Friday, April 11, 2014 Back on the docks

Well, after saying a sad farewell to our friends there and leaving CBM, today finds us back on the docks, but this time we are in Beautiful Puerto Rico!
We left St. Thomas, heading for Culebra, in the Spanish Virgin Islands. It was a nice ride, and reminded me of the very first time we left St. Martin so many years ago, with 6 foot following seas and the sun glistening like silver on the water. We arrived at Malone's Beach in Culebra, and took one of what is now only 3 moorings there, after attending to our customs duties, we were checked in and all set....to RELAX! And since I cant remember what we did the rest of the day, I can pretty much assure you that it was nothing! Although the forecast was for Northeast swells, we found that the swells were definitely South east, and frankly that made for a bit of a bumpy night. Still, this is a lovely place and we really enjoy being here. There is a house overlooking the anchorage and it has a life size sea captain sculpture on the deck, eternally watching the horizon for boats. We feel secure knowing he is keeping an eye on us.

Wednesday finds us moving anchorages to the North and a place called Carlos Rosario Beach. We have heard there is great snorkeling here and since I am always up for a great snorkel spot...it was on my list. Turns out it is a lovely place, with a beautiful beach, and GREAT snorkeling. We stayed here two nights, and began prepping for the next stage for us which is...Haulout...a week from today...eeek...lots to do, lots to do before we head into the marina...and then lots more to do! One of the things we did was begin to catch up on our rest. Between the busy, BUSY season we had, and several nights not sleeping due to the noise level of the working docks..we were bushed, so afternoon naps were an order of the day. The water here is really lovely and while I would have loved to stay a few more days duty calls. So we called into the marina, and heading in today, instead of Sunday which was the original plan. What a ride! With the winds behind us we threw out the jib, and motor sailed at 6.5 knts. After about 45 minutes we noticed behind us a nasty looking squall forming, then growing, and finally overtaking us. In comes the job, and a serious freshwater rinse pours down. The kind that requires rain jackets and hats, and closing the cabin doors! It cut visibility for us in a big way, first obscuring the islands behind us, then douseing us, then Puerto Rico completely disappeared, and stayed GONE until we were about 30 minutes out. A pretty disconcerting sight, considering the size and height of the island - fortunately the skies cleared and we were able to rig for arrival.

And now comes the fun part...entering a new harbor. Fortunately we have been here twice with Ocean Jedi, (and just watched Captain Ron the other night, AGAIN) so we were familiar with the entry, harbor layout and protocol...however, attending to it while the primary language is Spanish adds a whole new layer of stress. We call in, and get our slip assignment, which is a T head (oh my goodness how beautiful!) and identify where it is. We ask for dock assistance to bring is in, (and receive an affirmative, or maybe instructions to standby...not really sure which) however when we arrive to our slip, there are no dock attendants in sight...that's ok, we can do this our selves right, ummm, right? While Jim is totally fine and lining up the boat to come in, the voices in my head sound a lot like this...ok, lines and finders rigged, but ready to toss, oh crap, no one there, OK - OK, not the bow line, put that down, what do I do? Oh wait - Yeah...I remember this, grab the Stern and Spring line...wait - OPEN the gate...then grab the lines... flex your feet ... you'll have to jump for it...and then of course, Jim eases the boat to along the dock, I step (NOT jump) the 1.5 feet between us and the dock, secure the stern line...wrap the spring... as the fenders gently kiss the dock and he calmly walks forward and hands me the bow line, that I SHOULD have rigged along the lifelines so I could grab it myself...and viola...we are docked. What makes this most embarrassing to me (other than the fact that the dock was 80+ feet long) is that we did this at our old Marina, and whatever other marina we cruised at over the years...for um, 20 YEARS! Before coming to the Caribbean.. oh, yeah, I remember how to do this! Moron.

Anyway! We are here! At Puerto Del Rey Marina. We have a great slip, right across from the fuel dock, and 100 yards from the haulout well, all the action! We headed up to checkin to the marina, and now...here we are, time to get serious about all the work on out lists....um, probably tomorrow.