and quietest anchorages we have seen in a long time.