Puerto Rico then
09 March 2018
We stayed a couple of more days in Lindbergh Bay to finish our latest round of provisioning and then motored in calm seas and no wind the 20nm to Ensenada Honda, Culebra – an island off the east coast of Puerto Rico and one of the so-called Spanish Virgin Islands (a name thought up by some tourism marketeer to try to make the islands more attractive as holiday destinations).
The bay is very sheltered, especially from SW through North to East, and this was important as a major storm off the east coast USA created northerly seas over 7 metres destroying beaches such as at Jolly Harbour, Antigua, damaging sea walls, and jetties as far south as Carriacou.
We have been fine and enjoyed this quiet island with limited development.
We have managed a WOW while here as on Thursday 8th March we took the 0600 ferry to Fajardo on mainland Puerto Rico and with a hire car, visited old San Juan accompanied by Greg and Marie from ‘Second Sally'. This fortified area and old Spanish colonial city has beautiful buildings and an historic atmosphere that is only marginally impinged on by the jewellery and clothes shops geared to the thousands of cruise ship passengers that regularly visit. We had an excellent local lunch at ‘Manolin’ which included Mofongo (green plantain, onion and pepper) stuffed with prawns.
Some more provisioning at supermarkets in Fajardo completed our trip, and taking the 1900 ferry back to Culebra, we were back on Minnie B by 2045. A long day but worth it … the ferry is only US$1 each way for us oldies.
So now we prepare Minnie B and ourselves to leave on Saturday 10th March for the 500nm trip to Mayaguana in the Bahamas and a few weeks of cruising that new and exciting country.