I pulled anchor a couple of days ago and headed about 6 miles east into the Jobos mangrove system. Might as well been another planet. It really felt isolated even though it was still close to Salinas.

But first thing. I snapped this shot this morning from the top of the mast. I was removing my running backstays to stow which is part of the hurricane prep. The shot is looking south toward the entrance of Salinas Harbor. You can just make out some of the cays that line the south shore of Puerto Rico. Just beautiful.

So anyway it was great to break the pattern of sitting in Salinas. The brush with Bertha has spurred me to expedite the hurricane plan. I anchored for two nights in the jobos mangrove system and spend one entire morning meandering through out the creeks. I found multiple good spots to tuck into for a blow. But my first impression was there is not as much room to lash in multiple boats as I had expected. What it really boils down to is what a person's definition of a bullet proof hole is. If a sailor believes ramming the bow into the mangroves and then streaming anchors off the stern is adequate then I would say there is plenty of room. But bow in is not ideal for me. I don't have a good way to attach anchor rodes to the stern of Christa and in fact most people don't. An alternative is to back into the mangroves which makes the handling of ground tackle much easier. But then you run a greater risk of rudder damage. Plus the weight aft is much greater and you then risk being stuck in the mud after the storm passes. So the preferred method is to center the boat in the creek and lash off to both sides. There are spots to do this in the Jobos but space is limited. Also you must have a large stock of lines to lash with. So I spent a portion of the passed two days doing line inventory and thinking things through. One must be prepared to be pinned down in the mangroves for a longtime. One must have an evacuation plan in case a Katrina style blow is going to strike. Another issues is one you'd never really think about. Here it is. So many leaves blow off the mangroves that they will clog up the deck drains which can lead to flooding of the cabin. How to prevent this? I'm working on it. So that's that for now!

Capt Chris