An unexpected detour

We finally found a wireless "hotspot" (more like a "lukewarm" spot). I have to stand on one leg under a banyan tree with Lara holding my left ear, but at least it works...

Photos:

1. CROWDED marina!
2. Dinghy surfing (it's really not supposed to be that high or close!)
3. Happy fisherman!
4. Mangroves in a bay.
5. “Half” a fish thanks to a shark.



Dec. 4th: The trip into San Juan was…interesting. It pretty much rained the whole day so that put a damper on the various activities. The parade was cancelled. Most of the street vendors (which provides much of the ambiance of Old San Juan) were not out. Even the old Fort and protecting wall were not much fun in the downpour. While we were at the Internet Station we met a couple in their 50’s who have been traveling the world on their 38’ boat, “Flashback.” They have been out for 2.5 years. Mostly they have been traveling the warmer waters recently coming up from Turks and Caicos.

Around 3pm we gave up and left, found a taxi driver willing to drive the 2 hours back to Fajardo for only $85. This guy drove like a madman through the narrow streets and even through a fully flooded street. Once back at the ferry dock, we met up with a guy (40ish from Austin, TX) who we had seen earlier in the day at the car rental counter. It turned out that he was anchored right behind us in Ensenada Honda. He is three weeks into his “first retirement as he has the whole rest of his life to work”. He bought a 46’ Beneteau and is sailing around the area getting his boat set up for extended cruising. He’s been sailing the Caribbean for the past 20 years (in annual charters) and was a source of some great information and entertaining stories.

The ferry back to Culebra turned out to be the high-speed catamaran (on loan to the City to stand in for the 2.5 hour ferry that is currently broken) that traveled at 30+ knots and occasionally seemed to be airborne off the bigger waves. Quite a ride, making the trip in just 35 minutes! Lara was wishing she had some of her magic seasick pills… but survived.

We arrived back at the dinghy dock to find a party in full swing at the bar complete with dancing, dinner and a crowd at the “Dinghy Dock” bar and restaurant. After a long day, we just quietly worked our way through the party to our dinghy. We quickly pulled up our anchor and motored back “home.”

After another fitful night’s sleep with more howling winds and torrential rains, we got up to motor over to Bahia de Almodovar on the southeast coast of Culebra. Along the way we trolled (big surprise) and hooked a large kingfish (“Lara, I’ve got a fish!”). While reeling it in, it looked like I had two fish (“Hey Lara, I’ve got two fish!”) for a moment and then I only had half a fish (“Aw Lara, I only have half a fish” - see photo). A shark came up and got the back half of what was otherwise a nice fish!

When we got to the anchorage, we were surprised to discover a number of mooring balls and chose to tie up to one rather than anchor. Even though it is well protected by a reef and several islands, the wind howled all day long and built up a pretty good chop in the bay and very rough seas outside. We tried snorkeling but the waves had churned up the water and the visibility was poor. We had to fight our way back to the boat against current and waves (dodging reefs which can injure you with stinging cuts) and were exhausted by the trip.

So we sat around and read books and were generally lazy most of the day as the wind continued to howl and the boat rocked. Lara did the laundry and took advantage of the winds to dry everything pinned to the rigging. The rains provided a little extra rinse cycle.

In the late afternoon, we decided to try fishing around the mangroves. This is accomplished as Jim drives the dinghy and Lara hangs off the front end – giving us both room to cast our spin rods. We caught a number of small bass and Lara hooked a medium tarpon (as well as a few nice sized mangroves – those are catch and release too!) that gave us some good acrobatics before he threw the hook. Since you really don’t eat tarpon, we just called it a preemptive catch and release.

There is an interesting character attached to the mooring next to us (our only neighbor). He is on a rather spartan, live aboard boat – maybe 26’- no motor. He only has a Sunfish sailboat as his dinghy (basically a kayak with a sail). He and his little dog hopped on that and tacked across the bay to land (the winds were severe enough that he had to do a “dog overboard” drill). He has a Rastafarian look with wild hair and bare feet. They sat on the beach and watched the waves for a few hours before getting on their Sunfish and tacking back to their boat.

We’re going to get up early in the morning to try to make it is Isabel Segundo on Vieques. It’s about a 3-4 hour passage. Hopefully the winds cooperate!

Dec. 6th: Well the winds didn’t cooperate but we made it anyway. The wind and waves were big enough that we didn’t feel safe sailing so we ended up motoring and trolling (big surprise). We caught another big barracuda and hooked something else large enough to break off 60 lb. tackle.

Fishing off a sailboat takes some skill – by both the fisherman and his support crew. It looks something like this:

Jim yells, “fish on” whereupon, Lara takes the helm (if she is not already there as Jim is typically checking the maps, the GPS and using the binoculars to scan the horizon for the bouys or other markers). Jim carefully gets the rod and gets himself precariously perched off the back of the (still moving) boat and begins to reel madly. Lara attempts to slow down the boat as Jim yells at her that it is not slow enough (or too slow…it’s NEVER the right speed!). Lara thinks that Jim should reel the fish up so that the fish is water skiing his way to the back of the boat….Once the fish is close to the end of the (STILL MOVING) boat, Jim remembers that he forgot the fishing pliers (to remove large hooks and avoid even larger teeth) and Jim yells (or politely asks – depending on your perspective) for the pliers. While Jim holds the fish and the helm while he is hanging off the back of the boat, Lara goes below in the STILL MOVING boat, which is rocking violently. She emerges moments later, bruised and battered and muttering but still thankful to find that Jim is still aboard the STILL MOVING boat. Lara takes the helm, wrestles the camera from the camera case and takes the picture of Jim’s smiling face… Loads of fun!

We showed up in Isabel Segundo (Vieques) around 11am only to find out that there is NO fuel to be had unless you own jerry cans and are willing to endure a 30 minute taxi ride followed by trying to wrestle five gallon gas cans in and out of the dinghy (while the dinghy pitches back and forth banging on the bigger boat – sounds like an opportunity to create a huge diesel spill and another man overboard drill) …this is if you can even FIND gas cans. Apparently the closer gas station was put out of business due to their “shady dealings”. The other option was a 4 hour passage (under sail because we were low on fuel) to Puerto Rico through 6’-8’ seas in 20 knot winds. We chose option #2. So we are now in Puerto Rico at a really nice marina (Puerto Del Rey) on the east coast.

The sail over here was equal parts of “Wheeeeee! This is fun!” and “Oh no, we’re going to die!” We made 6-7 knots most of the way with the sails heavily reefed. In hindsight, the only really nerve-wracking part of this was the REALLY tight quarters to dock the boat. The “aisle” in the photo above is only about 10’ wider than our boat is long. I had to take it down that aisle and then spin it to back it into the slip while the wind was blowing and adding another degree of difficulty to the enterprise. I managed to get it docked without hitting anything (although it was closer that you can imagine!). This maneuver was accomplished with a fair amount of yelling (or polite asking – again with the perspective!). I am fairly certain I heard some insubordinate mutterings on the part of the crew. The docks in this place are so long that they have a system of golf carts to take people to and from their boats.

We’re now safely docked with a lobster (that we purchased on the dock in Vieques) boiling in the pot for dinner. We plan to rent a car tomorrow and do some sight seeing in the area. We want to visit the rain forest near here that is apparently the only rain forest in the US Park system. It will also be nice to get a “real” shower and do some laundry in a “real” machine. We’re getting a little TOO used to the lack of civilization!

Answers to random “Comment” questions:

Have you sailed naked yet? You can probably see photos on World Wide Web as a cruise boat snuck up on us and I think hundreds of Holland American tourists made us a part of their holiday albums. Just kidding! Sailing involves lots of ropes (we call them lines, sheets and halyards) and moving parts on a rocking boat. The idea of working the lines without clothing has frightening implications for many painful situations, the least of which would be rope burns and perhaps a Coast Guard rescue that might make Emily’s Coast Guard text books…. However, when we are anchored in deserted coves…..
As for planning...do you start each day with a plan? Yes. However, there is a primary plan and multiple, alternate plans. Regardless, each day starts with trying to get a weather report (most days we ask ourselves the question, “can we make a run for it across this passage?”- this is completely dependent on the weather report. Lately, we are just looking for weather that does not involve a “small craft advisory” – That pesky Hurricane Epsilon has created 8-10’ swells offshore with 20+ knot winds), if not, plan B is put into action. Plan B is the plan for the day when we are staying local. We typically look for new places to snorkel that involve routes where Jim could fish along the way. The next decision point is the anchorage. We are spending our nights in the most remote places with only a sandy anchorage available, as described by our new best friend, Mr. D.L Street (author of Street’s Guide). IF the wind is questionable and we are worried that the anchor will not hold, we implement the revised plan, which is another anchorage. All of this anchorage “kabuki dance” has to be accomplished before sunset. The Caribbean is reef-infested waters so you really have to navigate to your anchorage by both the maps and line of sight. All along, the helmsman calls out the depths to the person standing at the head of the boat. This person has the anchor controls in hand waiting to drop the anchor when told to do so… We have been too frugal (and mostly too remote) to use any of the mooring balls. Once the boat is “put to bed” for the evening, it is time to sit on the back deck for the cocktail hour and watch the sun go down. This is the best part of the “plan.”
Do you have a master schedule of places to go and see or do you just head out and see what happens? A little of both. We have a master “list” of places (Spanish Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands etc…) we want to see and within this list there are specific places and activities, such as visiting the bioluminescent bays and the tropical rain forest, fishing, snorkeling, diving, other sightseeing, etc. The timing and order is very flexible.
Do you eat on board or do you find it easier to eat on land while you are out and about? We have only eaten out a handful of times. We have visited bars and sampled the beverages (Lara trying the exotic, Jim trying the more “blue collar”) more frequently than eating out. The bars are where you can find some of the locals and find out about the places to go (or not to go). Mostly we don’t tend to eat out due to our remote anchorages. There are not any places to eat out and actually there have been very few places to “provision” – ie: find a grocery store. So, we eat aboard. We have had some tuna salads, fresh lobster, grilled steak/chicken/brats, sandwiches etc… This mornings breakfast was poached eggs with Canadian bacon, coffee and OJ. It has been pretty easy to cook on the two-burner stove with oven. Our “meat item” for dinner usually is more than we can eat so it becomes part of a breakfast omelet or a lunch sandwich the next day. There are a few “treats” that we brought along for snacks, etc. The Captain is convinced that the Galley Maid is secretly hoarding (and eating) the Nutter Butter Bars and leaving the nasty granola bars for the Captain. An investigation will have to be launched…..