With the engine running again, Anhinga puttered into Salinas. We'd visited last year when Galen was on board so it was familiar and we knew where to anchor. Our plan was for a few days, but our stay extended as we had repairs to make and called in the pros for them. Those appointments turned into 'waits for the cable guy' as they never seemed to be able to get here when they said they would. On the plus side, we got our autopilot fixed. But, we decided not to fix the engine-driven refrigeration and to spring for a new DC fridge installation powered by solar instead. That will be done elsewhere.
One day we walked into town with the camera -- we had really liked Salinas last year and wanted to go back. The town square has beautiful old trees and the buildings are pretty special.
The old market building attracts lots of people, including the dominoes players who had an active game on when we stopped. It was there that we met Tony -- another of the Puerto Ricans who left the island for the U.S. when he was 17 and now returned 60 years later. Tony comes to town from the countryside for some company and conversation and was so pleased to meet us and speak English. Hope he is successful in convincing his daughter to let him buy that pickup truck so that he can start a vegetable stand out of the truck bed!
In the anchorage we kayaked around the mangroves looking for manatees -- didn't see any, though maybe we were lucky not to. At 1500 pounds, we might have been a little too close for comfort. But we saw something new for us -- frigates perched on mangroves. All over the Caribbean you see frigates soaring above the water hunting. But here they were, close to the water, not bothered by us at all.
Salinas: 17d57.320'N 66d17.524'
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