We are in Vieques, Puerto Rico (Spanish Virgins – SP) waiting for strong NE/E winds to back off to cross to Culebra, another island within the SV. To get here we traveled the south coast of Puerto Rico taking short hops usually early AM hours before the strong E/SE trade winds and waves built. This is to make this thorny path to windward thornless as Van Sant says. We anchored at Boqueron, La Parguera, near Guanica – Gilligans Island, Ponce, Salinas, Cayos Ratones/Jobos with Kevin/Betty Lou and then onto Green Beach (Punta Arenas) Vieques where we finally found clear blue water with sandy beaches and better snorkeling.
The south coast of PR is mangrove lined which restricts the visibility but was interesting to explore. I was surprised that their were anemones and coral on the ends of the mangrove roots. We were hoping to find wild monkey’s but were told they moved inland and at the eastern PR coast (Santiago area). We weren’t impressed with Boqueron and learned that the south side of PR is very dry (actually has a UN Dry Forest that is protected) so the other side of the hills gets most of the rain. I guess that’s why El Yunque Rain Forest is on that side which we visited with Kevin and Betty Lou.
Ponce is the 2nd oldest city (became a city in 1877 but discovered in 1692) in PR so we took a taxi to provision and explore the city @ $10 which was only 5 miles from where we anchored. The anchorage shared a boardwalk and tourist area where day/night they have LOUD boom box music with locals that playing instruments and dancing to the music. Sunday’s tends to be family day where they celebrate and gather so it was fun to experience. Fortunately, we didn’t get their till Sunday when the large motorboat fishing contest was winding down so the music died down about 11pm. But it was descent music. In Ponce, we took a trolley for $2 to see all its historical sites/museums. The colonial historical buildings and square are beautiful. Even the historical Spanish grave yard was interesting and had a great view. The fire man were volunteers so the city built them a small red/black home when they retired which they can pass down to the family. There were about 30-40 of them all in the same area and matched the historical red/black firehouse (1883) that controls the trolley area now.
Salinas was where Kevin/Betty Lou came to meet us. We chose that area because the bay is very protected and a lot of cruisers even keep their boat here during hurricane season, so the anchorage and area reminded us of Luperon, DR. The Cruisers Galley owned by Desha was very helpful with internet and dealing with ATM withdrawals in error of $300, $75 PayPal internet charge and $175 Verizon termination issues. So there are land issues while cruising! They finally found us and we drove back to their aunt/uncle’s timeshare in Humacoa and the following day to El Yunque rain forest. It was nice to have real showers again and take a break from Sojourn. We chose to drive the small mountain road to Humacoa which allowed us to get lost a lot and see some spectacular views. As we climbed the forest became more dense/green, small pueblos and roads narrowed such that only 1 car could drive around the turns. So the driver didn’t get to see much until we stopped. We also attempted to drive the southern route to El Yunque in AM as the map showed it was open. The maps usually aren’t accurate especially in towns as the road/highway names are changing and maps not kept up – hence getting lost – but we thought we would try it. Again, the windy drive up the mountain was beautiful but we were stopped at a bridge with heavy cross bar not allowing us to proceed. So we explored the river before winding our way back down and going the highway to the north entrance. It still was worth it. We hiked up to Monte Britton old observation tower into the clouds and occasionally we got a sunny vista view as it rained while there. We then climbed with rope to another rock ledge further down with some locals and there the view seemed to stay. We returned to the car and drove down to take a hike to the waterfalls as Kevin/Betty Lou wanted to swim. We had to hurry as the park was closing soon but we made. So we were exercised and hungry so drove to find some local food in a smaller town. We had a great Mofungo (plantain, garlic with meat) dish which is this areas specialty. The following day we drove back to Salinas again via the mountain roads to anchor a couple nights to explore the nearby mangrove islands. We played games (Mexican Train) and they snorkeled, walked the small beaches, etc. before returning and saying a heartfelt goodbye. We had seen San Juan a few years back on a vacation with Peter/Karol.
The following day we took off for initially Puerto Patilla but wind/waves were such that we continued to Green Beach, Vieques where Rose cleaned the bottom as the water was beautiful with white sandy beaches again similar to the Bahamas. We were surprised with how much growth had happened since Luperon, DR but then we really don’t know how well Handy Andy/Papo did as we weren’t going to enter that water for fear of some bacteria illness. We used a ice scraper for the barnacles and pad to lightly remove the slime. I knew it was time as we started hearing some brief grinding around prop/shaft when we hadn’t moved in a few days. It was full of barnacles but Tom thinks we may have to haul boat and replace cutlass bearing. Hopefully this holds out till we haul in Venezuela to reduce expense. So we continued the south coast to Esperanza (Ensenada Sun) a lovely small pueblo that you can pay $3 to a publico to take you to the main city of Isabel Segunda. There are many beaches, old base roads to walk and areas to snorkel. We are waiting for the STRONG NE/E winds to lie down abit before continuing east and to Culebra. As Kevin/Betty Lou also brought us our mail – we were able to complete our Federal/State taxes and find a WiFi internet connection to file the Fed electronically. It is amazing how all this works out and you make use of the time – as it does continue to go fast! Actually our next task is to find marina/pay deposit in Venezuela (Puerto La Cruz) before they get full.
So live your dream and make peace with life! We miss you all and hope to safely continue to Venezuela to put boat on hard and return to MN for a few weeks in July/August to SEE YOU. Keep in touch.
Love You
Rose & Tom