August 9, Salinas, Puerto Rico
Slow to update = On "island time"
So, we left Luperon in the DR at dusk on 7-11. Before we had "permission", I had to go through the usual chinga-la-chinga with the "authorities". Q: How many "officials" does it take to get a stupid "despacio" from Luperon? A: About 15, and it took about 3 hours. I think they lost brain cells since I last spoke to them. Honestly, literacy is not a job requirement. And, luckily for me, I realized they couldn't do math either. So, I handed the "equivalent" of $20 in their local currency minus a big chunk. (It was a bullshit fee they made up - complete with no receipt, which they promised). The two remaining geniuses looked at the money and pretended to do a calculation in their head. Duh, and they took it.
We motored straight to Samana in two nights and a day arriving in the morning. Not without incident, of course. We got "floodlighted" in the dark early A.M. by an unknown vessel, who we assumed was an authority. We were in radio contact but with the language barrier we had no idea, really, who these people were. Also, we could not see them. I was not about to slow down. I just held my course and got my flaregun ready to fire, if necessary. You never know. After about 20 tense minutes of questions/answers with our limited Spanish, they left. Later in the morning a boat was trying to head into us despite our course changes. I, again, was ready for a possible attack. I was tired and pissed off at the threatening course changes they did in order to confront us. I radioed them to state their intentions, along with other choice words and some Spanish, and they immediately backed down and disappeared.
Pulling into Samana, I didn't even get my anchor set before the authorities arrived and tried to board. I politely told them to come back in a few hours as I was tired. They complied. Later, they took my stupid Luperon despacio (and some money for port fees) and told me that I would have to get another one when I wanted to leave.
Samana was pretty fun. The people were great, there were things to do. We had a good time exploring the area.
We had to wait for weather for the crossing to Puerto Rico (the Mona Passage). When it was time to head out, I went to the commandancia for a despacio (you knew it was coming). I was told to pay $20 (bullshit fee, of course). When I asked to see something in writing, here was the story: There is an official paper behind a locked door behind the lady "assisting" us that has the fees on it. Key? No key. The commandancia is on vacation and no one has a key to this mysterious door. I left. My plan was then to sneak out of Samana. It worked. And off we went to Puerto Rico.
Our passage was relatively uneventful, motoring all the way as the little bit of wind was on our nose. We went around the large shoal of the west end of the DR and there were no lightning storms off Puerto Rico. Two nights and a day later, we arrived in Mayaguez, cleared in and immediately went to Boqueron on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. Although I love 3rd world countries, sometimes you just need a break. PR is like a breath of fresh air. It's clean, you can move about freely, it's relatively scam-free, and so beautiful.
We have a bunch of guidebooks for travelers and none mention Boqueron.
What a wild fun place. We anchored just offshore where there were, maybe, a
thousand or two beachgoers.
My friend Sean came from California to visit and stayed for a little over a
week.
We went east, just cruising the south coast with our friends Dave and Lea
from "Calixta" who we met back in Luperon and sailed with on and off since.
We visited La Parguera, Cayos Enrique, Ensenada, Gilligan's Island (not the
real one), Ponce, Isla Cajade Muertos, and are now in the Salinas area.
We toured around PR on different days with rental cars exploring waterfalls,
Old San Juan,
Farjardo, etc. We are heading off to another island as soon as I get
this update posted. Jeez, it's getting harder to sit in front of a
computer when it is so nice and beautiful outside.
Our plan now, (which is always subject to change, of course), is to stay back in this area until the worst of the hurricane season blows over. After all, it is well into August and the next few weeks are the most dangerous. The DR and Puerto Rico have the best spots to weather a hurricane. The south coast here has many great spots, one of the best is in Salinas. So we figure on going to the Spanish Virgins, US Virgins, and the BVI's while keeping a very close watch on weather. If something is going to hit us, we can run for cover downwind fast and hole-up. After all, many consider the Virgins to be ground zero for cruising. And how bad can it be waiting for weather here? So the next many weeks will be spent on countless spectacular islands and beaches - our job being to monitor the weather and be on call to travel fast, if necessary.
So, in an hour or so, we will head to another island nearby, then in the early morning, we will head to Vieques our first Spanish Virgin. Did I mention we are having a hell of a lot of fun?
August 22, St. John, US Virgin Islands
So, heading out of Salinas, PR, we scoped out our "hurricane hole" just east a couple miles. This will be our destination should we have a couple days warning before a hurricane comes. Then off we went to Vieques Island. We first went to Mosquito Bay on the south coast. You need to draw (depth of boat) less than 4 feet to get in (we draw 18" ha ha). This is one of the most bioluminescent/phosphorescent locations in the world. When you stir up the water or swim, you light up in a bright green display. I wish we could capture it on film. It was amazing. Christine looked like Tinkerbelle swimming.
Isla de Culebra was next. On the way, I
caught a nice Barracuda for dinner.
You would think Christine would have been excited. But, apparently, it
disturbed her afternoon nap.
But, when we got to Flamenco Beach, she woke up and started dancing.
Maybe it was the rum punch.
The U.S. military used to blow these islands up
with bombs for practice. Thankfully, that is now mostly history due to
local pressures and whatnot.
Then, it was time to go to Isla Culebrita.
We hiked up to the old lighthouse there for these shots. You can see
the local islands and St. Thomas.
Ok, so St. Thomas is so close. Let's go.
As we arrived in Charlotte Amalie, a seaplane touched down right next to us.
Wished I had the camera ready. What a bustling busy place.
Lots of pirate history here, of course.
To get to the north side of the island it costs $10 a head each way - no
buses - no shuttles. So, $40 for us to go to Magens Bay Beach.
Instead, I found a free shuttle compliments of Holiday Inn.
During lunch, we had an uninvited guest pop in.
Moving on, we decided to go to the east end of
St. Thomas. But we got chased by a pirate ship coming out of the
harbor. They passed us (going full throttle and towing a dinghy - go
figure). It was loaded with customers and they were issuing out
snorkel equipment. So, off we go to follow them. Buck Island was
the destination and it did not disappoint. Not in any of our travel
guides, cruising guides or local info - only on our charts. There were
several tour boats dumping people off to snorkel. We were the only
"real" boat there. It was one of the best snorkeling spots we have
been to. Tons of fish
and a nice wreck too.
Now, we're in St. John just off the beach in front of the Westin hotel (we're getting their internet from our boat). It's getting late so I'm going to hit the sack. Tomorrow is another day - another beach.