Saturday the 24th of January; we have arrived in the Spanish Virgin Islands. This is over 1000 miles from where we started in Florida and at least 800 miles from Georgetown where we left after Christmas. Culebra is the main island and then there are several other ones nearby. Actually we arrived yesterday at Vieques however given that part of the island is used as a gunnery range by the US Navy we really didn’t think we had arrived quite yet. We were able to see Puerto Rico the whole way. It is kind of neat to look at the island from the east and understand why this island impacts on the weather patterns of the entire region. The easterly trade winds, laden with water from the ocean are forced upward when they hit the eastern shore and cause all of the water to fall as rain.
Well Culebra is not what I expected. From what we had read I expected an almost uninhabited island, not one with an airport, hotel, houses and a small town. We arrived by noon and instead of anchoring we were able to grab a mooring ball right inside a reef. On the other side of this reef the waves are pounding and the wind blows 15-20 knots all day and during the night. We went ashore for a brief tour just to get the lay of the land and find the important things; grocery store, bakery, gas station and ATM. Then one of the following days we rented a jeep and toured all of the island's beaches and other sights.
We expect to hang around these islands for the next week or two before pushing on to St. Thomas, the closest of the US Virgin Islands. While in Puerto Rico we met, Jimmy, a single hander who had lost his mast in the Mona Passage. Jimmy traveled with us for a while before we put into Ponce to get a couple of small things repaired. Jimmy in ¾ Time continued on to St. Thomas and we hope to catch up with him once we get there. He lives there and should be able to point us in the right direction for a few things we’re looking for. We also met Jim and Dinah on Evergreen IV Rest out of Collingwood, Ontario. They have sold everything and are living on their boat full time, not something we can imagine doing. They may catch up with us before we leave the Spanish Virgins.
While traveling we have tried our luck at fishing but apart from a three mackerel day, we caught a bunch of barracuda and a jack, none of which we are interested in eating. It’s 8 at night and we’re sitting in the cockpit enjoying the breeze and relatively cool air. It is actually cooler here than it was on the south coast of Puerto Rico. While it is cool here for the locals, we are enjoying the 27-30 degree days and the 20-22 degree evenings. That’s plus, not minus degrees Celsius. Just thought we would rub it in a little bit.
We went over to the smaller island know as Culebrita and finally were presented with what we expected. An uninhabited island with coral all over the place. The administrators of these islands got it right. Instead of having boats anchoring and damaging the coral, they have made mooring balls available at all of the best anchorages at no cost to the users. Yahoo!! We may come back to these islands if the the US and British Virgins prove too crowded as they're hardly any boats around.
Well Culebra is not what I expected. From what we had read I expected an almost uninhabited island, not one with an airport, hotel, houses and a small town. We arrived by noon and instead of anchoring we were able to grab a mooring ball right inside a reef. On the other side of this reef the waves are pounding and the wind blows 15-20 knots all day and during the night. We went ashore for a brief tour just to get the lay of the land and find the important things; grocery store, bakery, gas station and ATM. Then one of the following days we rented a jeep and toured all of the island's beaches and other sights.
We expect to hang around these islands for the next week or two before pushing on to St. Thomas, the closest of the US Virgin Islands. While in Puerto Rico we met, Jimmy, a single hander who had lost his mast in the Mona Passage. Jimmy traveled with us for a while before we put into Ponce to get a couple of small things repaired. Jimmy in ¾ Time continued on to St. Thomas and we hope to catch up with him once we get there. He lives there and should be able to point us in the right direction for a few things we’re looking for. We also met Jim and Dinah on Evergreen IV Rest out of Collingwood, Ontario. They have sold everything and are living on their boat full time, not something we can imagine doing. They may catch up with us before we leave the Spanish Virgins.
While traveling we have tried our luck at fishing but apart from a three mackerel day, we caught a bunch of barracuda and a jack, none of which we are interested in eating. It’s 8 at night and we’re sitting in the cockpit enjoying the breeze and relatively cool air. It is actually cooler here than it was on the south coast of Puerto Rico. While it is cool here for the locals, we are enjoying the 27-30 degree days and the 20-22 degree evenings. That’s plus, not minus degrees Celsius. Just thought we would rub it in a little bit.
We went over to the smaller island know as Culebrita and finally were presented with what we expected. An uninhabited island with coral all over the place. The administrators of these islands got it right. Instead of having boats anchoring and damaging the coral, they have made mooring balls available at all of the best anchorages at no cost to the users. Yahoo!! We may come back to these islands if the the US and British Virgins prove too crowded as they're hardly any boats around.
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