Leaving Culebra

Just a quick note before we unplug from the internet.  We will leave our anchorage near the main town of Dewey in Culebra this afternoon and motor to the entrance of this big bay to take a mooring ball for the night tucked behind a reef.  The water there is much clearer and Dave will go under the boat and clean the prop as well as some of the growth that we know is probably flourishing on the hull.  Tomorrow morning, we'll leave Culebra with our buddy boat, Alibi, and sail south around the eastern corner of Vieques and anchor in Ensenada Honda, meaning "deep cove," which is why you see this name on many islands.  We'll spend the night, do a little exploration and then move on to another bay or two for a couple of more days.  By Thursday or Friday, we'll head over to Patillas to visit Don and Janis for a few days.  Don't know if we'll have phone connection on Vieques, but maybe.  Probably no internect connection though till we get to the main land (Puerto Rico) at the end of the week. 

Hope all is well with everyone.  Much love to all.

Isla Culebrita

View of Culebra from the Isla Culebrita lighthouse

Don and Janis, our good friends on Plane to Sea, visited us here in Culebra for a few days.  They took the ferry, which at the senior rate is $1.00 and $2.50 for the regular fare, from the "main land" of Puerto Rico.  On the cargo ferry, it takes almost two hours, but on the passenger ferry, it is just about one hour. 



Dave on upper deck of ferry near truck decorated with flag of Culebra

(On a side note, the week before last, Dave and I took the express passenger ferry to Fajardo on the main land to buy supplies at West Marine.  We caught the cargo ferry on our return to Culebra.  As we descended the ferry ramp and walked onto the concrete ramp on shore, we notice several men picking up a shiny blue casket and loading it into the bed of a pick-up.  Apparently the casket had slid out of the pick-up bed and onto the ground as the pick-up hit the dip between the ramps.  We suppressed our giggles at this morbid yet funny situation.)  Anyway, despite my catching a horrible cold with fever - the first time I've been sick in two years -- we had a wonderful visit and spent many hours telling of our adventures over the past several months since we'd last seen each other.

Janis and Don and old friends aboard Wayward Wind

The first evening of their visit, we invited our old cruising buddies over to Wayward Wind for sundowners.  We had 12 people aboard.  We then went over to Azaya, a lovely aluminum boat from Alaska, where we each brought something to BBQ, and I brought a big green salad.  It was a special evening to reconnect.  Back in April, Don and Janis left Luperon, Dominican Republic, on Plane to Sea with Axel and Mary Claire aboard Azaya and a couple of other boats.  I told about this fateful night in more detail in an earlier post.  After crossing the challenging Mona Passage, about 28 miles west of Puerto Rico in the dark early morning hours, Plane to Sea was hit by a large ferry and demasted.  Axel and Mary Claire were a few miles behind them but heard all of this on their radio. They immediately dropped their sails and motored to get closer to Don and Janis, if needed. They were also able to give accurate coordinates to help the US Coast Guard spot Plane to Sea, which they did.  Fortunately Plane to Sea stayed afloat, Don and Janis were not seriously hurt and the US Coast Guard was nearby and able to tow them the rest of the way to Puerto Rico.  They were so lucky.  Aboard Azaya, W\we all listened intently as Don and Janis recounted their horrific experience.  We all are so grateful that they were not seriously hurt or lost at sea.  They have spent these past months in Puerto Rico repairing Plane to Sea, which is now looking spiffier than ever.

Don and Janis on the bow of Wayward Wind on our way to Isla Culebrita

On Saturday morning, Alibi and Wayward Wind went to Culebrita or Little Culebra, just one hour away.  Culebrita is a lovely, uninhabited island with a couple of white sand beaches, nice snorkling and a rustic but working light house with fantastic views.

Dave and Don atop the lighthouse after climbing the rusty spiral staircase

On the opposite side of the island is a protected bay where the "Puerto Rican Navy" hangs out on Sundays.  Actually it is a haven for weekenders coming from the mainland in their power boats to spend family time, a favorite Sunday activity.  The weekender power boats are known as the Puerto Rican Navy.  And they know how to have fun!

'Puerto Rican Navy' at play

Come on, Fish!  Bite!

While in the anchorage, turtles continually popped up their heads all about the boat.  Yellow fin tuna teased us as they swam by.  We dropped a line with bits of bacon but no bite! 

It was the perfect place for all of us to chill and relax, especially me, the sickee. 

The big news is that Don and Janis like Puerto Rico so much that they decided to buy a house here.  It is on the coast in Patillas, a place that brings back not-so-good memories for us.  We stopped in the little bay last May on our way south with Dream Walker.  We'd arrived mid-day with the plan to go to sleep early and wake at midnight to make the upwind run to Vieques.  It happened to be Mother's Day and it seemed that everyone and their mother decided to celebrate at the local karaoke bar until late into the night.  Frustratingly funny or funnily frustrating, I'm not sure which, but not much sleep was had.  Don and Janis assure me that there is more to Patillas than karaoke and they have the photos to prove it.  They've bought a sweet little house, actually with a couple of units that they will rent out.  They are now busy doing land things such as buying a washer and dryer.  They still plan to sail but just to the US and British Virgin Islands for now.  I think they enjoyed sailing with us back from Culebrita.  We sure did. 

Wayward Wind and a catamaran on a mooring ball at Isla Culebrita

And now we are back to work on our exterior woodwork.  Last week, Darrell and Ann helped us get started with the prep work and showed us what to do.  The woodwork was looking pretty shabby.  Darrell brought his heat gun and scraped off all of the old finish.  We sanded, taped, cleaned and then put on the Cetol (not varnish).  The wood is actually very beautiful but we never saw it because of the previous dark finish.  Yesterday I applied the first coat of gloss.  It's looking good!

Darrell with heat gun and Dave and Ann.  Note stripped wood on right side and old dark finish on left side

Applying gloss to the window screen frames.  (See, Mom, I'm wearing my hat whilst in the sun.)

Here in Culebra there is a lovely little library and movie theater.  We've seen two excellent films, which I highly recommend.  The first was Beasts of the Southern Wild, a new film that is nominated for several Academy Awards.  The second was In a Better World, a brilliant Danish film that raises the age-old debate of turning the other cheek vs. standing up and fighting back, which won an Oscar for the best foreign film of 2010.  And back in Red Hook, we saw Lincoln, also excellent.

Oh, and I can't forget about changing the lightbulb yesterday...64 feet up the mast!  Yes, it was my first time to go up the mast.  Loved it!  Great views, too.



There's Dave on deck

Ensenada Honda anchoarge looking toward entrance

Next stop will be mainland Puerto Rico, maybe this weekend.  Adios.