Well I have I have a confession. My last blog was written in about 20 minutes
and under duress to get it done. I had spent an afternoon writing it and
choosing pictures then saving on the
computer. The next day I walked for 1/2
an hour to get to a local bar that we knew had good internet to
cut/copy/post, easy right?? Not sure what happened, hitting buttons I
shouldn't have been hitting but I erased (or I should say, saved with
changes-blank) the entire thing!! Al
just rolled his eyes of course, while in mid sentence asking how that could
happen, then stopped and moved on.
Anyway lesson learnt.
We spent a week at anchor between Crown Bay and Water Island
getting caught up on more boat jobs. We
also managed some exploring to Home Depot, K mart and found a fabulous grocery
store called Cost U Less. Very similar
to Costco, even Kirkland products. Good prices and beautiful produce. Our taxi
ride back to the boat cost $10, compared
to $30 from the airport. He helped with groceries and it was at least 4x's the
distance!
We have been getting rain almost every day but doesn't last
long. Heat remains to keep us moving slowly and getting us in for a swim
whenever we can. We discovered Honeymoon
Bay on Water Island, a fabulous swimming beach, buoyed off to keep motorized
and kayaks etc. out. An easy and short dingy ride away from us.
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| New deck wash installed!! |
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| replacement mats for floor in aft cabin, after our diesel leak last year |
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| winch maintenance |
Friday morning we lifted anchor, raised our sails starting
our trip to Culebra (Spanish Virgin Islands). The winds were up and some big
waves but we were headed in a good direction (west) making it a fast and
comfortable sail the entire way (4 hours).
Unfortunately our friends from Toronto, Sun Kissed, were making their way east towards
St.Thomas were not having the same
experience. We were the only two vessels
out as far as we could see and from our chat on the radio they definitely were
not having as much fun as we were.
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| Heading to Culebra |
Loved Culebra. Great protected harbour and good holding for
the anchor. Spent a couple of days exploring
the Island via foot and golf cart rental. Beautiful, friendly little place. Kind of
reminded us of Denman/Hornby Islands back home. Laid back, surfer (but no
surfing) hippie, local tourist kind of place.
Sunday morning we were on the move again making out way back to mainland
Puerto Rico, Porto Del Rey, for some more sight-seeing adventures and a bit of
shopping. A bit harder of a sail as the
wind was lighter and waves (swells) still big but we managed to sail the entire
way again (5 hours).
Culebra
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| Street in Culebra, across from Ferry |
Tiny canal from bay to open water on south shore
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| view of some of the smaller Islands surrounding Culebra |
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| hey, wildlife other than Iguana's and cats! |
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| View back to St. Thomas (higher peak way in the back ground) |
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| remnants of US testing / training times |
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| view down to harbour where Haven is anchored |
The marina here is huge!
Extremely well run, very clean and well kept. Some of our cruising friends left their boat
here for this past hurricane season. We
rented a car and were able to explore the island and get some other errands done. We had heard of a wonderful Canadian born lady who was highly recommended
to us for sail repairs. Even being very
busy, she needed a little of Al's sweet talk, she agreed to do some seam repair
we needed on our jib. Done in a couple
of hours. Thanks Heather!
We spent hours walking around in Old San One followed by a
visit to Costco before returning to the boat.
What a long day, but the old city was so worth the trip. Loved it! The next day we headed up to El Yunque
National Park. The only Rain Forrest in
the US Park System. What an incredible
place to visit. We spent time at the
visitors centre then headed up for a walk to La Mina Falls and some of the
points of interest along the way. A
truly magical place they we will come back to another time to spend longer
exploring. Later the same day we took a drive hoping to get into a coffee
plantation for a tour but given timing and how far away things are we just
ended up in Salinas for a beer. Salinas is a little town that we had spent four
or five days at anchor last year and really enjoyed.
Today is a day for more organizing and a little relaxing.
I'm not feeling great today so I think may be just a day "off" will
be good. I'm sitting here writing while waiting for our laundry to finish but
not much going on for me. Al took back the rental this morning and he has been
"working" on boat jobs again today.
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| Arriving in Puerto Rico. El Yunque in the clouds |
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| Porto Del Rey |
OLD SAN JUAN
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| one of these things are not like the others! |
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| Getting out of town before the masses get in and the rain comes pouring down. |
El Yunque National Park
visitors centre
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| Bamboo on steroids |
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| we actually seen this little guy but couldn't get a picture |
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| La Mina Falls. We didn't stay, too many crazy tourists |
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| view from top of tower. Haven is down there, right in the middle of picture |
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| this was enough of a water fall for us, no one there but us |
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| snail like critters on the trees |
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| Laundry room. Picture me inside typing! |
We are heading back to St. Thomas tomorrow hoping to explore
a couple of different anchorages and then make our way to St. John's for more
of the same.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!
Love to you all. Talk soon.
