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Updated April, 2014 |
Rainbow Just West of St. Thomas |
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We left Jost van Dyke on Monday, March 3rd, with very mixed emotions. Sad to leave our friends, but happy to be heading toward others.
As we cleared out we discovered that we had overstayed our time by a couple of days, because I had misread the stamps in our passports, but we received nothing worse than a scolding. |
The Built-up St. Thomas Coast | ||
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Sail Rock | |||
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We went over to St. John and shopped for food, and as usual had lunch at the Beach Bar. Once back on the boat we fled the ferry wakes and currents of our anchorage and ran across Pillsbury Sound to a quieter anchorage behind Great St. James Island, which we have always found very pleasant.
The next morning we got underway early for us, departing at 08:43, and at 12:36 were anchored in Ensenada Honda, the main harbor of Culebra, off the town of Dewey, named for the admiral. |
Landfall Culebra, Culebrita to Right | ||
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Because the U.S. Virgin Islands are a free port area, we had to clear customs again in Puerto Rico, but as participants in the Small Vessel Reporting System, we did this by phone from Culebra in a matter of minutes.
After some conversation with other live-aboards, we had an excellent dinner at the Dinghy Dock, which is now operated by the former team from Mamacita's. Altogether a very pleasant evening. |
Approaching Ensenada Honda, Culebra | ||
| Although Culebra is a good place, we were not disposed to linger, and the next morning we weighed anchor and headed back out the narrow entrance of the harbor, but this tme we turned right, heading south to round Punta del Soldado before the run to the western end of Vieques. There we anchored in the lee of the island, just off a beautiful beach, and I changed the oil in the engine and reverse gear before having a swim. |
Culebra is More Developed Every Year | ||
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Tankers Anchored off Vieques, waiting for a Berth in Yabucoa | |||
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The next morning we went on to Salinas, where we planned to do some more shopping, especially for things that are heavy and bulky. We rented a car, which is easy in Salinas, with delivery right to the marina, and went to the next town, Santa Isabel, where the Walmart has better groceries than the local supermarket.
Late afternoons we went to the cruisers' bar that has sprung up as a replacement for Drake's, Sal Pa' Dentro, where we had some conversation and also checked our email. |
Sal Pa' Dentro, the New Cruisers' Bar in Salinas | ||
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Otherwise, I was quite busy on the boat, as our design company is still officially in existence, although I am largely retired, and its tax return was due in mid-March. I did get it done, and mailed it in Salinas with a day to spare!
For our trip to Walmart we used the back road (Route 1!) that runs along the coast instead of the new highway. We were not in a hurry, and we think it is a nicer drive. One year we got a little lost and landed in the middle of a residential area with a canal in the middle of it and very narrow roads that was challenging to get out of. |
Church in Salinas | ||
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Banana or Plantain Plantation, Santa Isabel | |||
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This year, however, we paid attention and found our way all right. We filled the car (or so it seemed) with groceries and did the usual shuffle -- carry the bags to the dinghy, load the dinghy, unload at the boat, carry the bags below and stow everything.
There are often foreign boats in Salinas harbor, and this year we met a very nice German young man who was cruising in his boat Babella. |
Gate to a Sprawling Cattle Ranch | ||
| The day after our shopping trip we invited Johann aboard for a beer, and found him very interesting. He is also in the marine business, having just graduated as a naval architect from a technical university. We were able to help him with directions for getting into Bermuda -- the harbor entrance is not obvious from the charts -- and in return he helped us with electronic charts and advice for Europe. We are accumulating quite a list of people we will be happy to see again on their home turf across the pond. |
A Quiet Corner of the Salinas Shore | ||
| The next day we again negotiated the tricky entrance to the harbor. The harbor is formed by an island and the mainland, but the passage between them is so narrow it is much like a river. There is a narrow fairway in the middle that is natural, not dredged, but even it shoals to 7 feet in one spot, and the water outside it is very shallow for the most part. |
The Reef Media Luna As We Slipped By Close Inshore Of It | ||
| The first day we had only a short run to Caja de Muertos Island, where we like to lie, in part because it is a beautiful spot, and in part because we can run the watermaker there in its clean water. After a peaceful night (no interruptions from the Ponce police this year), we ran into Ponce in the morning to top up our fuel tanks. |
Boqueron Sunset |
Barbara in Boqueron, On "Marine Traffic.com' |
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As it turned out, there had just been a fishing tournament so they were low on fuel, and we could only get about 350 gallons, but that is enough so we won't have to worry about getting home. After fueling, we headed west along the coast, passing the commercial harbor of Guayanilla, and Guanica, where we had stopped one year.
Just past La Parguera we saw that a new blimp ("tethered aerostat") has taken the place of the one that a careless operator allowed to be lost in a storm. |
La Haciendita, Shelley's Vegetable Stand Just Outside Her Travel Agency | ||
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The Air Force report makes clear that the contractor that operates the blimp put an inexperienced operator in control, so the taxpayers lost a little over 8 million dollars. Read it here.
By mid-afternoon we were anchored in Boqueron Bay, where we will stay until it is time to head north for Bermuda again. This year we anchored close to a boat we knew well from other years, Groundhog, built by our long-time friend Carroll Lowell back in the 70s. |
Groundhog, A Carroll Lowell Boat Built in Yarmouth and Anchored Next to Us | ||
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Gene and Dolly have cruised her all over the Caribbean, and this year she is having an engine rebuild as she lies here.
We had no hope of slipping unnoticed into the harbor the way we used to. We had not been anchored for an hour before the phone rang! It was our friend Lizette, down on the dinghy dock to watch the sunset along with Irene, Rita, and several others of our friends. They urged us to come ashore, but we were tired and had yet to launch the dinghy, so we declined. |
Barbara with Jon and Kathleen at La Pescaderia | ||
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The next day we did go ashore and made the rounds. We picked up our mail and had dinner with Carl at La Marea, where we also renewed our friendship with Juan Miguel, the proprietor.
The Monday after we arrived was St. Patrick's Day, and this is always an important day in Boqueron, probably due to the influence of long-time bar owner the late Don Galloway. Just as at other Paddy's Day celebrations, there was a parade and many happily intoxicated people. |
Boqueron, the Main Street | ||
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Ornate Palm Tree | |||
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Lizette, the owner of Sunset/Sunrise, made a traditional Irish boiled dinner of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes for her regulars, and it was delicious. Once the rush died down we sat peacefully with old friends at one of the outside tables, chatting in the growing dusk.
Later that week Lizette took us to a supermarket, "Mr. Special," where we did a substantial grocery shopping. Othrwise we settled into a regular routine. |
Detail of a Once-Lovely Garden | ||
| I divide my time between work on the boat and a design commission that is in the concept phase. I guess I am not really retired, but I am enjoying it, although it took me a little while to get back into easy familiarity with the computer programs I use. |
St. Patrick's Day, Boqueron | ||
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Boqueron Harbor | |||
| The generator was starting to give a little trouble again, as it usually does this time of year. Generators suffer from being shut up in boxes to contain their noise, but that means they are out of sight and out of mind. I did a few routine maintenance jobs, like changing its raw-water impeller, that had nothing to do with its problem, but meant that it would be happier in the long term. I corrected its wiring last summer, but I clearly have to go over the control wiring again. |
Horse on the Way to the Post Office | ||
| One day, while Barbara was in the middle of making dinner, the propane ran out, so I switched to the next tank. Since that was our last, however, I took one ashore to have it refilled That meant carrying it a block or so up the street to the house of a gentleman who takes the empties to the plant in Cabo Rojo and brings them back refilled the next day. All very easy, and in fact, except for the absence of a nearby supermarket, everything is pretty easy here. Almost anything can be acquired, any service arranged for. |
The Yola Gaviota Fallen on Hard Times, Carl Rigging a Fish Trap | ||
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We tend to entertain more here than other places, though I don't know why.
Lizette came for dinner one night soon after we arrived, followed by Jon and Kathleen, and then Carl shortly afterwards. Most evenings, though, we go in at about 5:00 to join the group that comes into town to watch the sunset. Although it seems strange to us, in a couple of months the sun sets far enough north that the sunset is no longer visible because the bay is angled slightly southwest. |
Dinner, Barbara and Lizette | ||
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Sometimes we sit at one of the tables in the street in front of Sunset-Sunrise, and sometimes at the new bar opened last year by the Fishermen's Co-op, La Pescedaria. This is just a shelter behind the beach at the edge of the park and is usually a nice quiet spot to sit.
If the mood strikes us, we go to La Marea for dinner, or to Terramar, a new restaurant run by a nice young couple, where we usually have pizza and a bottle of white wine from the Catalan region of Spain. |
Jon, Barbara, and Kathleen | ||
| The second time we went shopping we bought two cases of Medalla, the local beer from Mayagüez, and the weekend before Palm Sunday, when everything starts to get crazy, we had a party on the boat. Our friends all came, except for Ita, who had to work at the Pescedaria, and Gene and Dolly came over from Groundhog, bringing with them Laurel and Ron. |
Threatening Sky Over Boqueron | ||
| Interestingly enough, Laurel had been a librarian at Tulane when I taught there (though I did not know her), and Ron (who usually goes by his last name, Guppy) is the grandson of the naturalist who first sent specimens of the fish from Trinidad to London, where it was named in his honor. |
Party on the After Deck | ||
| With the weather as it is here, a shop doesn't need to be too substantial Our good friend Stanley has a shop that is well equipped for woodwork or metalwork in a small shelter tacked on to his garden shed. Here I went one day to use his chop saw and cut miters on some trim pieces for the pilothouse. I had meant to cut these before we left, but somehow that did not happen, and the power saw did a better job than I could have without a miter-box and in a fraction of the time. |
Stanley's Shop | ||
| The foods available in the super markets take some getting used to, but the pork is always good, as are hams and (which makes more sense for the two of us) ham steaks. The fruits available at this time of year are also a delight. There are avocados the size of softballs from local trees - one of them with a little vinaigrette sauce is all the vegetable the two of us need - and pineapples from the fields of Lajas, smaller and less "pointy" than the usual Dole version, but sweeter. As far as I am concerned, only the berries and apples at home compare. |
A Locally-grown Pineapple | ||