Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands
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Fajardo, on the eastern point of Puerto Rico, lies about 400 miles
north-northeast of Bonaire.
After our families flew home from Bonaire at the end of Thanksgiving week,
we lingered on for four more days waiting for a high pressure system that
was camped over the eastern Caribbean to dissipate. This system was
pushing winds of 25 to 30 knots through the region, with waves to match,
and we didn't want to be at sea in those conditions. The weather reports
predicted that, by Thursday, the winds and seas would die down, and we
could expect easterlies of 10-15 knots and seas of 4 to 6 feet . Perfect for
a fast close reach up to Puerto Rico!
We left Bonaire on Thursday morning, rounded the northwestern tip of the
island, and turned to our course. We had a fantastic sail, clipping along at
up to 7 knots, heading directly to our Puerto Rican way point ... for four
hours. At that point, confounding the weather reports and our
hopes/expectations, the wind suddenly backed to the northeast, grew to 20
knots, and stayed there, right on our nose, for the next four days. Deja vu.
We stayed our course, motoring into the wind, for three days, until we had
north-northeast of Bonaire.
After our families flew home from Bonaire at the end of Thanksgiving week,
we lingered on for four more days waiting for a high pressure system that
was camped over the eastern Caribbean to dissipate. This system was
pushing winds of 25 to 30 knots through the region, with waves to match,
and we didn't want to be at sea in those conditions. The weather reports
predicted that, by Thursday, the winds and seas would die down, and we
could expect easterlies of 10-15 knots and seas of 4 to 6 feet . Perfect for
a fast close reach up to Puerto Rico!
We left Bonaire on Thursday morning, rounded the northwestern tip of the
island, and turned to our course. We had a fantastic sail, clipping along at
up to 7 knots, heading directly to our Puerto Rican way point ... for four
hours. At that point, confounding the weather reports and our
hopes/expectations, the wind suddenly backed to the northeast, grew to 20
knots, and stayed there, right on our nose, for the next four days. Deja vu.
We stayed our course, motoring into the wind, for three days, until we had
gained enough easterly progress that we were due south of the western end of Puerto Rico. At that point we turned north and sped on a close
reach up to the south shore of the island. By keeping a mile offshore in the lee of the island we were able to make great progress overnight,
sailing east through calm seas, and arrived at the Puerto del Rey Marina, at about 0900, Monday, December 3.
Now that we're finally in the Virgin Islands, we're looking forward to a few months of island hopping.
reach up to the south shore of the island. By keeping a mile offshore in the lee of the island we were able to make great progress overnight,
sailing east through calm seas, and arrived at the Puerto del Rey Marina, at about 0900, Monday, December 3.
Now that we're finally in the Virgin Islands, we're looking forward to a few months of island hopping.
Puerto del Rey Marina is huge ... the largest in the Caribbean ... with more than 1,000 slips,
dry stack storage, golf cart shuttle service to and from your boat, and a full complement of
on-site services. It's located at the foot of the mountainous rain forest, a few miles from
Fajardo, and is the gateway to the Spanish Virgin Islands.
dry stack storage, golf cart shuttle service to and from your boat, and a full complement of
on-site services. It's located at the foot of the mountainous rain forest, a few miles from
Fajardo, and is the gateway to the Spanish Virgin Islands.
| Taken from the top of the mast by Steve, who spent some time up there fixing (for once and for all, hopefully) the anchor light |
| We spent an afternoon wandering around Old San Juan and Fort San Cristobal, the original fort built by the Spanish to guard the entrance to the harbor. |
Haitian art
| Click on the picture below to see pix of our trip into the mountains to the rain forest |
| At the Arecibo radio telescope observatory, we had lots of discussion about gnarly skateboarding and x-treme biking/motorcycling |
| The Rio Camuy runs through a series of caves, sinkholes and underground and passageways, and is home to several species of bats |
| Mike is sure that by drinking the cool, clear cave water he added at least 12 minutes to his life |
More bats plus bar tending lessons at
the tour of the Bacardi distillery
the tour of the Bacardi distillery
| After leaving Puerto Rico we sailed east about 20 miles to Culebra, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands, lying about halfway to St. Thomas. Until not too many years ago Culebra's primary industry was serving as the receiving end of gunnery and bombing practice by the U. S. Navy, and it was even more recent that the island's beaches were finally cleared of unexploded ordnance. |
| We anchored in Ensenada Honda, just off the island's main town of Dewey. |
| Mike and Jay hitchhiked to Flamenco Beach on the north shore of the island. A lone military tank, now painted in bright Rasta colors, is mired at the west end of the beach, all that remains to attest to its long use by the Navy as a training range |
| After two days in Culebra, on December 14 we weighed anchor and sailed east to St. John, our only planned stop in the U. S. Virgin Islands. We have two goals: to celebrate Judd's 19th birthday at Willy T's, Norman Island, British Virgin Islands; and to pull into Roadtown, Tortola, BVI by the time we fly home for the holidays on December 21. |