On Wednesday Decedmber 19th, at 9:30AM we set sail for Puerto Rico. This was to be our longest sail trip since we arrived here - about 42 nautical miles. The weather was superb with winds a bit light (10-15 knots) but this made for a great passage and views as we sailed passed St Thomas, Sail Rock, Culebrita & Vieques - these last two being the other Spanish Virgin Islands besides Puerto Rico.

As we approached Puerto Rico we finally caught a fish - a fine looking 8-10 lb light grey, spotted fish with fierce-looking teeth. Given that this was our first fish we were rushing trying to do what we had heard we should do: pull it out with a gaff, spray some sort of alcohol (best rum) in its gills to kill it humanely fast, bring it aboard after washing down the deck (which is teak) so as to prevent the scales from lodging on the sole, and then put it in a bag with ice until we could clean it. Daniel quickly got one of our guides to tropical fish in the Virgin Island and, to our dismay, he correctly identified the fish to being a BARRACUDA!! It is one of the most often caught fish because they are very aggressive and go for anything, particularly things that flash in the water. Kim's newly purchased pink-skirt-hook has finally worked but now we need to try to catch something edible as our purpose is not the sport of fishing but to get something good to eat like Tuna, Wahoo, or Mahi Mahi. Daniel and I put the fish back in the ocean where we hope it will feed some other hungry fish.

Going west toward Puerto Rico is a passage that almost none of the boats that came with us in the rally make. Most of them tend to stay in the Virgin Islands or go south to nearby island. But we wanted to go west and come here to experience the Spanish culture and "La Isla del Encanto" (The Enchanted Island) as Puerto Rico is called. The trip took us 8 hours and we arrived to the marina Puerto del Rey at around 5:30PM. This marina, by the way, is said to be one of the largest of the Caribbean with 1000 slips!! It fills the entire bay and it can be seen miles away. It is about 3 miles south of the town of Fajardo and about 2 hours south of San Juan.

Puerto Ricans are very friendly and helpful people. When Maria was here in 1983 she really enjoyed the island and its people. Music (salsa, meringue, bachata, etc.) is played everywhere and this makes for a light happy atmosphere. People are courteous and seem happy. The latter contrasts what we observed in some of the BVI's such as in Tortola where people seemed very stern and unhappy.

Spanish remains the primary language in Puerto Rico with those who are older speaking better than those who are younger. It also appears that the more educated speak better Spanish as well. We are taking our "Christmas Vacation" here and plan to drive to El Yunke (the National Forest) near Fajardo, the famous caves in the north/west part of the island, playa Luquillo, and, obviously, San Juan.