Lavers blog, 13th 2008-2009 entry, April 16-30, 2009

April 16, 2009, La Parguera – Boqueron, Puerto Rico

With these small unlighted cays all about you do not want to sail here in the dark.

Cabo Rojo lighthouse,  PR

Larry wakes up at about 5.00 am and goes up on deck to confirm that everything is OK. He looks up and sees a triangle of blinking red lights high overhead and somewhat to the west. They are not moving. He gets out the binoculars and make out a faint round white shape that looks like a blimp. He goes back to sleep and in the morning sees that indeed it is a  large blimp-shaped white balloon that appears to be more than 1000 feet up and tethered to the earth by a thin cord. We wonder what its function might be, and think it might be some kind of weather balloon.  We leave the harbor in the light gradient wind before the sea breeze kicks in.  By the time we have made it out through the reefs and the sails are up, it is blowing around 17 knots and we have a good ride down wind, round Cabo Rojo and reach up to the barrier reef at Boqueron.  We drop the sails outside and motor across the bay to join about 15 other boats at anchor near the beach.  We have not found a cruising guide for the Dominican Republic, so we go ashore to look for one. The concierge at Club Nautico tells us that there is no such thing. The closest book is Bruce van Sant’s Passage South, and it by-passes Santa Barbara de Samana, our next port of call. The concierge suggests we go down to Galloway’s bar where all the gringos hang out and learn from them the old fashioned way, by word of mouth.  Sure enough, we are able to strike up a conversation with a couple of live aboards, but we come away feeling that our new knowledge is at best unreliable.   They do tell us that the white balloon, which we can also see from Boqueron, is US Homeland Security’s “spy in the sky” with cameras that can see as far as Venezuela on a clear day.  We return to the boat to relax over some decent wine and enjoy one of Elisabeth’s standard on board dinners -- grilled chicken, rice and salad. The best information we have is a general purpose email from Sam and Wendy, who were there a few weeks ago.

April 17, 2009-April 18, 2009 Puerto Rico --Santa Barbara de Samana, Dominican Republic

Our loyal crewmember Otto deserves a tee shirt, too

Taxi Samana style

It is about 140 miles from Boqueron to Santa Barbara de Samana over the Mona Passage, a crossing that is feared by many because of the high winds (due to the venturi effect between 2 high islands) and big currents and waves, especially at Hourglass Shoal (the sea goes from thousands of feet to 50 feet in a few miles, creating both big, unpredictable currents and steep waves). The forecast for today and tomorrow is NO WIND AT ALL!  We do not like to motor for long distances, but the long term forecast is for a couple of weeks of high winds. We decide that the best course is to go ahead and motor.  We leave about 8:00 and put up the sails to try to get some help from them, but mostly we motor and average about 5 knots. The crossing is pretty uneventful -- we cross paths with a couple of freighters in the afternoon and play with the radar to see how good the MARPA tracking is.  It seems to determine the direction and speed of these objects pretty well.  It was much less effective this morning in tracking the giant rain squall that parked on top of us for an hour or so.  Elisabeth wakes up Larry a few times during the midnight watch – once to help her jibe due to a wind shift and once when an unidentified boat turns its spot/search light on us. The latter turns out to be a sailboat going the other way. We arrive at about 9:00 a.m., thread our way past a five foot spot in the entrance to the harbor, and begin to look for a good anchoring spot.  We are hailed by an American on a Nordhavn 46 who recommends that we anchor just behind him as it is well protected from the prevailing winds and out of most of the local traffic patterns.  We anchor there and within 15 minutes we are greeted by an official “welcoming committee” (our term, not theirs) consisting of an interpreter, a navy representative and a port authority representative.  They board Singoalla, fill out a bunch of papers that they don’t seem to be too familiar with.  The interpreter tells them what goes in which blank.  They then charge us $15 for port authority authorization to stay plus a $5 “tip” to be split between the two officials.  We agree to meet Joe, the interpreter, ashore in an hour after we have had time to launch the dinghy because we have to go to the immigration office.  When we get to the dock Joe calls the immigration officer who agrees to meet us at his office, and sure enough in about 15 minutes he shows up on his moped.  We go up to the second floor of a concrete government building.  The officer opens the door to his office but makes no attempt to turn on the lights.  We don’t know whether there is no electricity or he is just avoiding he heat caused by light bulbs.  We now go through an incredibly laborious process of filling out mysterious forms in duplicate, which requires that much used pieces of carbon paper (remember that stuff?) be carefully torn up to fit the size of each form.  It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that a uniform size of both form and carbon paper would be a good idea.  Finally we are charged $43 for the boat and $20 for the crew.  We give him $70, but he doesn’t have any change in either dollars or pesos, and the idea of a credit card is a non-starter.  Joe suggests that we take a tour of the town on a “motor concho”, a sort of DR version of a rickshaw. A 2 wheeled trailer with 4 seats and a top is attached to and pulled by a small motorcycle.  Just as we are ready to leave our change arrives and we leave it with Joe as part of his compensation.  Jorge, the driver, is very nice and shows us the hospital, pharmacies, the police station, banks, some restaurants, and finally the farmers’ market..  Elisabeth loves farmers’ markets, and goes crazy buying fruits and vegetables.  When we finally get back to Singoalla David from Ginny, the Nordhavn in front of us, comes over and suggests that we join him ashore for pizza.  We readily agree.  He picks us up at 6:00 and takes us to a little restaurant in a back courtyard that we would not have found by ourselves.  David has been here several weeks and is a fountain of information about what to do and where to go.  He also tells us that there is a good cruising guide available on the Internet at Noonsite, a web site that specializes in cruising sailors.  The food is excellent and the early hour suits us well as we are tired from the overnight sail.

April 19, 2009, Santa Barbara de Samana

A freqvent sight in the towns in DR -- garbage everywhere

Larry on the bridge to nowhere in Samana

Santa Barbara de Samana DR, a most welcoming town

Singoalla and Ginny in Santa Barbara harbor

Today we sleep later than usual.  After breakfast we go ashore and visit a number of shops, most of them selling things we have absolutely no interest in.  We go to the bank to get some local currency.  We went yesterday, but Elisabeth is not used to exchange rate numbers of 35 to the dollar, so she got the decimal in the wrong place and only took out about $20.  Today we withdraw a more sensible amount and go in search of a restaurant for lunch.  We select Tony on the roundabout and go upstairs to the dining porch to find a table.  There we meet John and Sandi Moore, Americans cruising on Hanco, a Hatteras 61 moored near us in the harbor.  We join them for a long lunch.  We enjoy each other’s company so much that they invite us to Hanco for cocktails at 5:00.  After lunch we walk out on the “bridge to nowhere”, a large foot bridge that goes a quarter mile or so out to the island that forms one side of the mouth of the harbor.  We get great photos of Singoalla in the harbor, but we are dismayed by the incredible amounts of garbage strewn about everywhere.  It doesn’t seem to bother the locals who make no effort to dispose of thins in a sanitary fashion.  When we return to Singoalla we download the cruising guide and find it to be quite helpful.  We go to Hanco as agreed and David from Ginny joins us.  We exchange stories and information for several hours before returning to Singoalla for a very light supper followed immediately by lights out.

April 20, 2009, Santa Barbara de Samana

We planned to go to Los Haitises National Park today, but it is not to be.  Raf, one of the young men who hang around the docks trying to provide services to the boaters, has promised that his mother will do laundry for us.  Unemployment is so high here and on the other islands that we always try to use the local “entrepreneurs” whenever we can.  We find him about 9:00 and off he goes with the laundry, promising to return by 12:00.  We go to the navy office to get our permit to go to Los Haitises.  A friendly young lady types out our permit on an ancient manual typewriter with the now customary ragged carbon paper.  She says we can stay there up to 3 days and must check in again when we return.  She charges us $20 for the permit.  Elisabeth has written several post cards, so now we have to go to the post office to buy stamps.  After a couple of false steps we finally find the post office, where two more friendly young ladies provide us with stamps and some more post cards.  When we are ready to pay they do not have any change.  This seems to be the standard government condition.  They offer us a couple of chairs while one of the girls goes out to look for change.  She returns in twenty minutes or so with almost the correct change.  It is now almost noon so we go to look for Raf.  He is there but the laundry s not.  Because of the rain shower earlier this morning the laundry is not dry, but will be ready by 1:00.  Somewhat belatedly perhaps we conclude that mama does not have a dryer, but there is nothing to do but wait.  We go out to Singoalla for lunch and return at 1:00.  Raf is there with the laundry, which is neatly folded but definitely not dry.  He wants the equivalent of $24 for his services, which we conclude is outrageous, particularly since the laundry will have to be rehung on Singoalla.  We have no leverage, so we pay and leave somewhat disgruntled.  Larry returns to Singoalla and strings lines through the cabin to hang the laundry on.  Elisabeth goes to the phone store to buy a sim card for our unlocked telephone.  We have learned to save quite a lot of money by using local chips even if we are only going to be on an island a few days.  When Elisabeth gets back we find that the phone store clerk has sold Elisabeth a refill card, but not a sim chip, so we can’t use the phone.  It is now clear that we are not going to be able to go to the park and we are very pleased when David invites us to Ginny for drinks at 7:30.  We spend the afternoon folding laundry and doing other exciting chores.  John calls us on the VHF from Hanco to ask us if we want to go ashore for dinner before going over to Ginny.  We readily agree and go in with them to Bambu where we enjoy excellent omelets.  Aboard Ginny we are very impressed by both the luxury and seaworthiness of the Nordhavn.  We make a good dent in David’s alcohol supply and sleep very well immediately after returning to Singoalla.

April 21, 2009, Santa Barbara de Samana – Los Haitises National Park

A typical small island in Los Haitises

Sandi and John on Hanco

Sandi and John join us for cocktails

We leave the harbor at 8:30 for the 13 mile broad reach to Bahia San Lorenzo in Los Haitises National Park.  It is blowing close to 20 knots when we anchor at the designated anchorage near the ranger station.  There is a long fetch across the bay, so there is quite a lot of wave action and the bay is not very comfortable.  Hanco comes into the bay shortly after we do.  They decide to anchor in a cove on the south side of the bay and John reports on the VHF that it is comfortable there.  We raise the anchor and reposition to a spot near them.  We are the only two boats in sight.  After lunch we join John and Sandi on Hanco’s tender to reconnoiter the bay.  We are supposed to pay a small fee to the ranger, but the surf is too rough to land at the dock without help.  A man sitting at the ranger’s cabin, whom we presume to be the ranger, makes no move to help us or communicate with us. We leave, explore a few incredibly beautiful coves and return to the boats when it threatens to rain.  We are invited to Hanco for cocktails after which we return to Singoalla for a light supper of soup and a sandwich.

April 22, 2009, Los Haitises National Park

American, Green and Gold Crowned Egrets fishing in the mangroves

Unfortunately, the flash didn't work when we were in the Line Cave

Mangroves line the creeks at Los Haitises National Park

John and Sandi pick us up in their dinghy (smaller than their tender, but still substantially larger than our dinghy) to explore the park.  Yesterday when we first arrived we saw a couple of tour boats go into the cove where we are now anchored so we go into the corner of the cove to see what is interesting.  We see and follow a small creak that disappears into the mangroves between two cliffs.  The topography here is just incredible.  It reminds us of pictures we have seen of Southeast Asia.  There are very steep islands and cliffs points of land that appear to be made of limestone that are covered with vegetation that grows where no self respecting plant should be able to stand. Orchids and other flowers are everywhere, as is a profusion of bird life.  These steep cliffs are separated by flat areas in which small but relatively deep creeks flow through mangrove forests.  We go up the creek for about a third of a mile and see a dock with signs pointing towards the “Line Cave”.  We go ashore and are rewarded by finding a large cavern deep into one of the limestone hills, with several entrances.  The walls are covered with prehistoric pictographs.  Fortunately Larry has brought a flashlight and we spend an hour exploring the cave and marveling at the drawings of birds, animals, fish, sharks, babies, shamans (or is it shamen?), whales and more.  We then return past our boats and go into another mangrove lined creek at the southeast end of the bay.  Here the land is totally flat and the creek winds for ¾ of a mile through the mangroves with an incredible number and variety of bird life: white herons, blue herons, yellow crowned herons, egrets, buzzards, and many more.  We then explore the west branch of the creek until we come to the Paraiso Eco Lodge, a wonderful, completely unexpected lodge where we eat lunch.  After lunch we explore the coves to the west of our anchorage and find yet another mangrove lined creek that we follow for at least a half mile to a dock with a trail leading off into the forest.  We do not go ashore here, but return most of the way to the cove and then explore another branch of the same creek.  Soon we come to another, more substantial dock and we go ashore and find that the two docks are only about 100 yards apart.  A marked trail leads from here back to the eco lodge, but we do not have time to follow it.  We explore a little more coastline and then return to the boats.  There is no way to describe the beauty here.  At every turn there is a chorus of “wows”.  Do not miss this park!  Dinner is served on Singoalla.  Larry gets so interested in the conversation that he forgets about the grill.  As a result, we serve a new Singoalla dish “chicken briquettes”.  We recommend that you avoid this dish in the future.  Oh, well, at least the wine was good.

April 23-24, 2009, Los Haitises – Santa Barbara de Samana – Ocean World Marina, Puerto Plata

Happy retirees enjoying life

Ursula and Hans visit us on Singoalla

We leave the bay early, in light air, but just after we raise the sails the wind jumps up to 16 knots from the east.  We have an enjoyable beat back to Santa Barbara and anchor near where we were before.  It is going to be a long day, so we immediately go ashore to get our permit to go to Puerto Plata.  These “despachos” are necessary every time we want to move the boat.  I think they are concerned about being taken over by a horde of crazed sailors.  Although we try to hurry, by the time we get back to Singoalla, get the motor on the stern rail and the dinghy lashed down to the foredeck it is already 2:00.  The sailing is pleasant as we beat out past a cruise ship visiting Samana, pass north of Cayo Levantado and continue out towards Punta La Palometa.  At the speed we are making against the wind and current we are worried that we will not make it to Puerto Plata during daylight hours tomorrow.  But when we finally round Cabo Samana suddenly everything is working for us and we are going between seven and eight knots over the bottom.  Now we are worried about getting there before dawn.  Sure enough, about 4:00 a.m. we furl the jib and continue under main alone, still going at about six knots.  We arrive at Ocean World, a large marina and entertainment complex, at about 8:00 a.m.  We are told to come alongside the fuel dock whee we are greeted and boarded by the usual team of officials.  Here there is a port tax of $50 amd an agricultural fee of $25, but no immigration fees as they accept the ones we have paid in Samana.  While we are at the dock we top up our fuel tanks, then move the boat into the far east corner of the marina to stay out of the surge.  We nap for a while and take it easy.  We are visited in the afternoon by Hans and Ursula, a German couple who live near Boulder, Colorado and who arrived on their catamaran, Calico Paws, just ahead of us this morning.  We invite them for cocktails at 5:00.  We enjoy trading stories for a couple of hours and break up early as noe of us got much sleep last night.

April 25, 2009, Ocean World Marina – Puerto Plata and return by car

We are interested in going to the new La Sirena grocery store in Puerto Plata to re-provision.  Hans and Ursula suggest that we combine that with a tour of the city and we think that is an excellent idea. At the gate to the marina we pick up a taxi and a (sort of) English speaking guide.  He takes up to the heights above the city to the affluent section for a photo opportunity, then shows us expensive homes, slums, the amber museum, the central city square with its old cathedral, the harbor and the old Spanish fort.  Finally we go through a time warp to la Sirena, a new, large, modern grocery store like something you would expect to find in California and totally out of keeping with the definitely third world character of the DR.  We take advantage of the opportunity to stock up and return to the marina with so much stuff that we almost can’t get it all on the golf cart the dock boy uses to ferry us to our boat.  When everything id finally stowed we just hang out on Singoalla for the rest of the day reading and planning the next leg of the trip.

April 26, 2009, Ocean World Marina

Our plans are to leave here for the Turks and Caicos as soon as possible, but today is definitely not the day.  It rains off and on all day, and the winds are over 20 knots in the marina most of the time.  The forecast is for squalls and high winds until at least Thursday, so we resign ourselves to staying here for the foreseeable future.  Today becomes pretty much a non-day, with updating the blog being about the only accomplishment.  We do get a chance to admire the comfort of Hans and Ursula’s catamaran.  Calico Paws is a manta 40, about the same length as our boat, but as always with catamarans we are struck by the enormous amount of living and storage space compared with our monohull.  We exchange tips about where to go and what to avoid over a glass of wine.  This is something we always try to do when we meet cruisers going in the opposite direction.

April 27, 2009, Ocean World Marina – Luperon – Santiago and return by car

Barns DR style

Colorful fence DR

Laundry day in Luperon

Laundry equipment outdoors

Luperon

Farmers' market Santiago

Typical sight in Luperon

Shopping alley in Santiago

Mural in Santiago

Multipassenger moped

Luperon  traffic

The forecast remains about the same as yesterday, although perhaps with a little less rain, so we are still stuck here for a few days.  Hans rents a car to explore the island and invites us to come along.  When the car arrives Hans carefully checks the spare because he has been warned that if we get off the major roads we are very likely to get a flat tire.  We drive first to Luperon, a small community that has a large, mangrove lined  harbor that is popular with cruisers.  The water in the bay s pretty dirty and the town is like something out of Hemingway – busy but dirty and poor-appearing.  Chickens and goats wander through streets that were probably once paved but are now mostly a network of potholes.  We eat a surprisingly good lunch at Captain Steve’s, although the pace of the service by our French-Canadian waitress is definitely consistent with island time.  After lunch we drive to Santiago.  It takes us a while and a number of wrong turns to get oriented on the small map we have, but eventually we fine the historic part of the city.  As we are looking for a place to park a young man who speaks pretty good English shows us an empty space next to the cathedral.  He tells us he works for the church teaching orphan kids, and begins to show us around the area.  As we walk, Hans and Jose have a continuing question and answer dialog, and Jose seems quite knowledgeable about the area, unlike our guide in Puerto Plata who was unable to give a straight answer to any question.  We see the central square, Christopher Columbus park, a couple of churches, an open air street market staffed mainly bu Haitians, and an impressive Moorish-inspired building where the dictator Trujillo used offices on the first floor and danced he meringue on the second floor when he visited Santiago.  The meringue hall is now a bingo parlor.  Sic transit Gloria.  We return to the car and prepare to leave Jose, but he protests that his tour isn’t over yet.  We are a little surprised, but José gets in the car with us and shows us the noisy, busy fruit market.  Elisabeth and Ursula each buy bags of fruit.  We now head out of downtown and up a long steep hill to Camp David, a sort of museum/restaurant/hotel with a magnificent view of the city.  It is high enough to be definitely cooler than the city, and the old cars that were used by Trujillo are interesting.  We finally return to the city and prepare to drop Jose off near the church where we picked him up.  We offer him what we think is a nice tip for what we view as informal guide services, but he informs us that the fee for the tour is $10 each.  This is a lot of money in this country where a school teacher, for example, earns about $150 per week.  We object that we were never told that we were on a tariffed tour, and in fact he told us that he worked for the church.  Eventually we agree on a compromise but return to Puerto Plata with a sour taste in our mouths.  It is an unfortunate end to an otherwise nice excursion.  Since we had a very large lunch, Elisabeth serves soup for dinner.

April 28, 2009, Ocean World Marina

The forecast is still not good, but we decide that at least we should prepare everything for departure.  Larry checks the engine fluids and belt tension.  The fluids are fine, but both belts should be tighter.  The alternator belt is as tight as it will go.  It must have stretched some, so we replace it with our last good, heavy-duty spare.  We will get more spares as soon as we can.  He tightens the shrouds all around, since the leeward shrouds have looked pretty loose in recent days.  We enter waypoints into the navigation system and prepare alternate routes to Turks and Caicos, Mayaguena and Long island.  They all start the same direction and we will select the destination depending on the speed we are able to go and the time of day of our planned arrival. When we rewired Singoalla Erik installed the a circuit to the water heater which is supposed to heat water either through a heat exchanger using cooling water from the engine or through a 120 volt shore power connection. We do not use shore power very often, but Larry turns on the switch here to see if the system actually works. The rest of the day we pretty much do nothing -- read, work on the blog and relax. Dinner is fruit salad, all Elisabeth feels up to after the exhausting day.

 April 29, 2009, Ocean World Marina

Last night it rained hard all night, a bucket left in the cockpit had almost 4 inches of water in it this morning. Any place in the boat that could leak does. Fortunately that number is now pretty small. We have now seen enough of this place and more. But Chris Parker continues to warn of 30 knots plus squalls today and tomorrow, and the GRIB files and NOAA forecasts agree.  We decide not to leave today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be OK, but Friday is more likely. After breakfast Elisabeth starts to wash the dishes and is startled to find that the water is hot.  She doesn’t know about the new circuit, and this is a pleasant surprise.   Hans comes over and helps Larry up the mast to fix the steaming light.  It is simple -- the ground wire has come out of the connector. Elisabeth searches the internet for fares for our summer trip to Sweden.  We work on the blog, do crossword puzzles, listen to the rain squalls and twiddle our thumbs.  Hans and Ursula join us for dinner on Singoalla for Elisabeth’s special spaghetti. As usual it is excellent. We are really glad that we have had their company here otherwise the week would have seemed interminable.

Thursday, April 30, 2009, Ocean World Marina

OK, this is it. Our last day here. The forecast for today is not too bad, but tomorrow is supposed to be a wonderful sailing day. Larry goes to talk to the customs officer and finds that three other boats including Calico Paws will also be leaving tomorrow. That is almost half of the boats in here, and we are all equally happy to get away. We have a late lunch together with Hans and Ursula in a local restaurant, not gourmet but OK local fare.  We go for a walk checking out the resort next door to the marina and return to the boat to check out of the marina. This time we do not have to meet with the same armada of bureaucrats, only customs today. The navy will check us out the very moment we leave (for a modest fee of $20, of course).  The bureaucracy and fees charged visiting boats in the DR unfortunately turn cruisers off from spending time in this beautiful country. The idea of free movement in a country is totally foreign to them

 

 

 

Lavers blog, 12th 2008-2009 entry, April 1-15, 2009

April 1, 2009, Maho Bay, St. John – Jost Van Dyke, BVI

Elisabeth and April get a history lesson at the Annaberg sugar plantation

A tame pelican at Francis Bay

We take the dinghy ashore at about 8:00 and climb the steps to the Maho Bay Camps restaurant where we all order omelets.  We enjoy the great view over multiple cups of coffee, then go for a long walk to the Annaberg sugar mill ruins on Leinster Bay.  We do not stay very long as a bus load of very pale people, average size XL, wearing bright red Disney cruise line hats, arrives and infests the place. We walk back to the  ruins of the Danish school for slave children, then take  the trail down to Francis Bay.  We walk along the pretty beach, climb over the rocks along the shore and the point separating Maho  Bay from Francis Bay, then  take the dinghy back out to Singoalla. We stop by the “fee boat”, drop our envelope in the box (honor system) and depart from the mooring.  We reach out past Mary Point and Great Thatch Island to Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke. Larry clears in at customs while the others head for Foxy’s. Foxy’s is less crowded and really more pleasant at lunch than at dinner.  During lunch a waiter comes to the table and asks which boat we are from. When we tell him, he says there is a phone call in the kitchen for the captain. Fearing that something has happened to the boat, Larry hurries in to the kitchen, only to be told that the phone is in the store next door. As he emerges from the kitchen heading for the store, Elisabeth calls him over to the table asking him if he knows what date it is today. Of course, April fool’s day! We watch with quiet amusement during lunch as several other skippers fall prey for the same ploy. We go to the store where April buys a tee shirt for Hudson and Michael gets a hat and a tee shirt to prove that he has been to this Mecca for cruising sailors. After the big lunch at Foxy’s we content ourselves with cheese and crackers, and of course wine, for dinner. Afterwards Larry and Elisabeth teach Michael and April gin rummy -- now that they are experts at the game that they learned three weeks ago from the Swansons .

April 2, 2009 Jost Van Dyke-Virgin Gorda- Marina Cay

Michael rows April and Larry to the Baths

We get a feathered visitor at Marina Cay

We get an early start, reach across to Thatch island Cut and beat through Soper’s Hole and up Sir Francis Drake channel to the baths at Virgin Gorda. The wind is moderate, the water flat and the sailing is glorious. Just off Peter Island we are met by at Yacht Shots photographer who takes many pictures of the boat including one unsuccessful tack when the starboard genoa sheet gets kinked up inside the turning block. We manage to avoid a Chinese fire drill and get back on course in reasonably good time.   Just off Salt Island we see a very attractive Oyster 56 coming downwind towards us and realize that it must be our friends the Hibbitts from Bristol.  We wave, but are not sure they have recognized us.  The Baths prove to be more of an adventure than we have bargained for.  First, while picking up the mooring line April decides to give our boat hook the float test.  Fortunately it passes the test, and Larry quickly strips to his undershorts and dives overboard while the boat hook is still floating.  Then April, Michael and Larry take the dinghy while Elisabeth remains on board. We tie the dinghy to the dinghy float about 40-50 yards from shore and swim in. The water is rougher than we thought, and there is a foul current and Michael has made the mistake of trying to swim with his sandals on. For a while we are afraid we are going to lose Michael, but he rallies, and makes it to the shore, exhausted. We enjoy the tour through the nooks and crannies of the Baths. We decide that Michael should not attempt the return swim, so Larry swims out and rows the dinghy ashore to pick up Michael and April. We have lunch onboard, and then decide it is too late to sail to North Sound, our original destination.  We go to Marina Cay instead. After a nice broad reach we pick up a vacant mooring near the dock. We are surprised to see that the boat next to us is Satori. We met Paul and Diane last year at Norman Island and Diane and Elisabeth have maintained email contact during the year. Diane comes over by dinghy and suggests that we go ashore and listen to Michael Bean’s humorous (and loud) pirate music. He is a lot of fun, but conversation in a non starter. We do find out that we will and be returning to the States at about the same time and route, so we agree to maintain contact and try to return together.

April 3, 2009, Marina Cay-Benures Bay, Norman Island

Michael steers most of the way to Norman Island

Elisabeth heads below to make lunch

After a leisurely breakfast we chat with Paul Neuhoff from Satori to discuss how we will stay in touch for the trip north.  Midmorning we leave the mooring bound for Norman island.  We broad reach to the west end of Peter island and head up into a stiff breeze for Benures Bay.  We anchor as usual in the north east corner of the bay and settle down to a quiet afternoon of reading, swimming and criticizing other boats’ anchoring techniques.  We watch very carefully as Sea Viz, about a 65 foot power boat, drops anchor near us and backs upwind to a spot near the shore.  The woman on board jumps overboard wearing a mask, wetsuit and fins, and pulls a line to shore where she ties it around a tree.  We are worried about their position, and think there is a possibility that the anchor chain may cross ours, which would make it difficult for us to leave tomorrow.  Larry rows over and talks to the captain, who says that as soon as they are settled he will dive on the anchors to make sure they ae clear of one another.  He makes good on his promise and tells us that in fact there is no problem.  He is kind enough to lend us his cruising guide of Puerto Rico so that we can begin to plan our next passage.  Dinner is tenderloin tips, part of the goody package brought from Rhode Island by April and Michael.  After dinner we play a little gin rummy before retiring by “cruiser’s midnight”.

April 4, 2009, Benures Bay – Soper’s Hole, Tortola – Cruz Bay, St. John – Red Hook, St. Thomas

April and Michael go shopping

Larry, Elisabeth, April and Michael relaxing at Pusser's

Today is a busy day.  We raise the anchor soon after breakfast and broad reach over to Thatch Island Cut where we drop the sails and pick up a mooring in Soper’s Hole.  We take the dinghy to Pusser’s dock and Larry walks around the end of the bay to the customs office while Elisabeth, April and Michael explore the local stores.  Elisabeth sits at Pusser’s to try to do Internet banking with limited success.  We eat lunch at Pusser’s and return to Singoalla for the run to St. John.  On the way out we see Grace, the Hibbitts’ lovely Oyster 56, and we motor over to have a brief chat with them.  At St. John we pick up a mooring just off Lind Point and take the dinghy around to Cruz bay where we clear in.  We go immediately back to Singoalla and set sail for Red Hook.  Al Whittemore has arranged for us to borrow a mooring near Simplicity, his boat, and he comes over in his dinghy to greet us just as we are picking up the mooring.  It is a good thing, because the previous “tenant” has left the mooring line hopelessly tangled.  Al struggles with the lines for several minutes and finally gives up and cuts the offending tether to free the main mooring lines.  Finally secured to the mooring, we clean up and go into Lattitude’s for dinner with Al and Irene.  The food is great and we are entertained by the Sun Mountain Band, a terrific bluegrass band that is just finishing a 12 week gig at Lattitude’s.  We stay for all three of their sets before making our way back to the boat.  It is much later than our usual cruising bedtime, and lights are out almost immediately.

April 5, 2009, Red Hook

Elisabeth, April and Michael go ashore for showers, do laundry and have breakfast at molly Mollones.  Larry is suffering from allergies today.  He stays on board and works on the log.  In late morning Larry is picked up by dinghy so he can go in and shower.  Al takes Elisabeth and April to a giant market for provisioning while Michael keeps Larry company for breakfast.  Back on board Larry naps, hoping the allergy attack will subside.  Michael picks up the ladies when they return from the market.  Larry’s allergies are much better by the time Al and Irene join us for dinner.  Larry prepares pina coladas, then Elisabeth serves a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, saffron rice and mixed salad.  Al and Irene make dessert on board – pears and raspberries in vanilla yoghurt with chocolate sauce.  Delicious!

April 6, 2009, Red Hook, St. Thomas – Ensenada Honda, Culebra

Elisabeth gets a kick out of sailing with the spinnaker

The spinnaker flying in light air between St. Thomas and St. John

In the morning we go ashore to the chandlery and buy cruising guides for Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.  We also find at Ace Hardware the sink stopper we have been looking for for months.   We buy a few last minute supplies at the Marina Market and prepare Singoalla for departure.  We leave the mooring at about 11:00, raise the main and motor sail through Current Cut.  The wind is light and we decide to break out the spinnaker for the first time this year.  It adds about two knots to our speed as we sail downwind past Sail Rock to the entrance buoy for Ensenada Honda on Culebra.  Reefs abound here, and since it is our first visit we drop the sails and motor up the long channel into the very protected bay.  We anchor near the lift bridge.  After a dinner in the cockpit of smoked turkey, saffron rice and salad we go below and play gin rummy until we begin to fall asleep – about ½ hour.

April 7, 2009, Culebra – Culebrita

For some reason, although Puerto Rico, of which Culebra is a part, is a U.S. territory and we arrived from a U.S. port we are required to clear in with customs.  We try to find a public dock near the airport but we are unsuccessful, so we tie up to the town dock in Dewey.  We walk to the customs office at the airport and are treated very cordially by the friendly and efficient customs officer.  We walk back to the center of town to look around, but many of the streets are torn up, apparently to replace water and sewer lines. We take a short walk to the ferry terminal on the west side, then return to Singoalla.  We leave the harbor and have an enjoyable short sail to Culebrita – close hauled at first, falling off to a brisk beam reach, then a short beat at the north side of Culebrita.  This is a truly magical harbor, one of the most beautiful we have seen in the Caribbean.  Soon after arrival Elisabeth serves a wonderful chef salad for lunch.  Michael and April row ashore for a walk on the beach.  Larry elects to swim ashore and finds that it is farther than it looks.  He makes it OK, but is glad to feel the sand under his feet as the water shoals.  Elisabeth enjoys being alone for an hour or so.  As evening approaches most of the boats in the harbor leave, so only a half dozen or so remain.  The moon is full and the bay is even more beautiful at night, if that is possible.  Larry tries to prepare farewell pina coladas but finds that we have coconut milk instead of Coco Lopez coconut cream and a pineapple fruit drink mixture instead of pineapple juice.  The result is sort of like a frothy rum punch, but we manage to enjoy them anyway.  We had a late lunch, so dinner is cheeses, pate and crackers.  We are more than satisfied.  We play a few hands of gin rummy before trundling off to bed.

April 8, 2009, Culebrita – Ensenada Honda, Culebra

Bahia Flamenco, Culebra

Elisabeth goes for an early morning swim, then, to everyone’s delight, she makes French toast for breakfast.  After breakfast we raise the anchor and tack downwind along the north shore of Culebra to Bahia Flamenco, a lovely, protected bay with a long, very attractive white sand beach.  We turn into the bay and anchor close to the beach for a pleasant lunch stop.  After lunch we sail around Cabo Noroeste, then furl the jib and motor sail down the west side of Culebra through the Canal de luis Pena, around Punta del Soldato and back into Ensenada Honda.  We take the dinghy into the Dinghy Dock restaurant where Michael and April treat us to a farewell dinner.  We decide that last night’s counterfeit pina coladas don’t qualify as an official farewell drink, so we try again at the bar with much better results.  After returning to the boat we decide that we need to work on our in rummy, so we play until very late – maybe 9:30.

April 9, 2009, Ensenada Honda, Culebra – Ensenada Honda, Vieques

Dinghy Dock restaurant in Culebra

Total solitude in Ensenada Honda

We have no idea what it means but most of the Spanish-speaking islands seem to have an Ensenada Honda.  After breakfast we take April and Michael to a dock within an easy walk of the airport and say goodbye.  We return to the town dock and are successful in finding a functioning ATM and a small but well stocked grocery store.  We weigh anchor around 11:00  and reach across the short distance to Punta Este, the east end of Vieques.  We plan to anchor in Bahia Salina del Sur, but Elisabeth feels that it is too open to the waves and points out that Ensenada Honda, a few miles farther on, is a much better protected anchorage.  What she doesn’t see is that entrance to the bay s a very tricky navigational challenge involving very carefully following compass courses to specific turning points identified by the compass bearing of shoreside features.  At one point Larry cuts a corner a little short and finds only about six inches of water under the keel.  But when we get to the anchorage it is extraordinarily beautiful.  Perfectly quiet water surrounded by mangroves, and only four other boats in the enormous bay, the nearest about one half mile away.  Dinner is grilled chicken, saffron rice and salad.  We spend a wonderful quiet evening together in this peaceful place.

April 10, 2009, Ensenada Honda – Sun Bay

Incredible turquoise water in Ensenada Honda

Singoalla at anchor in Ensenada Honda, Vieques

Singoalla at anchor in Ensenada Honda, Vieques

We spend a lazy morning swimming and reading before raising the anchor for the short trip west along the coast to Sun Bay.  The trip out of Ensenada Honda is a little less tense than the trip in as we have a better idea of what to expect.  Sun Bay has a big, beautiful, very popular beach, and is as easy to enter as Ensenada Honda s difficult.  We pick up the only remaining mooring and call Rick Bedell, who with Larry’s brother owns a house on Vieques that Larry and Elisabeth have never seen.  Rick and Terri are here for the Easter weekend and invite us to dinner at their house.  Rick picks us up at the beach and takes us to bananas for an “adult beverage” as he puts it with Del and Barb Herr, their guests from Indiana.  When we arrive at the house Elisabeth and Larry immediately take advantage of the opportunity for shore side showers with virtually unlimited water.  Larry is impressed both by the location of the house – on the spine of the island with views of the Caribbean both to the north and to the south of the island – and the enormous amount of work that has gone into turning the 30 year old structure into a beautiful modern and comfortable home.  We have cocktails on the patio while Rick grills steaks and lobsters, then we move to the pool-side table for dinner.  It is a very enjoyable evening and we are sorry that we have to return to the boat early.  But we have left the dinghy unlocked on the beach and are worried that someone will take advantage of the darkness to spirit the dinghy away.  It is still there when we arrive and we are successful in locating Singoalla in the intense darkness.  Larry reads a novel, The Private Patient, and Elisabeth reads Loving Frank, a fictionalized story of Frank Lloyd Wright.  Elisabeth does not love Frank, although she does like the book.

April 11, 2009, Sun Bay – Esperanza

Cocktails on Singoalla with the Bedells and Herrs

Today we move the boat from Sun Bay the two miles or so around Cayo Real to Puerto Real and the town of Esperanza.  Here it is easier to take the dinghy ashore and there is a dock to which we can lock the dinghy.  We spend the day cleaning the boat and doing miscellaneous small maintenance chores and reading.  We have invited the Bedells and the Herrs for cocktails and at 5:00 Larry goes in to pick them up.  We discover that the dock does not have a ladder and it is too much of a challenge for Terri to climb down from the high dock.  We put plan B into operation.  We beach the dinghy.  Terri and Barb climb on board.  We push it out until it floats.  Larry and Del get on board and Rick pushes us out and leaps on board at the last minute.  There are some waves in the anchorage, but everyone manages to get up the stern ladder and into the cockpit without too much drama.  Rick and Del enjoy the fine single malt scotch that Mike Rossi brought us while the rest of us have various flavors of wine.  We make two trips back to shore, but we have gotten pretty good at this now and no one gets wetter than they deserve.  Rick hosts us all for dinner at Mucho Gusto, a restaurant on the Malecon (beach front walkway) run by an American expat – if that is the correct term, this being an American territory of sorts.  We say goodbye to our hosts and have very fond memories of this island that was the subject of so many protests just a few years ago.

April 12, 2009, Esperanza, Vieques – Jobos, Puerto Rico

Cayo Puerca in Bahia de Jobos PR

Happy Easter!  Today’s trip is about 45 miles and light winds are forecast, so we make an early departure.  We definitely do not want to motor the whole way, so we decide that it is time for us to break out the spinnaker.  Although we have both sailed under spinnaker hundreds if not thousands of times, this will be the first time with just the two of us.  Our new cruising spinnaker sets from a cuff around the head stay instead of from a pole, and is covered by a sleeve sort of like the casing on a sausage until it is fully hoisted.  The sleeve is then pulled up by a continuous loop of line through a pulley system.  The spinnaker works very well, and we maintain an average speed of at least a knot and a half greater than we would using the genoa.  We cross the open channel between Vieques and Puerto Rico and sail along the south coast of the “main island” to Jobos.  The cruising guide describes an idyllic scene of mangrove lined waterways with a good chance to see manatees.  As we approach Boca del Infierno (“mouth of the inferno”, a not too comforting name) we are disappointed to see an enormous refinery, or perhaps a chemical plant, and a number of other major industrial structures with obvious plumes of smoke everywhere.  As we round Cayo de Puerca we are surprised to find the quiet, mangrove-lined harbor that had been promised by the cruising guide.  At least the water is quiet.  There is a quite audible low frequency hum coming from the plants that goes on all night.  But the smoke blows well to the north of us, so smell is not an issue.  As we work our way into the shallow anchorage we see a man on a group of rafted-up boats waving his arms and indicating that we should go further in.  We are not sure whether he is being helpful or just officious, but in either event he hops into his dinghy and comes over to show us where he thinks we should anchor.  Since it is about where we have planned to anchor anyway, we smile and thank him and go about our business.  We hope that the four boats don’t make too much noise tonight, but instead they break up the raft and all disappear about 30 minutes after we arrive.  We wonder f it was something we said or, more likely, they are just finishing the Easter weekend.

April 13, 2009, Jobos – Ponce

Southern coastline of PR reminds you of southern California

After morning swims and breakfast we retrieve the anchor and head for a few miles down the protected channel behind Cayos de Barca and Cayos de Pajarda to emerge past Cayos de Ratones (“Cays of Rats”, a truly enchanting name) to the open waters of the Caribbean.  The wind is still light, so we fly the spinnaker again and keep the average speed above six knots.  Today’s run is only 23 miles, and we drop the spinnaker soon after passing Isla Cayo de Muertos – so named because a pirate is said to have kept his deceased lady love in a glass covered coffin here to which he would return periodically to see her.  We round Punta Carenere and Isla de Gata, drop the main and motor into the protected harbor of the Ponce yacht and Fishing Club.  Elisabeth calls the club on the VHF to see if they have any moorings.  They do not, but they do have a slip.  Can the dock boys help us into the slip?  No, they are all at lunch, but we can tie up to the fuel dock and wait for them to return.  That is fine with us as we need to top up the fuel anyway.  We approach the fuel dock very cautiously, which is fortunate because about 15 feet away from the dock we slide to a stop in the mud.  At about one knot there is no harm done so we simply back away.  A helpful person on the dock tells us that the water is deeper further along he dock, and he even helps us with our lines when we make the second approach.  While we are waiting for someone to come to the fuel dock to open the pumps we look around the marina.  The slip they have promised us is set up in such a way as to make it almost impossible to secure the boat to the pilings with our bimini and side curtains up, and definitely impossible to do without shore side help.  We decide to anchor in the harbor instead and find a spot conveniently close to the marina.  The little bay is not very picturesque.  Between it and the town is a commercial area where the cargo ships come in to be loaded and unloaded.  But the marina itself has very tight security, nice grounds including tennis courts, and a fuel dock that sells high quality fuel and water – once you are able to get into it.

April 14, 2009, Ponce

U.S. boats leaving U.S. waters are not required by U.S. Customs to clear out.  But many other countries< style="mso-spacerun:yes"> Since Boqueron, our last anticipated port of call on Puerto Rico is not a port of entry, we have to clear out here in Ponce or go around to Mayaguez on the west end of the island, which no one recommends.  We also hear that provisioning is very limited in Boqueron so we decide to spend one more day here.  Customs does not appear on the map to be too far away, so we decide to walk.  After we have gone about a quarter of a mile a man in an incredibly dilapidated car stops to ask if we would like a ride. As so often happens when people who do not understand each other’s language try to communicate, we understand each other almost perfectly.  He has pictures of Muhammad Ali in the car.  They are so old that they still refer to the name Cassius Clay.  The man lets us know that he is aldo a boxer (or more likely was a boxer) and Ali was his hero.  He drives us through a very ugly industrial area, further than we expected, and drops us near the customs office.  We get our clearance papers without difficulty, but meet a Dutch couple who have made the mistake of sailing into U.S. waters without a visa.  This used to be OK for Europeans, and it never occurred to them that the rules might have changed in this time of heightened security.  They were required to pay a penalty of $500 per person in addition to the regular visa fee, and it had to be in cash.  Since you can only withdraw $400 per day from an ATM it took them two days to raise the cash and they have just returned to the customs office to make the payment.  At least that is better than it would have been a few year ago when there were no ATM’s.  We take a taxi back to our dinghy and return to Singoalla.  We have received an email from Sam and Wendy telling us in answer to Elisabeth’s question that we should definitely provision in Ponce as almost nothing is available in any of our next three planned stops.  We decide to spend another night here.  We go into the marina for lunch and showers.  We then relax for the afternoon, have a light supper and retire early.

April 15, 2009, Ponce – La Parguera

The marina calls a taxi to take us to the large Pueblo supermarket where we buy a couple of hundred dollars worth of groceries.  They are not expensive, we just buy a lot.  After a detour by way of the post office we return to the marina and stow all our purchases.  We have definitively not seen the charming part of Ponce – we are assured that there is one – but we want to be on our way so we prepare to weigh anchor.  As is our custom, Elisabeth is at the bow to raise the anchor and Larry is at the helm for this maneuver.  We have developed a series of hand signals that tell Larry where the anchor is and in what direction and how fast he should go.  Today the signals break down after the anchor has come off the bottom.  Elisabeth begins waving and shouting and Larry thinks he hears her say something like “bicycle”.   Sure enough, we have hooked a bicycle that was lying at the bottom of the harbor.  A nearby sailor sees us trying to get the bike off the hook.  Elisabeth is now steering and Larry has gone to the bow to take over the chore of swearing at the bicycle.  The neighbor comes over in his dinghy, helps to get the bike off the anchor and takes it ashore so the same thing can’t happen to someone else.  It is blowing close to 20 knots when we raise the sails, so the main and partial jib send us along in comfort at almost seven knots.  We cover the 25 miles or so to La Parguera in well under four hours.  The entrance to the anchorage is very tricky, so we drop the sails well outside the first reef and motor in very carefully. There is an island just in front of the town.  The guide book says to pass close to the island and turn to port when you are abeam of the town dock.  But it doesn’t say on which side you should pass the island.  There are several very shallow spots in the harbor that are only partially marked, but we evidently make the right decisions since we arrive at the designated anchorage without bumping the bottom.  The town is quite picturesque with gaily colored houses on stilts built out over the water, but there is not much activity to be seen ashore, even at what appears to be a resort hotel.   It is very quiet here with only a few other boats in sight, and we spend a quiet evening and go to bed even earlier than usual.