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Updated April 23, 2013 | |||
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Culebra Sunset | |||
| Once cleared in, we launched the dinghy and went ashore for lunch at Mamacita's, but we were disappointed. There were no iguanas, and the food was not really very good. We learned later (in Boqueron) that the property owner had more-or-less evicted the former tenant/manager and was trying to run the place himself. The former cook has apparently taken over the Dinghy Dock and we noticed they had a full house for dinner every evening. |
The Peacock that Lives Behind Milka | ||
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We also went shopping at Milka, and Barbara was entranced by the prices after almost three months in Bermuda, the BVI, and the US Virgins. Unfortunately the peacock could not be induced to spread out his fan for us.
We lay over a day in Ensenada Honda, then had an easy run across to "Green Beach" on the west end of Vieques. This is a nice anchorage that is not much used -- it makes a great break in the trip from Culebra to Salinas. |
Mamacita's Restaurant | ||
| We shared the anchorage with s couple of other boats, and there were a few people on the beach, but all in all it was a quite idyllic scene. By 09:00 the next morning we were underway, crossing Vieques Passage and Roosevelt Roads and around Punta Tuna for the run along Puerto Rico's south shore. At 13:30 we made up the sea buoy off Las Mareas. |
Culebra - More Developed Every Year | ||
| Las Mareas is a tiny port carved out of a natural mangrove lagoon to serve the industries (Conoco-Phillips oil refinery turned petro-chemical plant) at Guayama. It never seems to have much traffic, but it does have a buoyed deep-draft channel, and its sea buoy makes a convenient waypoint. From the buoy we ran for the gap between Cayo de Ratones (Mouse Cay) and the next island. Tugs towing big oil barges run through this cut to bunker the power plant at Central Aguirre, so it is an easy pasage for us, but it does |
"Green Beach," Vieques | ||
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require attention. This time it required a little more than usual because the trade winds had been building all morning, and then a squall came up just as we were entering the gap. We picked our way up the channel into Salinas Harbor and anchored just off the mangroves.
We planned to provision in Salinas, where there are better stores and (much) lower prices than in the Virgin Islands. There is a supermarket within walking distance, but it is a little over a mile away, which is |
Salinas Harbor | ||
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rather a trek, and one of the advantages of Salinas is that it is an easy place to rent a car.
We thought we would wait until Monday and shop then, but by chance I met Sid, the car rental guru (he owns a body shop in town and the Hertz franchise), on Sunday morning, and he happened to have a car available for that very day. |
Along Route 1 | ||
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He assured us that everything would be open, even though it was Palm Sunday, and so it turned out.
Just for fun, instead of taking the autopista we went along the old road, Route 1, along the coast to Santa Isabel (about 10-15 miles west) where we knew of a Walmart with very good produce, On the way we discovered that the farmers of Santa Isabel, whose flat lands are a major food- growing area, have found a new crop, wind generators. |
Nice House in Salinas Playa | ||
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It makes sense of course. The pylon takes up very little ground space and the rental income is welcome and goes on whether the weather is good or bad.
We did a large shopping, with lots of heavy and bulky stuff, and just about filled the dinghy when we got back to Salinas.We were quite a while stowing everything, but eventually we went ashore again, to Sal' pa dentro, a bar opened this year to fill the "cruisers'" niche that was left when Draks's closed. |
Salinas | ||
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The Fishermens' Monument in Salinas | |||
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Wind Generators in Santa Isabel | |||
| There we could get email and check the weather for the next couple of days. It is a nice place, but with our larder full we did not feel much inclination to linger this year, so on Monday we made one more trip ashore for fresh bread and then headed out of the harbor and turned right, slipping inside Arrecife Media Luna, outside Cayos Cabezazos, until we could round the northern end of Isla Caja de Muertos, where we planned to spend the night. |
The Lighthouse on Caja de Muertos Island | ||
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Sunrise Over Caja de Muertos | |||
| Here we spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening, but at 04:00 the next morning we had a rude surprise. Barbara woke me saying there was a light shining on the boat from outside, and I went up to the pilothouse to see a police boat on our port side. |
The Ponce Waterfront | ||
| They were a little non-plussed that we did not speak Spanish, but the one officer who spoke a little English managed to convey that they wanted to see our documentation and ID. So we showed him our papers and eventually were left alone. I did ask why they woke us up at that hour, but never got a good answer. I had a strong impression that the officer in charge, who never left his steering station, was a bit disappointed, but if we were smuggling why would we be anchored with a light and squawking on the AIS? |
Cabo Rojo Lighthouse | ||
| We went back to bed and got up again after a short time, so as to be alongside for fuel in Ponce at 08:00, when the fuel dock at the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club opens.We had good luck this year; the price was relatively low, and by 09:00 we were on our way again. We passed the industrial ports of Guayanilla and Guanica, and at 13:00 rounded Cabo Rojo, the lighthouse that guards the southwest corner of Puerto Rico. |
Barbara With Terns | ||
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By 14:30 we were anchored in Boqueron Harbor, which felt very much like home.
We found little changed. The dinghy dock has decayed form funky to really scary, and as usual no level of government is willing to take responsibility for fixing it. The city (Cabo Rojo) says it is the responsibility of the DNRA, and vice versa. Nevertheless, when we landed for the first time, our friend Carl came down the wharf to welcome us. |
Part of the Boqueron Flock of Ruddy Turnstones | ||
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We fell into the familiar routine of going ashore just before sunset for a few beers and a little socializing. One Sunday the word went around that there would be a pig roast at Mi Terruņo, a little country bar just out of town, and we, along with Carl, got a ride from our friend Irene. The food was very cheap and very good, and it made, all in all, a very pleasant afternoon.
On the boat, I continued work on the vanity, and started the finish process on a bookcase for oversize books to go in our cabin, but my real preoccupation was the generator. For the third year in a row it was giving trouble. At one point it would not run at all and we had to use the main engine for charging the batteries, which is not really very good for it. |
Los Remos | ||
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The Country Bar Mi Terruņo | |||
| We had a problem last year with loose wires in the control box, and I found another, but tightening everything and checking did not fix the problem. Finally in desperation I called Fred Knowles, the resident genius at Hansen Marine, the distributor who supplied the set, and he talked me through a long process. He would suggest a test, I would do it, then call back with the results.And so on, over a couple of days. The problem seemed to me like fuel, so I tightened and tightened, and replaced all filters and even the lift pump. |
View From the Porch of Mi Terruņo | ||
| Finally Fred had me run the engine with the return line disconnected and running into a bucket, and when she would run like that but not with the return connected, we had a diagnosis. Evidently one of the return hoses is partly plugged, and this can cause fuel starvation, which I did not know. I now think the problem goes back to the installation, becasue the generator has always been a little hard to start, never starting right up at first spin. |
Boqueron Sunset | ||
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Anyway, I developed a work-around for the nonce and back in Maine, where I know the territory, I can address the situation with a real fix. Someone said cruising is just boat repair in exotic locations, and maybe he had a point.
One problem with Boqueron is that the food shopping possibilities are very limited (apart from a good bakery) without a car. After a while the larder started to get a little low, and our friend Ita offered to take us to the supermarket. We bought lot of food and then spent half the day looking for a pipe fitting that I thought should be easy to find, a brass 45° elbow. Poor Ita! |
The Road to the Drawbridge, Boqueron | ||
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We went to three hardware stores and then gave up because we needed to get the food into the refrigerator. But the next day she had tracked one down at a small place in the town of El Combate, where Ferreteria Mike is one of those stores that has one of almost anything imaginable. Of course we had to go to a beach restaurant afterwards for a Medalla.
Painting my bookcase was becoming a little problematic because by the time the dew had dried off, the wind was high enough to blow drops of paint off the brush. And then it would rain in the late afternoon. I did manage to get it painted, but put the last coat on in the pilothouse. |
`Boqueron | ||
| One day we had a little party on the boat. We invited all the regulars from "the corner" ashore and two couples from other boats: Ruth and Jan from Queen of Hearts and Larry and Lena from Hobo. Ruth and Jan, who are Dutch, brought with them another Dutch couple, Wits and Mia from Skua. Wits plays accordion, so there was music as well as conversation on the afterdeck. Altogether a very pleasant evening, and after the party we went with Carl to Terramar, a quite new restaurant in town, and had excellent pizza and a bottle of nice wine. |
Annie's Place, El Combate | ||
| Another day Wits and Mia came over and again played and sang with Barbara. So life is not all work. The generator is pretty reliable now, so we can run the water-maker again, and soon I will be able to get the bookcase out of the pilothouse so I can sit at my desk again. And the varnishing is now done on the box that will hold the two VHF radios, and after one more coat of white I will be able to install it and get that out of the way. |
The Beach at El Combate | ||
| The local police have a nice new boat, one of the RIBs that are so popular with authorities these days. We often see it either dashing around or idling off the beach, but it is not clear to us what they are doing. |
The New Boat | ||
| With the help of a local fisherman, our friend Carl did a lot of work on his yola since we last saw it. It has been almost entirely rebuilt, and we thought it was a new boat when we first saw it. |
Carl's Yola | ||
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Relaxing at Sunset / Sunrise | |||