We enjoyed ourselves in Salinas, PR. It was the first place where we met a number of other cruisers either coming or going from the Caribbean. While in Salinas, we rented a car and took a day trip up to El Yunque rainforest. This was a really cool place with gorgeous waterfalls and trails to hike. We also enjoyed the ride getting there as we took some of the smaller highways which wound around the mountainous curves. It was pretty exciting when we would come upon a 18 wheeler going the other way. I wouldn't want to take these smaller highways at night.
The Saturday before Christmas, we were treated to a fabulous boat show. There must have been 30-40 boats all decked out with Christmas lights that toured our harbor. The only drawback was that they all had to play their own different music at the loudest possible level. I put in earplugs and enjoyed the show. We also had Christmas lights on our boat but not as elaborate as these boats. The weather has been very pleasant but gets a little chilly during the wee hours of the night so Sunday morning, Cheryl woke up with a very bad sore throat and cold. After going thru a bottle of Nyquil and gargling each night, it was better the day after Christmas.
While at Salinas, we decided to re-mount our BBQ grill as we had taken it off while at Ocean World to keep it from getting beat up on the docks. We quickly learned it was beyond salvage. We rented another car on Christmas Eve to take a quick drive to San Juan to the West Marine to buy another grill. Glad we went early as we are so not used to the hustle and bustle of city traffic anymore.
We left Salinas the day after Christmas and anchored on the Southeast corner of PR before making it to Culebra on Sat. 12/27. We always thought the Spanish Virgin Islands would be a quick stop for us during this journey. We were very glad we decided to stay awhile. Culebra is absolutely charming. The locals are super nice and there are so many other cruisers here. While we didn't find food to our liking in mainland PR, we are happily gaining weight in Culebra, although we do miss the green vegetables we took for granted in the states. We celebrated New Year's Eve along with other cruisers and locals down near the ferry dock. We are still on cruiser's time so cruiser's midnight was 8 or 9pm and not the traditional 12pm. Ed did stay awake and take in the firework's show but the only fireworks Cheryl saw was in her dreams.
We take 1-2 mile walks around town to get some exercise, once to the beach on the northwest side to Flamenco Beach which is reported to be one of the prettiest beaches anywhere. It was full of people and unfortunately seaweed. We did not go swimming. We have been wanting to go snorkeling, but the water is not that warm yet so we keep procrastinating.
Yesterday, the locals celebrated Three Kings Day and most everything was closed except for the Dinghy Dock Restaurant. Yep we were there.
Thursday 1/7, we leave for a new anchorage. It may be St. Thomas or we may bypass St. Thomas and go straight to St. John's. We will decide tomorrow.
There are a few more pics posted in the PR album.