Sunday, March 23, 2008

February in Culebra, Preparing for Sean and Carlie's Visit.


Feb. 2nd

Celebrating Carmelle’s Birthday.



Carmelle and Kathy







Kerry, me, & Rand












Guilles and Yvon





Out on another hike and we get more rain.












Monday,Feb. 4th

Having an early start to-day. We met Kathy ad Kerry at El Batey dock at 0600hrs. We took the 0630hrs. ferry to Fajardo to do a provisioning run. For two persons, round trip is nine dollars. Kathy had lined up Al and his van for the day. Initially we had an additional 5 people in the van. Al dropped us off to get a cup of coffee while he drove the people to their appointments. Picking us back up we made a run to Costco, Walmart, and Westmarine….Yes Sean and Ash….Walmart. Personally we had about 200 pounds of provisons. We had three suitcases and two knapsacks filled to the brim. Before we knew it, it was 2 pm and we had to make a joint decision as we did not have enough time for our last two stops---the prop shop and sunbrella fabric store would have to wait. Rand’s GILL foul weather bib pants; reg. $229 for $20 was the best buy of the day.

After a long day it was out to the Dinghy Dock for a happy hour drink and then on to Heathers for great pizza.

Wed. Feb. 6th 1600hrs

The winds continue to be more than fresh. The seas this afternoon in the Bay are a minimum of two feet white caps. The last two nights we haven’t had a good nights sleep due to the fetch—the waves slapping the hull make us feel like we are in a washing machine; the wind is howling again. Thank goodness we can go to shore. We have had a busy day getting more of our log onto the blog.

This last number of weeks we tend not to have the VHF on as we are anchored off Dewey. There tends to be so much static and so many calls to the coastguard. We are amazed as we personally have wanted to move on in our travels, yet the weather does not co-operate so we sit. I can’t imagine wanting to be out in minimum 12 foot swells, 35 knot winds (50 miles an hour) on purpose as it sounds like so many boats are doing. Randy reminds me that alot of the boats that have been coming and going are charter boats and have a schedule.
We are very excited to-day. Our new Engel freezer has arrived. Kathy and Kerry helped us pick it up and get it into the boat as Rand’s hernia is acting up.

We picked it up at the UPS office which is at La Piesa restaurant and wheel it to the dinghy (about one mile)


This freezer will run off the 12volt system.

It is no easy feat getting the fridge on board.






Thank you so much Kerry .





Oops; the dinghy decides to go off on a spin by itself. The line on the bow broke free. Good thing Kathy and Kerry were still on board so neither of us needed to go for a swim.






Sat.Feb. 9th.

No go this morning to Culebrita. Instead we went to the dinghy dock restaurant with Kathy and Kerry for breakfast. Heading back to High States we are in 3 foot swells.
Sun. Feb 10th. Very calm night and the calmest its been in a long time this morning. We have decided to go to Culebrita. 0715 hrs the anchor is up, morning java is brewed and we’re on our way.

0830hrs. We’re in the Canal 15 knots of wind, the current is 1 ½ knots and we’ve got 8 foot swells tossing us about. Once we’re around Cabeza de Perro we’ve got lighter winds and smaller swells.
By 0910hrs we are on a mooring in Culebrita. It is absolutely gorgeous. We can hardly wait to get into the water. We worked on the hull and finished the day off with having Kathy and Kerry over for sundowners.








Rand and I went on a short hike to the South side of Culebita. What a sharp contrast to the Northern side where we are on a mooring.











Mon. 1215 hrs. We had a nice morning—hiking, checking out the bathing pools. We are quite amazed that there are so many cactus.




We also have seen a number of turtles.




Unfortunately the anchorage is really rolly so we have decided to go to Bahia de Almodovar. We actually heard Whisper on the VHF so we hailed them and they updated us on their whereabouts. They said St. John was great for snorkeling and that they were heading for Norman Island.





More cactus.










Gorgeous view across Culebrita from our Northern anchorage to the Southern shoreline.











Actually hiking to the bathing pools, probably the nicest Randy checked out was unfortunately full of sea urchins.












This pool that we did go in certainly was refreshing but quite slippery.











The following seas as we leave for Almadovar.













Tues. 0930hrs. Leaving Almodovar to get back to Dewey to complete preparations for Sean and Carlie’s visit. The swells are much smaller today 3 to 5 feet.

Thurs. Feb. 14th HAPPY VALENINE’S DAY and HOLA SEAN AND CARLIE.

We’re up by 0500hrs and on the 0630hrs. ferry to Fajardo. After renting a car we have had a very productive morning. We picked up our Garmin chip for the Western Caribbean, plus new chiv blocks for the dinghy so the lines won’t twist. We made a stop at Walmart and then on to the airport. We arrived an hour early…no we are not tooooo excited!!!!

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