Mar 21
The day started with a visit from Rolf, the German sailor who's dinghy we recovered last night. In his slow, deliberate English, he explained what had happened and thanked us for retrieving it. He had apparently rushed to his boat from the dock when the rain started, because he had left windows open. He jumped aboard his boat and not only didn't tie the dinghy to the big boat, but he left it running and in gear. I hadn't realized when we snagged it last night that it was running. After he thanked us, he presented us with a bottle of champagne.
We are having off and on rain showers again this morning. The weather feature that has been stalled along the northern coast of the DR is still there and not forecast to move until the weekend. Between showers I hopped in the dinghy and went to shore to get gasoline. I found Pat there waiting for the mechanic to take him out to Sol Y Mar to install the repaired water muffler. We chatted for a few minutes then I went to get my gasoline. The gas pump is at the street end of the main dock. Without any words being spoken, I conveyed that I wanted the tank filled, he did it, and then used a calculator to show me the price. The pumps don't have prices on them, just the gallons. I put the gas can back in the dinghy then went across the street to the ATM. One of the boat boys is going to deliver fuel to the boat this morning and I need more cash to pay for that.
About 10:30 a boat approached. It had about ten passengers on it, including a guy on the bow with two twenty gallon jugs of diesel fuel. They pulled up alongside and the guy lifted the jugs to our deck and then got on. The boat roared away taking the other folks wherever they were going. The guy was not the boat boy I had made the arrangements with, but he introduced himself and apologized for being late. He had a short length of garden hose that was used to siphon the fuel from the jugs into our tank. It took about fifteen minutes to siphon the forty gallons into the tank. When he was done, we loaded the jugs into our dinghy and gave him a ride back to the dock.
Once the fueling was done, we took showers and then met Pat & Dori on the dock for lunch. We decided to go to a place up the hill that we can see from the boats. The place is called Black & White, and it apparently just reopened this past week after a major renovation. To get there we could walk, or we could take a moto-concho. Some of the moto-conchos here are the typical 100cc bikes as we have seen before, but they have a four-person cart attached to them like a trailer. We decided to take one of these instead of walking up the hill. However, the driver told us he could only take two people at a time up the steep hill. So, he took Pat & Dori first and we waited for him to come back and get us.
At the top we found a very nice place. The patio where the tables are has a small pool in the middle, and a view to die for. We felt right at home as the owner, Alfredo, spoke very good English, and he had Willie Nelson playing on the CD player. Another cruising couple we have met here was already here when we arrived. We got the Spanish menu and had most of it figured out. The few things we couldn't figure out were explained to us by Alfredo. Three of us ended up having spaghetti - one with meat sauce, one with a white sauce with ham in it, and one with a white sauce and shrimp. Dori had a pork chop with Creole sauce. The food was very good. Once again, lunch turned into all afternoon as we sat and visited, drank and enjoyed the view and the breeze. We mentioned to Alfredo that he had the perfect location to offer wireless internet access to the harbor. He was interested in the idea but had no idea how to make it happen, so I gave him enough information to ask the right questions of people.
The one thing I wanted to accomplish today was to publish the website update, and the Internet cafe I planned to use closes at 18:00, so at about 17:15 I headed down the hill on foot. We hadn't paid our bill yet so Pat took care of that and then they met me at the Internet place. I was able to quickly publish and check a few other things before the place closed. This place is interesting because in addition to offering Internet access, the guy teaches computer classes to local young people. I have heard there is a cheaper place a few blocks down that has more room to sit that maybe I'll try next time.
Our route from the Internet place back to the docks takes us right by Coyote Grill & Bar, and the other cruisers were there, so we had to stop. We had a few drinks there, and were getting ready to leave when Harvey from Sea Bound came back from the dock to tell us somebody's dinghy had been trapped under the concrete dock by the rising tide. We quickly paid our bills and hustled down there. We found our dinghy safe, but Sol Y Mar's, was completely under the dock. It wasn't getting smashed against the concrete, because there was room between the beams of the dock for it to still float, but it's wasn't going to come out easily. I suggested leaving it overnight as the only other option was to get in the water to get into the dinghy, and then let some air out of the tubes so it could be squeezed under the dock edge. I didn't think that sounded like a good thing for any of us to try, not only because the water is nasty, but because we had all been drinking. About this time a local boat with six men came up and docked. They saw what we were doing, and within minutes two of them stripped to their underwear and dove in the water. In just a few minutes they had let air out of the dinghy and had it free. Pat gave them $20 for their help.
GPS N 19-12.007 W 069-20.063 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8624.
Mar 22
Today was a rainy day. The frontal trough that has been here all week persists. We spent all day opening and closing windows and the sides on the cockpit enclosure. When it wasn't raining, it was too hot to be closed up, but every time I opened things up, it rained again. I re-read the books about getting from here to Puerto Rico, across the Mona Passage, and put a course in the chart plotter for when we go.
At dinner time, we decided we had to get off the boat for a little while. We joined Pat & Dori on the dock, and as we were walking to the street, Ralph, the boat boy who arranged for my fuel stopped me. He was obviously irritated that I had not "taken care" of him. I know that when they deliver fuel to the boat, they pad the per gallon rate compared to if I had brought my own jugs to the dock, so I didn't expect to pay him an extra tip. It pissed me off that he wanted a tip, and the way he confronted me in front of everybody. I gave him 250 pesos (about $7) and he went away. I will be sending the word back to the boats behind us to not use him as their boat boy.
After we were past Ralph, we walked up a hill to the Chino Restaurant. We could tell from the water that Chino indeed meant China. After climbing quite a long staircase, we arrived at the front of the restaurant. We were the only people there, but we greeted by a Dominican waiter. The menu was just like any other Chinese restaurant menu in that there were at least fifty things on it. It was odd though to order Chinese food in Spanish. Fortunately the menu had Spanish and poorly translated English. But it was close enough. Last year when we got back to the States after six months in the Bahamas, I was craving Chinese food. This is the first we have seen in three months, so we had our hopes up and were not disappointed. The food was excellent and there was plenty of it. We all cleaned our plates though and had no leftovers.
GPS N 19-12.007 W 069-20.063 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8624.
Mar 23
Rain, rain, and more rain. It rained during the night, although I slept through it. Since it had been raining when we went to bed, the hatches were all closed anyway, so there was no scurrying around to do when it rained. This trough that has been stalled just north if us causing all this rain is very persistent. Although it has caused all this rain, and pretty much had boats all the way from the Bahamas to here pinned down for a couple weeks now, it may move a little tomorrow and give us a window to slip out of here. We'll see in the morning.
We met Pat & Dori on the dock at lunchtime, and went to the French place again. Just after we got there, we were joined by Michelle & Alicia. Michelle is a French Canadian single hander on a boat named Queenie. We met him the other day and learned that he was the voice we used to hear in Georgetown translating things on the morning VHF net for the French Canadians. Alicia is from Oregon and is traveling around where ever the next ride takes her. She just met Michelle in Samana the other day and is going to crew with him to Puerto Rico. Where she goes from there, who knows. We all had a nice lunch again and planned to meet later to share plans for departure.
After lunch we took a long walk further into the town than we had been before. We found that once past the waterfront and the new development for cruise ship shops, the town is typical of what we have seen elsewhere in the Dominican Republic. Most of the houses are in a constant state of construction. You might have a bare concrete block shack next to a very nice, clean, brightly painted two story house. Even the nice homes all have rebar sticking out the top like they are going to add another floor. We were told this is because they don't pay taxes on a building until it is completed. By making it appear you are going to add another floor, it is not complete, even though you've lived in it for fifteen years. I don't know if this is fact or not, but it makes sense, since literally ninety percent of the buildings are like this. We stopped in several little hardware and grocery stores, primarily just to see what they had. It's fun to go in a grocery store and see things you recognize but have the labeling all in Spanish. Once we reached the end of the businesses, we turned around and started back. It started to rain, so we ducked into a small bar and had a beer while we waited for it to stop. It's funny to see how the local people are used to dealing with the rain and life just goes on for most of them, not taking shelter like us tourists. Seventy-five percent of the traffic is the usual little 100cc motorcycles, and they carry on in the rain as if it wasn't there.
After the rain stopped, we got back to the dock. We found a man in a uniform holding a piece of paper standing at the ladder blocking our access to the dinghies. There was another old guy there who looked like a cruiser, but we didn't recognize him. He was trying to get past the officer, and finally nudged him aside enough to get on the ladder. The officer was trying to talk to us but spoke no English, so we had no idea what he wanted. Of course none of the boat boy guys were around to translate. I looked over his shoulder to see what the paper he was holding was, and saw it was a despacho for a boat named Snoopy. I saw that one of the dinghies tied to the ladder said Snoopy on it. Trying to be helpful, I pointed to the name on the paper and the dinghy to help the officer make the connection. The old guy on the ladder, who had acted like he spoke no English or Spanish (he spoke French) suddenly said in English to the officer "Give me my paper" and snatched the despacho out of his hand. The officer said something in Spanish, at which point the guy from Snoopy came back on the dock and stomped out to the street in a huff. The officer followed him. Guess I'll mind my own business.
We got back out to the boat and a little while later, we see a dinghy coming across the harbor at full speed. It's the guy from Snoopy. He is followed a few hundred feet behind by one of the local boats with the uniformed guys, Frank the boat boy, and a driver. We get the binoculars out and watch the event unfold. The guy from Snoopy got to his boat and jumped aboard. The officials are right behind him and tie up to the stern and come aboard even though he has hastily gone below. The owner comes back into the cockpit with a woman who must have been aboard all the time. She speaks with Frank and the officers, while the guy looks angry and makes a lot of hand gestures that don't seem to be conveying "welcome aboard". After a minute, two of the officers go below with the owner, while the woman stays in the cockpit talking to Frank and smiling. A few minutes later, the officers come back out and they all leave. We're still not sure what it was all about, but Snoopy hoisted their dinghy after that and appears to be preparing to leave tonight.
GPS N 19-12.007 W 069-20.063 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8624.
Mar 24 & 25
We got up this morning and listened to Chris Parker to see if the weather window we had hoped for is still there. He said it was, although it is another short one. Our plan is to leave this evening just at dark, which will put us in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Sunday evening. The weather window should last until mid-day Monday, so we have flexibility on that end if things takes longer than expected. Being Saturday, we have been told that we need to get our despachos before the Commandante's office closes at 11:00. Pat and I went ashore about 08:30 and walked over to the office. We found Sea-Eze and another couple we don't know already there. Ralph the boat boy was with Sea-Eze. There seemed to be some problem with getting the despacho. Sea-Eze was not understanding what the problem was, even with Ralph's help. We talked to Ralph and finally understood that the procedure works differently here than it did in Luperon. In Luperon, you could get your despacho and then still go to town and leave pretty much anytime before they opened the next day. Here, when they give you the despacho, they expect you to leave. So, when asked when we were leaving, we originally said 18:00. They said they would bring the despacho to the boats then. Well, we wanted to leave whenever, on our timetable, not theirs. Ralph suggested we say we were leaving right away and then go anchor outside the harbor by Cayo Leventado and really leave whenever we want. So, that's what we told them. The Commandante, who was the same guy who sung Happy Birthday to me last week, slowly went from appearing to be pissed off, back to having a big smile, and papers started to be typed. A young girl sitting at a typewriter that belonged in a museum took our papers and passports and typed each despacho. We were hopeful, but still unsure if we were going to walk away with paper in hand. After everything was typed, it was decided we needed to go to the Immigration office to get our passports stamped. We're a little concerned because we never got stamped in at Samana and we were stamped out at Luperon. After Ralph got the Immigration guy to his office on Saturday when he's normally not there, he took the passports and stamped them out with no questions asked and no money exchanged. Back at the Commandante's office, we showed the girl at the desk that we had all been stamped. This and about $3 as a thank you for the girl having to work on Saturday made the papers move out of her office into another guys hands. He was the guy who fills out a mystery form for each boat that comes and goes from the harbor. One form in, one form out. Some bureaucrat somewhere probably matches them up and files them somewhere forever. He started filling out his form for each of us while we waited, still unsure of what was really going on. Eventually, all the paperwork seemed to be done and the four despachos were given to a guy in a uniform. This was the same guy we had seen on the dock yesterday looking for Snoopy. It was apparent that we were to follow him. At this point Ralph explained that this man would escort us to the dock, go out to each boat for an inspection and then give us our despacho, at which point we were expected to leave. Ralph also made it clear that he expected to be "taken care of" for helping us. We each gave him a few bucks. He also told us that when the officer gave us our despacho it would be nice if we took care of him too. This kind of spoils our plans to have one last lunch here and leave in the late afternoon. Pat and I had ridden in together in Pat's dinghy, so when we got to the dock, he and I got in, then the officer, then the guy who filled out the mystery form, then another officer in a different kind of uniform. We headed for MoonSail, where two of the officers and I went aboard. The guy with the despacho stayed in the dinghy with Pat but gave me the paper as I got out, at which point I gave him a few bucks. The guys who came aboard came below, glanced around and said we were good to go. I think the whole deal is because illegal immigrants frequently try to hitch rides out of the DR to Puerto Rico where American rules make it harder to deport them. While I was below with the officers, the guy in the dinghy, whom I had already tipped, pointed at the dive light I keep in our dinghy and said something in Spanish to Barb. She thought he wanted the light, but after some gesturing, she figured out he wanted a couple of batteries. So I got two flashlight batteries and gave them to him too. Finally they all left and we were free to go. The irony of all this is that Puerto Rico doesn't care if you have the coveted despacho. You could just up and leave and have no problem unless you come back to the DR someday and they figure out your forms don't match. But I guess it's all part of the adventure to play the games in each country.
We took our time hoisting the dinghy and getting ready to go. About noon, Sol Y Mar and us left the harbor. We decided to just go ahead and leave now, rather than re-anchor out near Cayo Leventado. There is a chance of rain squalls for the next twenty-four hours during our trip, and there is no evidence of any now, so we might as well get going. Once we were clear of Cabo Samana and in the open ocean, we found the seas to still be choppier than we would have liked, but it was not as bad as when we left Luperon a week ago. Sea-Eze departed about an hour after us, and Seagulls an hour after them. Late in the afternoon, we could see storms developing south of us over the eastern end of the DR, but it looked like they were moving west and would not get us. We did get some light rain off the edge of one of them, but no extreme wind nor lightening. Seagulls was just enough behind us that they got rained on for a good part of the trip. So, even though we had an uncomfortable choppy sea, our earlier than planned departure looked like it was a good thing.
The passage was about 150 miles. The first half is southeast paralleling the Dominican coast to Cabo Egano which is the eastern tip of the DR. Then you continue southeast across the Mona Passage. The Mona Passage is similar to the Gulf Stream in that there is a strong northbound current which can spawn dangerous seas when there is a north wind or large north swell from the Atlantic. We had more wind than forecast most of the trip, but the direction was from the southeast, so we were beating right into it. We had the mainsail up to help stabilize the boat, but it was an all motoring trip. During the night, we heard a standard US Coast Guard announcement on the VHF from San Juan. We used to be constantly annoyed by these announcements back in the States, but is was comforting to know they were out there. By dawn, we were out in the middle of the Mona. Our speed has been less than five knots most of the way since we were going straight into the wind and chop. During the wee hours of the morning the wind had died to nothing and the seas flattened out some, so the ride was better. Sometime mid-morning, we saw a helicopter flying west way off to the north of us. It made an obvious turn and headed straight for us. It passed right over us and turned back west after checking us out. It was the familiar orange and white of the US Coast Guard. We waved but couldn't tell if they waved back. By noon Sunday, we had passed south of Isla Desecheo and could see the mountains of Puerto Rico in the distance. Sea-Eze must have a mega motor, because they had left an hour behind us, passed us during the night, and were in Mayaguez an hour ahead of us. We arrived in Mayaguez at 16:00, with Sol Y Mar just a few minutes behind us. The harbor in Mayaguez is primarily a commercial port. There is room to anchor just outside the markers for the ship channel.
The first thing we did was call Customs. The Mayaguez office is closed on Sundays, but we had been given the number of the San Juan office. A nice guy there took all of our information and gave us a clearance number. He said to take that number to the Immigration office in the morning and clear in with them.
We hoisted rum drinks to celebrate the crossing and hopefully the last long and very weather sensitive part of the trip. From here the hops are much shorter. Just after we were anchored a rain shower came offshore and rinsed us off. It couldn't have had better timing. We have read that afternoon thunderstorms roll off the western coast of Puerto Rico almost every day. It was just forming as it passed over us, and we got the rain, but no big winds of lightening. We could see that it clearly got bigger and badder as it moved west. We were concerned about Seagulls, since they were still out there. We hailed them on the radio and learned that they were still over an hour out.. They got the full force of the thunderstorm, including wind and lightening, but made it through ok. They dropped the hook just before dark.
We enjoyed a few drinks and a light dinner and hit the sack by about 20:30. I slept like a rock all night, waking only once and going right back to sleep. It was not only easy to sleep after having been up overnight, but the mental relaxation of having this part of the trip over was huge.
GPS N 18-12.918 W 067-09.575 Nautical miles traveled today 150. Total miles 8774.
Mar 26
The point of coming to Mayaguez at all is that it is the official port of entry on the west coast. Fifteen miles south of Mayaguez is Boqueron, where cruisers stay for awhile. Many cruisers go straight to Boqueron and take a bus back to Mayaguez to check in. While this seems to work most times, it is technically illegal, and sometimes you get chastised for doing it. Also, given our arrival timing, if we had continued to Boqueron yesterday it would have been dark when we arrived. Boqueron is a wide open bay with no entrance challenges, but we still like to have the hook down in the daylight if at all possible.
We have been told and read in the cruising guides that if you arrive on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, you need to be at the Immigration office before 08:00. This is because a huge ferry from the DR comes in at 08:00 and it takes them hours to process everybody. We were up at 06:30 and heard a boat called Caribbean Express call the Mayaguez pilot boat. I figured this must be a freighter, since there is a large cargo dock here. Barb made coffee and took it above while I was trying to listen to the weather on the SSB. Barb looked through the binoculars at the approaching Caribbean Express and said it was a huge passenger ship. The ferry! We called Sol Y Mar on the VHF and suggested we get going to be sure and be there before the ferry turned it's people loose. Pat & Dori were over in a few minutes and picked us up. There is no good place for a dinghy to tie up and access the Immigration area. Pat drove us over to the big dock where the ferry was headed and found a ladder. The ferry blew a five-whistle warning that we were in danger, although he was still half a mile away. Barb, Dori and I got out while Pat moved the dinghy way down to the end of the dock. The problem was now Pat was outside the fence with no apparent way in. We had just been on the dock a few minutes when a police car pulled up to us. The officer was very polite, and spoke perfect English. He told us we had done exactly the right thing and that he would go unlock the gate so Pat can get back in. After Pat was in, he told us to go stand by the doors to the Immigration building. They don't technically open until 08:00, but when they know there are boaters waiting, they will take them in early and process them before the ferry people. Sea-Eze and Seagulls joined us waiting, and about 07:45, an officer opened the front door. We were all taken inside and very quickly and politely processed through Immigration. Since we had our Customs clearance numbers already, we just showed them to the Customs officer and were done. And nobody expected a tip! It was nice to be more or less back in the US and treated well.
We thought about going out to breakfast, and the Customs officer gave us directions to her favorite place, but then we decided to just get on down to Boqueron before the daily winds kick up. So, we got back to the boats and were under way about 08:45. Boqueron is only sixteen miles south of Mayaguez and is a fairly straight shot. There is a reef offshore between Mayaguez and Boqueron, but both cruising guides that we have give details of how to pass between the reef and the shore safely and save the distance of going outside the reef. We motored the whole way in mostly twenty-some feet of water to the entrance to Bahia Boqueron.
Boqueron Bay is about two miles north/south and two miles east/west. It's mostly twenty feet deep, so you could anchor just about anywhere, but the preferred anchorage is on the eastern end where you're protected from the prevailing easterly winds. There are less than twenty boats anchored here, most of them permanently, and there's room for hundreds, so finding a spot wasn't a challenge. We anchored near the back of the pack, further out than necessary, but some of the permanent boats which are closer in are on moorings instead of anchors, so they will swing differently than us. By just staying out at the back of the pack I don't have to put any thought into the whole deal.
We were anchored by 11:30, and since we hadn't had breakfast we immediately went to town for lunch. The cruising guides say there are numerous bars and restaurants starting right at the head of the dinghy dock. What they didn't say was that almost everything is closed on Monday and Tuesdays. Boqueron is a weekend party town for college kids headed to the beach, so the weekend for the business owners is Monday and Tuesday. We did find the first bar open. Schamar is a bar and does serve food, although they didn't seem interested in dealing with food customers. We had a couple of beers here and decided to walk to see what our other options were. We quickly saw that our other options were very limited, but we found Galloway's open. Galloway's is right on the water with a nice view of the bay. It was almost empty and we were served by Isaac, who also spoke good English. I'm just guessing this, but I suspect we'll find English easier here due to Puerto Rico's relationship with the US. We had a great meal and got some local knowledge from Isaac. When we left, Pat spoke to the lady behind the bar and asked how long she had worked here. She said eleven years. Pat remembered her from when he came through here on somebody else's boat five years ago.
We walked back to the main intersection near the dinghy dock and found the only other bar that was open. It was called Sunrise Sunset. There were a few people there, a couple of locals and a couple of the permanent boat people. We ordered drinks and chatted with a few of them. One guy who we didn't talk to is about seven feet tall. He speaks good Spanish, but also speaks perfectly good English without a Spanish accent. I wonder if he has a story involving a failed basketball career and now he is a barfly in a small town away from the real world. We meet another permanent boat guy who is from Maine. He goes back to Maine in the summers, and here in the winters, but his boat stays here. Probably another story there. We ended up staying at Sunrise Sunset past sunset, and left when we heard thunder in the distance.
As we got to the boats, it started to rain lightly. We made it just in time, as the rain got heavy and lasted for several hours. There was some thunder and lightening but it never got right over us. We sat out in the cockpit enjoying the cool air for a couple of hours, since it was hot below with everything closed up. We heard the Coast Guard responding to a distress call from a boat out in the Mona Passage. Unfortunately they never made contact with the boat. They kept trying all night. It's disconcerting to know that they can sometimes hear what appears to be a distress call, but not make contact. Was it a bogus call? Was it legit and the boat disappeared? Was it legit but the boat resolved their problem and just never let them know? Without any further contact or other corroborating info, there is nothing the Coast Guard can do.
GPS N 18-01.398 W 067-10.716 Nautical miles traveled today 16. Total miles 8790.
Mar 27
We started the day a little early and met Pat & Dori on the dock at 09:00. We had been told that there was a bakery in town, so we thought we'd get breakfast there. We also need to find an ATM, which is alleged to be near the bakery. We walked out the main street form the dock. One of the taxi drivers that deals with cruisers a lot had told us yesterday that this was the way, and we were beginning to think we misunderstood when we spotted the bakery sign. The bakery had lots of doughnuts and such, but also cooks breakfasts and lunches. My hopes of dealing with more English speaking people hear did not apply at this locals place. Nobody there spoke any English, but we managed to order fried eggs, bacon, and toast. The toast was a flat bread that had been split, toasted and buttered, so it was convenient to just slide the fried egg inside the toast and make it a sandwich. The bakery is right next to the high school, and the whole time we were there kids were coming and going. As in the DR, all the kids wore uniforms. We were a little puzzled why they weren't in class at 10:00, but who knows.
After eating, we found the ATM just a little further down the street as we had been told. Our cash flow problem resolved, we headed back to town. We walked a block over from the street we had come on to get a different view. We found a little grocery where we picked up a few essentials. We know that here in Puerto Rico, we have all the big stores we are used to back in the States, like Wal-Mart, etc, but we won't make a run on them until next week.
We got back near the dinghy dock a little before noon, and stopped at Sunrise Sunset for a beer. The tall guy was there, as I suspect he always is, watching the TV. We had a couple of beers and then went back to the boats for a quiet afternoon. Barb made a nice dinner aboard, and we had more rain, of course.
GPS N 18-01.398 W 067-10.716 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8790.
Mar 28
We are hoping to see a few more businesses open today. We had found a laundromat in town, and have heard there is not a convenient one near where we plan to stay in Ponce in a few days, so Barb & Dori both took laundry in today. They found that only some of the machines work, but they got the job done. At a glance it doesn't look like much more is open today than was yesterday. There are one or two places, and there are a few more people on the streets, but the town is still pretty dead. Pat & I walked down to the Club Nautico Yacht Club to see what was there. We found the docks guarded by a big gate, but the building was open and there was a restaurant and bar on the second floor. We went in and had a couple of beers while we waited for the ladies to finish the laundry.
After the laundry was done we walked down to Sunrise Sunset for a beer. We met another boater who came here and never left. We chatted with him about the town and once again I was left wondering what his story was. We did ask him about the tall guy and learned that indeed there had been a basketball career in his past. The details of how he ended up here were fuzzy, but I got the impression drugs may have played a role. We were getting hungry but didn't want to drag our laundry baskets around, nor take them back to the boat. The bartender said we could leave them there while we went to lunch. We walked a few blocks to Pika Pika, a Mexican place that the bartender recommended. We haven't had Mexican food in a while, and it was very good.
We had been told that there was a new bar and restaurant opening here that wants to be the cruisers hangout. One of the things they are supposed to be offering to lure customers in is free wi-fi. We found the place, but it was still closed even though it's Wednesday. Can't become the cruisers hangout if they don't open. Pat had brought his computer hoping to get on the Internet, so even though they were closed, he sat down across the street and turned it on to see if there was a signal. Sure enough there was, so he got his e-mail there. It started to sprinkle while he was doing that, so Barb stood in front of him shielding the computer with her shirt. It made a funny picture.
We went back to Sunrise Sunset and fetched our laundry, then headed for the boats. At the plaza near the dinghy dock, we ran into several other cruisers we know, and were invited to join them later at an anniversary gathering for Glenn & Michele on Crossroads. We went to the boat to ditch the laundry and clean up. We came back ashore and walked to Rita's where we met all the other cruisers. There were almost twenty of us there and the service and food was great. We were concerned a group that large might overwhelm them, but everything was good. We chatted with Glenn & Michele from Crossroads and Tom & Doris from Exit Strategy. We had not known any of them before today. We learned that they are northbound after spending the past hurricane season in Trinidad, and that they met our friends Dan & Jaime on Nereia while in Trinidad.
GPS N 18-01.398 W 067-10.716 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8790.
Mar 29
We have decided to stay in Boqueron one more day to see if it really does open up for the weekend. We've been told that today for sure, everything will be open and tourists will start showing up for the weekend. The first thing I did this morning was go to the yacht club by dinghy to see if I could get some water. We have just shy of enough to hold us until we get to Ponce, so I want to get fifteen gallons. I found the fuel dock and tied up the dinghy. There was a sign there that said water was $.15/gallon, so I walked up the dock to find the office. I had to go out two locked gates to get to the office, where I paid my $2.25. The girl in the office then had to walk back out with me to unlock the gates. I filled our jugs and went back to the boat and dumped them in the boat's tank. There are two boats anchored near us that just came in last evening. As I passed one of them I noticed their hailing port was Kemah also. The boat's name is Life Is Good. They were not aboard at the time though, so I'll have to try to meet them later.
Since we are staying one more day the ladies decided to do the rest of the laundry. So we loaded up and headed for the laundromat again. I took my computer this time since we knew we could get the signal whether the place was open or not. I left Barb at the laundromat and walked the few blocks to the new place. The doors were open and a lady was working inside. I asked if they were open and she said the bar was. Their official opening is Thursday so they don't have food today, but the beer was cold. I sat at the bar and got caught up on Internet things. I expected that Pat would come around here too after he got Dori started at the laundromat, but he never showed up. After an hour there, I got an e-mail from Pat. Turned out he was able to get a signal from the bar across the street from the laundromat, so he had stayed there. The only place for him to sit was on a pink plastic Dino the Dinosaur ride out front. That made for another funny picture. I went back and joined them there until the laundry was done. Barb had met the two guys from Life Is Good just before I got there and learned that they left Kemah this year and are on their way south also.
After the laundry was done, we went across the street to Galloway's for lunch. We had another excellent meal there. We then took the laundry back to the boats and then met back at the dock. One of the places that has not been open until today has a sign out front advertising Mojitos. We stopped there and enjoyed a few very good ones. This place also had deafening Latin music playing and the bartender and the locals at the bar were yelling over the music as if that's the way a conversation is supposed to be had. Once we had enough of the noise, we went back to Sunrise Sunset for one last visit. The regulars were there as was Michele from Queenie. He is not leaving Boqueron with us tomorrow, so we bid him farewell for now.
GPS N 18-01.398 W 067-10.716 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8790.
Mar 30
We are moving "around the corner" of Puerto Rico today to La Parguera. It's only a little over twenty miles so we didn't get too early of a start. The normal method of moving east along Puerto Rico's south coast is to leave in the wee hours of the morning while the night lee of the islands suppresses the regular easterly trade winds. However, the normal pattern is not in place this week, and what little wind there is, is coming from the northeast. So we left about 07:45 for a few hours of motoring. The wind was light and there was just a hint of a swell, making for a nice relaxing trip. It's nice to be doing a short easy trip instead of a long uncomfortable one like the last few.
La Parguera is a small town that the cruising guides say should not be missed. As we were approaching, but still several miles away, I could see what appeared to be a blimp on the shore. I got the binoculars out and sure enough, it was. I recognized it as one of the tethered blimps that US Customs uses to watch for drug runners. There was one just like it in Sierra Vista, AZ, where I used to visit often. Apparently, just like the one in AZ, it can't be up in inclement weather, so it spends a lot of time on the ground. How long to think it took the bad guys to figure out they just had to make their trips when the weather is bad? The approach to La Parguera involves going between a couple of small mangrove islands. The chart shows markers here, but we have learned that markers come and go. We are happy to see though that since the US Coast Guard is in Puerto Rico, all the markers we have expected were in place. We definitely are back in civilization compared to the Bahamas or the DR. We got to where we wanted to anchor and dropped the hook. As we backed down on it though, it didn't set. Pat and I were talking back and forth on the radio about the fact that we weren't setting when another boater broke in our conversation. He was on a boat on mooring behind the small islands we were near. He told us the bottom was covered with thick monkey grass and it was hard to get the anchor to dig through it. Knowing that's what it was, we just kept slowly dragging the anchor until it caught. There was plenty of room to do this, and finally we got planted. Once the anchor had pierced the grass it dug in hard.
We launched the dinghies and went around the corner to meet Doug the guy who spoke to us on the radio. He filled us in on where we could land the dinghies, where to eat, and the fact that the monkeys that used to inhabit a nearby island are no longer there. There are many houses built out over the water along the shore here. These apparently are illegal now and people are not allowed to fix them if they are damaged by a storm. The government is trying to run the people off. It's kind of odd since these houses add to the charm of the place. We dinghied up the coast to the main town area and found the house where we were told you can tie up your dinghy. There is no public dock for dinghies, but this home owner allows cruisers to tie up there. We actually tied up in the wrong place so when we returned a few hours later, we found the door to the dock locked and had to knock. We apologized for using the wrong place.
We walked a couple blocks to the bar and restaurant that Doug had recommended. We ordered drinks and two pizzas. The pizza turned out to be pretty good and we enjoyed it. Since it was mid-afternoon when we ate, that became our only meal today. When we were done with the meal, the wind was blowing quite hard, so we went back to the boats to make sure we were secure. We ended up staying aboard through the evening rather than venture ashore again.
GPS N 17-58.273 W 067-03.240 Nautical miles traveled today 22. Total miles 8812.
Mar 31
After the morning radio listening, we were underway. The anchor came up much easier than it had gone down. We are moving about ten miles to an island called Gilligan's Island. The real name is Cayo de Cana Gorda, but locals have renamed it Gilligan's because it supposedly reminds them of the island from the old TV show. The anchorage is on the north side of the island, in a bay that is sheltered on the north, east, and south by mangrove cays. Gilligan's Island itself is a state park. It is used heavily by people on the weekends who come to swim and party. There is a ferry to make the short trip from the main island on the weekends.
Once we were anchored (with no challenges this time) we dinghied in to the dock on Gilligan's. There is a nice protected cove in the island which is roped off to keep boats out. This is where all the swimmers are. There are lots of picnic tables and brick fire pits scattered through the mangroves. We found a place along the shore where we could sit on some mangrove roots with our feet in the water and watched the crowd play. After an hour or so, we decided to go dinghy exploring. We went around to the south side of Gilligan's Island where the ocean comes in. There is a reef several hundred feet south of the island, so the surf breaks out there. The south side of Gilligan's is almost all mangroves with just a couple of little beach areas that are only accessible by boat. We continued to explore around the perimeter of the bay we are anchored in, and then went across to the mainland side where there is a dock.
The dock turned out to belong to a resort. Although there was a sign at the head of the dock that suggested only resort guests were allowed, we walked up to the beach bar and sat down and ordered drinks. After one round, we asked for a menu and ordered a couple appetizers to share and another round of drinks. After a while the bartender asked us if we were on boats and we said yes. It apparently was not a problem that we were there since we were spending money.
We went back to the boats and in the evening Pat & Dori joined us on MoonSail for dinner. Barb made jambalaya and Dori brought garlic bread. We visited well into the evening with a nice cool breeze blowing and no rain for a change.
GPS N 17-56.717 W 066-52.431 Nautical miles traveled today 13. Total miles 8825.