Puerto Rico South Coast

We left La Parguera on the afternoon of May 1 to be outside the reefs for a nighttime departure for points east.  Our plan was to go to a little island that has been nicknamed Gilligan’s Island because it resembles the one from the old TV series.  We bypassed that because it was close and we had great weather for sailing.  We continued to Ponce but got separated from Dream Walker because we sail much slower.  They went on to an island off the south coast called Caja de Muertos.  We arrived in Ponce at about 10:30 AM just as the showers kicked in.  Time for a nap!!

            Next day, we got our bicycles down and went to the fuel dock at the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club for dinghy gas.  While we were waiting on the attendant, a lady came out of her catamaran at the dock and struck up a conversation with me.  She gave me directions to all the places that we wanted to go for a major shopping excursion.  In the course of our discussion, she decided that she would just take her rental car and haul us all over town for our spending spree.  It was GREAT!  Tanya was so kind and patient with all the shopping we needed to do.  We went to Sam’s Club, Santiago Cash & Carry, Auto Zone, and Pueblo grocery store.  I was in heaven!  We didn’t go to Wal-Mart (the only store I missed).  She and her husband leave their boat here full time and they live in Canada.  They hope to retire and cruise in a couple more years.  They have a beautiful Catamaran.  To repay the debt, we had them over last night for a Low Country Boil (like we had in the Carolinas last summer).

            Saturday, we were finally joined by Kolibrie and Celtic Rover.  They have been having problems with clogged fuel filters so they hope to stay here and get that taken care of.  We first met these characters back in Turks and Caicos.  Their problems make me feel grateful that our only big trouble was a stolen dinghy motor.  I’m still not ecstatic about the new one (still learning it’s idiosyncrasies) but it beats rowing!  In fact, there is a whole group of boats all going the same direction as us that we keep seeing along the way. 

            On Sunday, we left Ponce for points east.  We sailed and motor sailed to Salinas.  There in the anchorage were several boats that we have come to know through this trip.  After taking Roxy to shore, we were visited by multiple cruisers that we know.  Early Monday, we left again heading east.  About noon, we anchored at Puerta Patilla.  We had entertained thoughts of going farther but the tradewinds showed us different!  Time to return to the proven methods of Bruce Van Zant – author of Passages South The Thornless Path to Windward.  It is THE guide that most of us have been using during our travels down here.  The anchorage is quite rolly so we will probably be on the move again as soon as the winds die down (sometime after dark). 

            We had decided we wanted to go to Fajardo but after Darrell thought about it, they probably wouldn’t have the items we want to purchase and we don’t want to wait a week or more for them to order them.  We will see which direction the wind is blowing in a few hours and decide where we want to go. 

            Well, turning the corner of PR made making Fajardo possible.  We called the West Marine there to be sure they had the main items we needed.  We took a slip at Puerto Del Rey – a nice marina there.  A short taxi ride to West Marine and a few hundred dollars later, we were ready to go!  We got the eastern Caribbean upgrade for our chartplotter – nice not to have to look at the paper charts all the time while at the helm. 

            That afternoon, we departed for Isla Palomino.  A beautiful little island only about 4-6 miles east of Fajardo.  EARLY the next morning, we headed east again for Culebra.  A few squalls kinda kicked our butts on the way here but we made it in about 8 hours.  The bay is full of great anchorages and some former cruising friends of ours (Jack and Sue) rode out a Cat 5 hurricane (Hugo) here many years ago.  Anyway, this is the Spanish Virgin Islands and we have met some cruisers who have been coming back here for about ten years.  We are not sure where we will spend hurricane season here or farther south but we are very much looking forward to a reunion soon with our friends Kelly and Stephen (St. John USVI).  If she was really serious about dog sitting, we intend to let her so we can fly to TX and see that grandson again.  If she can’t or won’t watch Roxy, we know our brother & sister-in-law:  John and Jenny had a good veterinarian who boards dogs so we don’t have to pay the huge fees to fly Miss Roxy home with us.  At any rate, we have almost reached our “destination” – now what?!?!?!