May 21-25, 2010... Culebra, Puerto Rico

Friday morning we were underway again.  We had waited for more favorable conditions, but there is no getting around the fact that for the trip along the south coast of Vieques we were beating into the wind.  Rounding the eastern point was difficult as the confused waters pushed us around.  But, once we turned north for Culebra, we were golden.  What a great sail!  Too bad it was only for 9 miles.  Anchored in Ensenada Honda we were happy to be in a flat anchorage after 4 nights of rolling in Vieques.  

Exploring Culebra was lots of fun.  Galen took to the hills and hiked and ran over much of the island.  Patti and John took to the sea and snorkeled the reefs off Playa Melones (where we saw a turtle!)  The little town of Dewey had everything we needed from grocery stores to restaurants to a post office all easily accessible from the town dock.  Saturday night at Mamacita's we had a great dinner and stayed for the conga drum band.  At our boat we had the entire food chain hanging out -- little fish by the thousands were circled by snappers and a lone tarpon skulked under them all.  Every so often we would hear the thwack of another fish jumping.  The predictable noises heard were the coqui (tree frogs) who sang us to sleep every night and the roosters waking us in the morning (or the middle of the night...)  Sometimes it was the horn of the 6:30am ferry that got us going.  But Culebra is a very relaxing and beautiful place.

Galen's time aboard the Anhinga ended on Tuesday.  We walked him to the airport for his 20 minute flight (with only 5 passengers) which left 1/2 hour early.  He probably arrived in San Juan before we made it back to the boat.  We hope the flight to Florida was uneventful and that Galen, who left with a bag of dirty clothes and a gorgeous suntan, has a better appreciation for life on a cruising boat.

Ensenada Honda, Culebra:  +18° 18' 28.92", -65° 17' 49.26"