Tortola, BVI

February 2-3 - Trelllis Bay to Virgin Gorda

I failed to mention on the last blog that when we anchored at Lee Bay, the anchor seemed to catch well. But it was a good thing that, later, I decided to go for a swim/snorkel. When I got a look at how the anchor was set, it turned out to be stuck on a rock - probably not enough to hold us through a good blow, but enough to cause a problem in the morning when trying to bring it up. We got the anchor reset at a spot that was all sand.

Back to the story - the day after Greg left, we spent working on the boat. Dave’s major project was to install another, larger Raycor fuel filter while I worked at getting a flow valve on the salt-water intake for the galley faucet. That night, we went to the airport and picked up another one of Dave’s friends.

Rob walked out of the airport customs area earlier than scheduled. He was a little peeved at the baggage handlers. They had thrown his carry-on baggage on the tarmac and managed to break one of the bottles of Crown Royal he had brought for Dave. Besides the small carry-on bag that contained all his clothing, Rob brought another large suitcase filled with lots of goodies for us. When we got back to the boat, it was like Christmas. .

In the morning, after coffee, we set off for Virgin Gorda. By the time we got to the Baths, an anchorage and snorkeling spot on the western end of VG, all the moorings already were taken by visiting yachts. We had to settle for anchoring outside.

The snorkeling was pretty good. The uniqueness of The Baths are the huge boulders that lie along the beach and in the water. They boulders, some over twenty feet high, create a unique setting for snorkelers in that you see mini walls, caves and ledges in shallow areas.

From The Baths, we took a short hop to Spanish Town, a place that two hundred years ago, had a thriving Spanish community. But all we saw of it was the marina and it’s immediate surroundings - some stores, bars, restaurants and a market.

We had not been at a marina since the Caicos and Turks. It was nice to just be docked. I had the first “land” shower in quite some time. Our standard shower for the most part, consists of getting out the Joy liquid soap (because it suds up in salt water), getting all cleaned up and jump in to the water. After washing the soap off, we typically rinse off with fresh water. It works great and uses very little of our fresh water!

In the evening, Rob master-minded a tasty meal consisting of tortillas, refried beans, shrimp, grouper and cheese with a salad. Hey, this guy seems like he’ll work out just fine!

St. Croix to Tortola

January 22 - St. Croix to Buck Island

It was a short sail from St. Croix to Buck Island. By 11am, we were anchored in a white sandy bottom with crystal clear water. Buck Island is known for its great snorkeling. It’s a national marine park and has an underwater trail that’s marked, identifying the types of coral you’re looking at and also the types of fish that inhabit the reef area.

We took the dinghy to the trail and tied it up to a mooring. As soon as we got in the water, the very first fish we saw was a nosy grey shark, snooping around. The water was exceptionally clear, with lots of other snorkelers in the water who had come on tour boats. The reef was quite spectacular, with lots of varieties of coral such as elkhorn, brain, a soft tubular type and fan coral. Lots of fish too. We saw a number of barracudas, puffer fish, purple tang, clown and trumpet fish, groupers, parrot fish and many others (that I mostly know by “yellow fish, blue fish with stripes, etc). It was one of the best snorkeling swims I’ve done.

After snorkeling, we took a walk on the island’s trail. It started around the beach and wound up the hill. The first thing that we were greeted with was a sign on an inconspicuous tree. It stated “Menchineel Tree. Do Not Touch! Danger! Do not eat the fruit!“. Apparently, the tree is highly poisonous. Some of Christopher Columbus’ men got very ill from eating the fruit. We gingerly walked around the tree. Onward, there were panoramic views of the reef and of St. Croix from the summit. The foliage along the way was predominantly cactus. Some very unique looking specimens.

January 24 - Sailing to St. Thomas

The next day, we pulled up anchor and headed for St. Thomas, the main USVI island. It was an easy crossing and we even got in a little sailing. We anchored on the east end of the island, in a place called Red Hook.

Not long after anchoring, the wind started to pick up. Great, we thought! It turned out to be a restless night with the wind piping up to a steady 22 knots with stronger gusts.

Not a place we want to stay for long, but Red Hook had restaurants, bars and marine stores. We took a ride into town the following day on one of the safari taxis. It only cost a couple of bucks to go anywhere on the island in an open bed truck with bench seating. We got to Charlotte Amalie and soon had our fill of the place. It mostly consisted of duty-free shopping stores to attract the cruise ship tourists.

We asked around for a restaurant that offered free wi-fi to their customers. After following a couple of misguided leads we met a gal who told us to go to Hooters for good wi-fi. Honestly! We talked to her for a few minutes. She divulged that she had worked for Hooters, but left after becoming unhappy with the pay. Besides that, she wasn’t using her masters degree in education. She then made a career change and got a job teaching at a Catholic elementary school. Now she would have been a fun elementary school teacher (that I never had). Anyway, we did find Hooters and indeed it turned out to have good wi-fi and not a bad sandwich to boot. And, yes, the server was indeed well endowed!

That night, a friend of Dave’s came to sail with us for a few days. Greg is one of the people that Dave knew from Ashley Marina in Charleston. Greg is a yacht broker. He worked on the sale of Lahaina Roads to Dave. That same night, I booted up my Acer netbook and the unexpected occurred - it croaked. I tried several times to reboot it and got nothing but a dark screen.

I had to have a computer. The following day I frantically called around town and found out that K-Mart sold computers. As it turned out, I found an HP netbook at a decent price at Office Max. So if my blog sounds a little different, it’s because I have a new computer. :)

After the shopping spree, we went back to the anchorage. When we got to the dinghy, we found the inflatable going flat. Since we didn’t have a pump with us, we took a chance on making back to the boat. With the three of us in it and a good sea chop against us, the dinghy really started to soften. It was at once funny and worrisome. The dinghy was very near to collapsing and folding in half by the time we got to the boat. But we lucked out. It never felt better to grab a hold of Lahaina Roads‘ toe rail!

January 26 - A Quick Three Mile Motorsail to St. John

The following day we picked up anchor for Cruz Bay, St. John. It was only three miles to Cruz Bay from Red Hook. We got there very quickly but found it to be too busy. We moved on to Caneel Bay, an anchorage just east of Cruz Bay.

Two thirds of St. John, at one time, was owned by Laurence Rockefeler. He donated the land to the U.S. Park Service. Thus, even today, most of the island is a park. The park service maintains a bunch of moorings to preserve the underwater reefs. So when we got to Caneel Bay, we picked up a mooring for the night. It was a picture-perfect setting, with a white sandy beach lined with palm trees.

The next day we walked into the town of Cruz Bay. Nice little place, but again, a bit touristy. We got back to the boat and decided to move further eastward to Maho Bay. As we motored along, we could see a number of pristine looking beaches.

When we got to Maho Bay we again picked up a mooring. It’s cheap enough. For those sixty and over, the moorings are half-price ($7.50)! After lunch, we went snorkeling. Although there wasn’t a reef where we were, the snorkeling along a rocky shore was fantastic. I got a chance to follow a leather back turtle for several minutes and later followed a bat ray, as it was skirting around the sandy bottom looking for some scraps. Along with those creatures, I saw countless other varieties of fish.

Greg had to go into town to get his passport. While he did that, Dave and I took a hike. Great panoramas from some of the plantation ruins up the hill. Wild goats were walking by us like we weren‘t there. We struck up a conversation with two couples traveling together, while at the plantation ruins. They seemed interested to hear the tales of our sailing adventure. After a brief chat, we went our separate ways. Dave and I headed up the trail and decided to aim for an old church at a place called Coral Bay.

It turned out to be quite a hike with lots of ups and down. As we neared Coral Bay, all we could think of is that we had a long home and had no money to buy a beer! I suggested that we might try to hitch a ride back. So we started walking down the main road. Just then, a car pulled up and the people inside waved at us. It turned to be the same couples we had met at the ruins (wisely so, they had driven to Coral Bay).

They were on their way to Skinny Legs Bar and Grill, which reportedly had the best burgers in St. John. We told them that we were on our way back hoping to hitch a ride, besides, we didn’t have our wallets with us. They waved us good bye and drove away.

A few minutes later, as we were walking down the street, the couples drove up behind us and said, “Hey, why don’t you come to lunch with us, we’ll treat!” We said “Sure!”

It turned out to be a really enjoyable lunch. Mary Jane, George, Paul and Julia were truly wonderful people and we had a great time exchanging stories. After lunch, they even gave us a ride back, which in their tiny Suzuki required MJ to sit on George’s (her husband) lap. Funny how things turn out.

When we got back to the boat I went snorkeling. Near where we were anchored there was a small cay called Waterlemon Cay. It was a neat swim. There were millions of small silver fish in the water. The brown pelicans were having a field day dive-bombing them. They were doing so all around me and I could watch the pelicans dive under water and fill their bills full of fish. What a sight! On the way back to the boat, a moray eel was quite exposed and curiously looked at me, while further up a bat ray effortlessly glided through the water. All in all, not a bad day.

January 29 - Off to Soper’s Hole, BVI

After one more fascinating snorkeling session at Waterlemon Cay, we left for the British Virgin Islands. In only minutes we were cruising Soper’s Hole looking for a mooring or a good spot to anchor. It was tight. There were dozens of other yachts there.

We finally anchored in twenty meters, deeper than we like to be in. Sopers is very commercial. To me it reminds of the many portside villages in the U.S. built to attract the out-of-town tourists. We took a short walk around the place and went back to the boat. It was happy hour!

January 30 - Just Jost van Dyke

I’m surprised at the short distances to all of these islands. Leaving Soper’s Hole, we made it to Great Harbor at Jost van Dyke under sail in not much more than a half hour. The beaches here are surprisingly lovely - white sand, palm trees and beach bars with wi-fi. What more can a yachty ask for? Near us is Foxy’s and in the next bay, which we walked to, are several more bars. We sat down at Sandy Bottoms where several catamaran yachts had pulled up near the beach. It was a nice afternoon.

January 31 - Feb 1

Dave and I are now sitting in Road Town, Tortola at a small French cafe having a French baggette with a buttery St. Marcellin cheese that reeks of cholesterol. Since Jost van Dyke we made a brief stop at a beautiful bay called Cane Garden Bay, then anchored at Lee Bay. Early this morning we motored to Trellis Bay on Tortola, right near the airport. Greg left from there this morning and we'll be expecting Rob tomorrow night.

It's been a while since I last updated the blog. It's not always easy to find a good internet cafe. So it's not always a simple matter. But here's the update. -g

January 11 - Our Road trip to San Juan

The title of the this blog entry actually should read "Road trip to San Juan, Costco and West Marine". We rented a car from Sydney, a very accommodating fellow, who runs an auto body repair shop and car rental business. We first drove to Caguas, a city in the mountains, about half way to San Juan. We found the Costco easily but then determined that it would be better to do the shopping on our way home. We continued on to the northeastern side of PR, where the coastal town of Fajardo lies. I guess because the town caters to the yachting community, that West Marine decided to place their shop here. Dave was like a kid in a candy shop, and easily managed to spend a few hundred dollars on some items, including two very comfortable cushioned seats. We have found that having good seats are important - we spend a lot of time sitting in the cockpit or elsewhere on the boat.

We then continued onward to the capital of PR, San Juan. We didn't have that much time. We decided to concentrate our touring only on Old San Juan and and the San Felipe del Morro Fortress. The area is beautiful and historic, dating back to 1495, when Christopher Columbus discovered the bay. The fort was built over centuries, starting in 1540. The walls are thick with cannons still pointing out to sea, as if they are ready to shoot at Dutch and English invaders. The stock rooms and the barracks are empty and appear stark. Around the fort there are a number of sentry boxes where soldiers would keep a lookout for enemy vessels. An interesting fact, I found, was this fort and a number of other forts in the Caribbean, are designed by Juan Antonelli, an Italian architect.

Outside of El Morro we walked along a very large grassy area towards Old San Juan, where lots of kids were busy kite-flying. Old San Juan reminded Diane and I of Casco Viejo in Panama City. The cobble streets are narrow and the buildings are colorfully and tastefully painted. Dave spotted a tapas restaurant, so we stopped for a late lunch with a glass of wine. We finished off our tour of the old town with the Plaza de Armas, a very characteristically designed Spanish square with a fountain in the middle, surrounded by distinct buildings and a church.

The drive back was long. We got stuck in a major traffic jam - rush hour in San Juan is like LA traffic. We stopped at Costco for food and supplies on the way back to Salinas.

January 12-14

In the morning, we picked up anchor and headed east to Las Patillas, a small fishing village. The wind was on the nose as were the seas, but it was a short hop, so it didn't bother us to pound into it for a three hours. We didn't have the urge to dinghy to shore, so I went for a swim while Dave and Diane read and relaxed. Our next stop was going to be the island of Vieques, part of the Spanish Virgin Islands.

We got an early morning start at 5 a.m. to get an assist from offshore winds and gentle seas making the passage to Vieques an easy one. We were anchored in Puerto Real (Esperanza) before noon, ready for a beer. From the web site "noonsite.com" we had gotten information that there was a marina, moorings, showers and wi-fi here. All of that turned out to be false. No such place, although one of the bars in town calls itself Vieques Yacht Club. They said that we could use their shower, if we wanted to. Interesting how information can get so screwed up!

We celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary on the evening of Jan 13 here in Esperanza. The three of us went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant along the beach called El Quenepo. We had sushi for appetizers, a glass of wine for us, while Dave enjoyed a Crown Royal (or two). Dinner and the service were both excellent. A lot of the restaurant crew seemed to be from the U.S. catering to the U.S. tourist.

Using the "publico", public vans that for $2-3 give you ride to the other side of Isla Vieques, we went to Isabel Segunda, the main town that sits on the north coast of the island. We walked up to a small fort that overlooks the town and found out that it was built too late to see any action. It was only used as a jail. Nice view those convicts had! A few shops, bars, restaurants and a town square make up Isabel. We had lunch at a place that offered free wi-fi, then took the publico back home.

In the evening we signed up with a local tour company to go to Puerto Mosquito, the bioluminescent bay of Vieques. We boarded an old school bus, drove a few miles out of town on a densely, overgrown, bumpy road and arrived at the bay. There they had a electric pontoon boat that took us to the middle of the bay to go snorkeling. It was a new moon and somewhat cloudy, so it was dark. It was a pretty cool experience when we got into the water and stirred around. Each hand or foot movement caused a bright, momentary phosphorescent glow. As our guide described it, it was a flagellate, a micro-organisms that was lighting up. It does so as a defense mechanism, unlike the fire-fly, which glows to attract other fire-flies. The flagellate feeds on plankton that comes from the mangroves that surround the bay. So when one of the other bays that had this micro-organism began to trim back the mangroves, they found out that flagellate disappeared.

The next day we were planning to head out to one of the other islands of the Spanish Virgins but the weather turned on us. A low pressure area is causing a rash of squalls and we therefore have decided to stay put for now.

One thing I haven't talked about is our rat and mouse problem. In the Caicos, while tied up at a slip, a rat boarded us. We started finding food packages chewed up and then clearly heard a lot of commotion at night. Initially, we put out traps. But that didn't get him. Next we tried poison pellets laced with peanut butter. Problem resolved. But then another long-tailed freeloader came aboard. We decided that it was a mouse judging by the very tiny foot prints visible on a sticky trap (that it managed to evade). The mouse fared longer than the rat and kept outsmarting us and not taking the bait. But it too finally succumbed to poison pellets mixed with peanut butter (chunky style). But just as we started to believe that finally we were rodent-free, as we were sitting in the cockpit, a mouse reared its head, having come from the aft section of the deck. Where he came from is a mystery, but the new hunt is now on! Stay tuned.

January 18 - Vieques to St. Croix

We got up at 5:30a.m. We had been in Esperanza (Vieques) for several days, with rainy weather. But today was the day that I was going to take Diane to the airport. As we got closer to the pier with the dinghy, I noticed that there was a lot of surge and that the tide was low. That meant that the dinghy could get caught under the pier if left unattended - not a good thing. I decided that instead of accompanying Diane to the airport I'd just see her off at the taxi. Not a satisfying good-bye.

By 8:30 a.m., Dave and I were headed out the harbor of Esperanza. At first, we were getting really bashed around by sloppy seas and a fresh breeze. But after a couple of hours, things got better and we were able to motorsail towards the west end of St. Croix (not where we wanted to go), in a more comfortable manner. We closed up on St. Croix with plenty of light, but it took another couple of hours to get up to Christiansted. By then it was dark.

The channel into St. Croix is well marked with flashing red and green buoys. But even then with the GPS and all, it was still a bit tricky because there's a reef right in the middle of the channel. We got in okay and anchored.

Our first glance of St. Croix in the morning was inviting. It's a good harbor, lots of activity, surrounded with green hills on one side and an island on another.. But it's a strange place. It has a French name, with people driving on the wrong side, Danish architecture and history, currently a U.S. possession and yet it's populated with lots of black people who speak a Creole-like language. There IS an explanation for all of this.

St. Croix really has a pretty interesting history. Two thousand years ago, St. Croix was inhabited with tribes coming up from South America (mostly Orinoco, Venezuela). These descendants actually greeted Christopher Columbus in 1493 (in a hostile manner), sending him and his crew scurrying away. Not to be deterred, Chris still had the gumption to name it Santa Cruz. When, later, the French took it over, they renamed it in French to St. Croix. The French then sold it to the Danes, who subsequently sent troops and built forts to protect their "Danish East Indies". Bottom line is that many of these islands (including St. Croix) were all part of the sugar trade done on the backs of slaves.

January 20 - Christiansted, St. Croix

It takes a while when you get to a new anchorage to find your way around. This is particularly true with these types of places. So far, Dave and I have done well to find the grocery, hardware and marine stores, the laundromat and a free wi-fi spot. But other things really took some work. The guide book states that air conditioned buses go around the island every half hour. We asked numerous locals about buses and no one knew anything about buses. One gal did go so far as to admit that someone she worked with came on a bus. We could ask her when she came to work in a couple of hours!

After more rigorous research we did manage find a bus stop. For a mere dollar, the bus took us all the way across the island to Fredericksted. Pretty place. It sits on the south western side of the island and is where all the cruise ships deliver their load of tourists to prowl the island. We walked along the beach to the Coconut bar and had a beer. The bar is nothing special, but it is smack down at the water surrounded by palm trees. Very cool. Afterwards, we walked through town and bought another beer for the long bus ride back. Dave asked the lady at the counter if it was alright to drink a beer while walking around. Her response was hilariously innocent. "Of course. Why not?"

The next day we picked up anchor and went to a historical beach inlet, called Salt River Bay. The area is a tropical ecosystem with prehistoric and colonial-era archaeological sites and ruins. It's surrounded by large mangrove forests and coral reefs. This is the place that Christopher Columbus stopped at in 1495. At that time he was not greeted with open arms. In fact, a fight ensued, killing one of his people. Columbus left soon thereafter.

We did appreciate the beauty and serenity of the area and snorkeled at a nearby beach and at the reef entrance. I tried to snorkel over to a ship wreck, while Dave cruised around in the dinghy, but didn't make it because of the wave action in and around the wreck.

The following day we came back into Christiansted to get to an internet cafe and pick up some supplies. Next we'll be going to Buck Island, a national (ocean) park and then from there head to St. Thomas. Ciao.

I've been having problems publishing the photos, so will try to upload them separately. Try the following link to a picasa album (you might have to cut and paste it):

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=george.glaser&target=ALBUM&id=5425161664065175825&authkey=Gv1sRgCN7tmaP3_c7TYQ&feat=email

January 2-6 - The Mona Passage to Puerto Rico

We left Ocean World with every intention of going to Samana, but along the way we experienced such friendly winds that we couldn't help but want to take advantage of them. Usually, as we had found all along our trip, the winds were coming from the SE. Now, this window of opportunity was providing us northerly winds with even a hint of a westerly component in it - perfect for a sail to Puerto Rico.

The cruising book that we had been following mentioned that Samana looked like the Bora Bora of the Caribbean. To me that made it a reasonably compelling to visit. But with it, some of the other comments were very negative in that security was not good, people boarding the boat at night, rampant stealing of outboards and a somewhat greedy port captain, who charges more than he should be charging. With that in mind and the weather conditions, we decided to pass up Samana. We headed for Punta Cana, a marina on the eastern coast of the island.

That evening, Kristi woke me up at around two in the morning to tell me that it looked like we had a wind shift and that it was starting to rain. Sure enough, the wind had completely come around. We were now heading right into it and it was starting to rain hard! The rain and wind persisted for a while but eventually it subsided and things got back to normal. In other words, it was just a little nasty squall that had made its presence known.

That morning, when all of us were up, we got to thinking about Punta Cana. Why go there at all? It's just a stop along the way to Puerto Rico. With the gentle breeze on our side, why not just head straight across the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico? That's just what we did.

Sailing southeastward in the Mona Passage can be downright ugly. But with the wind we had, it was easy. During the afternoon we even decided to try out Dave's new radial spinnaker. It took a bit to figure out how to successfully hoist the sock that it was in but once we got that aloft, the blue and white sail opened up beautifully. We sailed for a couple of hours with the spinnaker until the wind lost most of its zip.

We were now starting on our second night out at sea. That evening we passed by Desechio Island (the discarded one). It was spooky - it looks like a huge flying saucer coming out of the sea. We sailed by it, keeping it to port, about a mile away. We had decided to enter the port of Boqueron by night mostly because it was a wide open harbor, with good markings and it was a full moon. But as we approached the harbor, we spotted a movement in the water not too distant from us. Suddenly we noticed it was a boat without any lit navigational lights. It made a sudden turn towards us and came to a stop a short distance from us. We had the VHF on channel 16, when we heard them state that they were the coast guard and were identifying us. After a few minutes they sped away, apparently satisfied that we were not drug runners or bringing in illegal aliens. Definitely a weird experience. We continued onward and dropped anchor at 4am in Boqueron harbor. After getting the boat in order we got some well deserved sleep, surely dreaming of pirates, parrots and drug runners.

In the morning, after coffee, a very friendly Dutch couple aboard Elza came by to give us the scoop on Boqueron. They welcomed us and gave us the name of a taxi driver who could drive us to Mayaguez to get us cleared through customs and immigration. That all worked out fine. What didn't was dinner. During our conversation with the Dutch fellow, I spoke to him in my feeble Dutch, while he spoke in Dutch and a somewhat halted English. From our conversation, I understood that he was asking us to dinner. I told him we would bring a dish too and something to drink. That evening, arriving on their boat, we brought our dish and what we were drinking but were surprised to see to signs of a dinner in the makings. We all gave gave each other that glance of despair, knowing that we'd have to make do with the drinks we brought as our dinner. That evening, when we returned to Lahaina Roads, we all attacked the bean salad we had brought, like we hadn't eaten in a week.

Boqueron is a small, sleepy village that apparently gets the weekend crowds. There are a number of restaurants, bars and sidewalk vendors selling oysters, clams and conch. We were there just prior to the Three Kings holiday, so most of the town was very quiet.

The following morning we left Boqueron and motored to Cabo Rojo, a small bay, about two hours away, with a mangrove anchorage under a lighthouse. We had plenty of time to take a long walk around the lighthouse and to a beach and afterwards, also had time to take a refreshing swim around the boat before it was cocktail time.

La Parguera was our next stop. I really wanted to see it because in his book, Bruce van Sand refers to La Parguera as the Venice of the Caribbean. Well, that was a stretch but it was in fact an interesting sight to see all the small homes built on the water, with boat garages, all surrounded by mangroves. We took a walk along the main street and found a place for lunch. We ordered a Mofongo and some Empanadillas. Mofongos are made of a bed of mashed plantanes topped with a choice of shrimp, lobster, chicken, beef or pork. While Empanadillas are a deep fried pizza pocket filled with the same kinds of things as the Mofongos. Both are very tasty.

For dinner, we went to La Parador, a waterfront restaurant in town. We all had seafood dishes. Kristi ordered lobster. What arrived was a huge lobster, cut in half. Lucky for us, she was kind enough to share the gigantic beast with us.

La Parguera also is known for its bioluminescent bay. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the boat, we were too full and too tired to explore - besides. we didn't really know where the lagoon was located.

We left La Parguera at 7:30a.m, and headed for Ponce. With the exception of a quick run-aground (in sand) I managed to steer us into, it was an uneventful trip, taking only about three hours.

January 7-8 We arrive in Ponce, Puerto Rico

I was in Ponce harbor over thirty years ago when I helped a friend bring a sailboat back to Ft. Lauderdale. Really, all I remember from the journey was eating lunch at a tiny restaurant owned by a friendly older lady who made a pretty normal sandwich, until it got to the end. At that point she squished and heated the sandwich in a flat waffle-like iron. To my surprise, it tasted great!

As we come into the harbor, it looks different from the little I remember of it. After getting the boat settled into a slip at the Ponce Yacht Club we went for a walk to look around. Our first mission was to find a marine hardware store to search for PR charts. We didn't have any because initially it wasn't our intent to come here. Unfortunately, the yacht club was far from town and anything else. After a twenty minute walk we did manage to find a marine parts store and a warehouse-type food store. We bought a chart and some wine.

On the morning of the 8th, Kristi was leaving us to go back to California to work. Dave and she went to the airport while Diane and I went to the downtown area. She didn't know it until she got to the airport, but the airline she was flying from Ponce to San Juan was taking her and seven other passengers on a Cessna!!! As for Diane and I, our tour of Ponce was brief. In spite of its history dating back to 1692, when Ponce de Leon's grandson founded the city, we didn't find too much of interest. A few nicely maintained historical buildings, but many older ones are in disrepair. The historic downtown plaza is pretty, with a small park, fountains, a cathedral and an old fire house. That's pretty much it.

January 9 = Ponce to Salinas

We got up early in the morning, maneuvered out of the slip and were at the fuel dock before they opened. We got the fueled up and were on our way out of the channel by 8a.m. Not bad.

It wasn't far to Salinas, but as the wind picked up to just over 20 knots, with the seas coming right into us, it slowed us down to 4.5 knots. We slogged through it and shortly after noon we entered Salinas harbor. Each side of it was covered with mangroves. We stayed pretty much in the center of the channel all the way to the anchorage. After getting things settled, we took the dinghy to the local marina dock and tied up.

The walk into town was scenic, much of it being along the water. It took about one half hour before we got to the post office and the mercado. After that we walked further and saw the town's plaza, cathedral and some other assortment of buildings. Nothing memorable to note.

So here we are, tomorrow we're off to sail further eastward along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. We're slowly making our way towards the Spanish Virgins, then onward to U.S. Virgins and the BVI. Stay tuned for more.

December 28-31 - A White-knuckle Ride into Ocean World Marina

After we left South Side Marina we sailed for about six hours and anchored off of Long Cay in the early afternoon. We took the opportunity to snorkel around and found enough conch for dinner along with an inquisitive five foot long reef shark, who came by to check us out. That size fish kind of gets your attention!!! Good thing we weren't spearing fish because they really come around when they have a scent of blood.

The young fellows from Lady Euphoria, who we'd talked to at South Side Marina, came in a couple of hours later and anchored near us. The following day we left with gentle northerlies for all day and most of the night. Lady Euphoria were near us for part of the time, but they ended up going to Luperon because of a fuel shortage. At around 2am the wind freshened and Diane woke me up to let me know things were getting a little more lively. We had to reef and cut some sail because even the auto-pilot wasn't able to control the boat. I woke up Dave to tell him that we needed to reef. With me steering and Dave doing the deck work, we got things under control. It was a rough and tumble sail change - the main wouldn't reef, so eventually we just brought it down and only flew the jib. Not a bad choice since by the time we go to the DR it was blowing from the north at over 22 knots.

As we approached Puerto Plata, it struck us that it was a commercial port as opposed to a port that also accommodates yachts. We made an instant decision to go to Ocean World Marina, just a few miles west of Puerto Plata. We called them up on the radio to make sure they had room for us and where exactly they were. They responded with what we wanted to hear. They had room for us and they would have the Customs & Immigration people ready for us when we got there.

Getting into the Ocean World Marina was not a piece of cake. The marina had told us to follow a high red light that was ashore. The problem was that there were two red lights. Initially, we headed for the wrong light until we noticed that it didn't coincide with the GPS readings. We shifted and headed for the other red light. After a few minutes the sight of the casino/marina building became clear. Then we saw the buoys leading to the entrance. We headed towards the buoys and proceeded. The marina fellow called us back and told us to stay close to the buoys and make a sharp left at the entrance. As we proceeded inward, we were surrounded on both sides, by breaking waves. A little more excitement than we had bargained for that early in the morning after not much sleep, but hey, that's the cruising life.

We got the boat secured in the Ocean World marina with the help of the marina staff. There was a some surge to deal with, as waves broke high just outside the marina break wall. But it felt good to be peacefully docked.

During the next couple of days we went into Puerto Plata for supplies. We were happy to be in the marina. Puerto Plata was more of a commercial harbor, not convenient for yachts. Also, the harbor is open to the north, making it a poor anchorage for northerly winds we were experiencing. It's pretty difficult to walk around town without getting offerings from tour guides who want to show you around for 100 pesos. We ended up with Pepe, who escorted us to various stores and a restaurant. Later on we acquired the services of another guide, who wanted to take us to a marine store. With him we walked through some of the barrios on the outskirts of town. All-in-all an interesting escapade.

New Year's at Ocean World Marina

The night started calmly enough with drinks and dinner on the boat. But after all, it was New Year's eve. We put on our finest pairs of shorts and t-shirts and walked over to the Casino. Initially, it was an odd and surreal feeling because as we walked in, we appeared to be at a small Las Vegas casino where we were the only customers (actually, there were a few more customers there). After checking out the slot machines, we were almost ready to leave, when Dave suggested we all sit down at a black jack table and play with 500 pesos (about $15). The first few rounds we lost. But then our luck changed, particularly for Kristi. We continued to play, ordered drinks and after a while ended up with more money than we had come with - a sure sign of a good evening ahead.

Upstairs from the casino was the disco. We went to have a look, but like the casino, it was eerily absent of New Year's revelers. We were it! And we were out of there. We then went for a walk towards the beach side bars and restaurants. Indeed there were some low level parties going on. Nothing tempting, though. But in the distance, we saw spotlights and heard what sounded like live music. We walked towards the sounds, along the moonlit beach. As we approached the venue we could see it was a huge New Year's party with lots of white linen tables, bars and food areas. The band that was playing sounded just like U2 and upon closer inspection, we could noticed Bono belting out the words to "Without You". Could it be that we had just crashed in on a private New Year's party starring U2? It took a while (and a few drinks) before we realized that the band playing was a U2 tribute band. They sounded and looked so much like the real thing.

After feeling at ease (and assured that we weren't going to get thrown out), we ordered a bottle of champagne, found some party hats and walked up to the front where people were milling around and dancing to Hollywood U2. Definitely surreal - here we were, a few minutes until 2010, in the Dominican Republic, dancing to the pulsating beat of U2 (well it sounded like them). At midnight, the band finished their last song and gave a toast. We danced a little longer but then headed home.

Getting back was not as easy as getting in. There appeared to be more security guards, all armed with shotguns. But eventually, after jumping over a fence and finding the beach, we got a couple of the gun-toting security guards to escort us towards the marina. In fact, they insisted with the escort because they were worried for our safety. "Muy peligroso!" they said. Exhausted, we got back to the boat around 2am. What a wild way to start a new decade.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera along. So there is no photographic evidence of just how much fun we had. Probably a good thing!

December 19-27 - Our Week Long Stay in Providencial

We have been at South Side Marina for over a week. On the 19th Chris (Kristi's son) and Ana (his fiancee) flew in from Miami to join us for a week. The following day, Diane and Kristi arrived. Knowing that six adults would be a tight fit on Lahaina Roads, I had checked into the availability of nearby hotel rooms. For the most part, Caicos caters to the "all inclusive" vacationers, making rooms very expensive. The typical room at one of these ocean front resorts starts at $400 per person per night and goes up from there. Naturally, that was out of the question.

Simon, the marina manager, came up with the solution. Unfortunately, his mother in England had passed away. He and his wife were leaving for England on the day Diane and Kristi were arriving. So when he offered me his 46' motor sailor for $50 a day, I jumped at it. With a 15'x15' aft stateroom, hot shower, full galley, TV and more, Diane and I would be very comfortable and yet remain close to Lahaina Roads.

A little about the islands. There are eight major islands in the Turks & Caicos chain. The Caicos Islands are comprised of West Caicos, Providenciales, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, East Caicos and South Caicos. The Turks Islands are Grand Turk (the capital) and Salt Cay. The marina where we're staying is on Providenciales.

Like so many Bahamian islands, also the Turks and Caicos believe that Columbus first made landfall on their islands. Generally, however, Ponce de Leon is given the credit for first sighting the islands. When listening to what language people speak, one can really understand the impact that the various powers have had on the T&C. For centuries, starting in the 1500's, the islands passed from Spanish, to French, and then to British control. The result is that you hear dialects with Spanish and French influence. But generally people speak English and we find them to be very friendly and polite people.

Also like the Bahamas, salt mining became the dominant industry in the T&C's after they were colonized in the 1600's. The reason the salt collectors were drawn here was because of the shallow waters. Good for them, but bad for sailing around the islands for us. Even with the number of islands, cays and the extensive barrier reef, they don't offer much in the way of cruising grounds and anchorages for visiting yachts. With Chris and Ana only with us for a week, and with the weather forecast including a mid-week storm, it didn't look like we could give Chris and Ana much of a taste of the island group. With that in mind, we decided to rent a car for the week. With the car we explored various areas of the island, but never got to any of the others.

On one of the days, we drove to the far north western part of the island, where we figured there would be some good snorkeling beaches and perhaps find surfing waves for Chris. The beach was rugged, with a little too much wind to snorkel. However, the barrier reef came in close to the beach with the surf breaking nearby. Chris was able to catch some waves, but the sets were confused and the area was pretty shallow. It wasn't long when he was back. But the beach combing was good. Lots of interesting looking shells and tide pools.

With Simon and Sharlyn gone, another cruising couple helped run the marina. Jack and Linda are a retired couple from Maryland and cruise with their dog, Skipper on New Attitude. Each evening at 5pm, the cruisers get together for happy hour under the marina's palapa. We've all been enjoying it so much that the happy "hour" has turned into two hours. On Christmas Eve, after an early happy hour and dinner, the eight of us headed to a beach restaurant called the Conch Shack. They had advertised it to be a night of "live" music. When we got there we found out that it was one guy with a guitar and a karaoke machine playing reggae music and other rock standards. Rum punch was the drink of the evening.

On another occasion we had lunch at the Conch Shack. The food we ordered consisted of a variety of conch dishes, including curries, soups and fried conch. It was very tasty but probably didn't help my cholesterol..

Christmas day was pretty uneventful. It's an odd feeling being in a tropical climate, walking around in shorts during Christmas. During the day we ventured out in the car and explored other local beaches. In the late afternoon, the six of us had a pot-luck dinner with Jack, Linda, Bob and Susie. It turned out wonderfully. We had turkey, ham, salad, potatoes, brownies, pie and ice cream.

There are a number of lakes in Provenciales. One near the marina is called Flamingo Lake. We had questioned some locals about flamingos, but they didn't seem to know about them. One day, as we were heading out of the marina, we spotted a group of flamingos standing near the shoreline. Fortunately, we were able to get close and observe these graceful pink birds for some time. One of them appeared to be doing a dance - it was hilarious to watch. Every so often, they would bury their heads underwater to dine on the algae, small insects and small shrimp that were probably present in the water. Apparently, these foods are rich in beta-carotene, which is what tints the flamingos' feathers pink. Seeing these wild flamingos was definitely a highlight of our stay.

Tonight is our last happy hour with our friends at South Side Marina. The time to depart is upon us. Chris and Ana are flying out today and we are making final preparations to leave early tomorrow morning. This includes calling for Customs & Immigration, topping fuel and water, last minute shopping and getting things put away on the boat. We first will sail to Long Cay and the following day sail to Big Sand Cay. There we'll await a good weather window for the ninety mile sail to the Dominican Republic.

We wish you all a happy holiday season and a very happy and healthy New Year.