It seems like all we are doing lately is waiting for other boats to make repairs or a weather window. It’s the later now. The wind has been blowing big time, 30kn gusts, which isn’t a bad thing because we are making lots of power and our able to run both computer and still have a lot of power left. The bad news we can’t leave the harbor for St. Thomas. Culebra, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands and is the island that time forgot and inhabits an entirely diffferent planet. Culturally speaking, the island is home to an offbeat mix of rat-race dropouts, earnest idealists, solitude seekers, myriad eccentrics and anyone else who can’t quite get their head around the manic intricacies of modern life. This island has beautiful beaches and lots of reefs for snorkeling and diving. What a paradise and we don’t mind at all being stranded here. We decided we didn’t need our big boat to get around and decided to go to Vieques, another one of the Spanish Virgin Islands about 13kn miles away by ferry. The problem was the ferry didn’t go directly there and we had to go to Fajardo first (23kn miles) and then from Fajardo to Vieques (16kn miles) which the total trip took about 2 ½ hours with the ferry traveling 17 mph. The other problem was you spent a lot of time waiting for the ferrys in their terminals but what did we care we were on another adventure with no time restrictions. This is a cheap way to get around and the ride is $1 for each ferry trip we took which did even cover the cost of the fuel but is subsidised by Puerto Rico. We were glad to be on the ferry for the seas were quite rough and we only bounced around a little. We arrived in the town of Isabella II, Vieques and this island turned out to be a another beautiful island and would be great for snorkeling and swimming if the weather was cooperating, which it wasn’t. Upon arriving in Vieques we hired a van and driver to tour the island. This island for over five decades the US navy used more than two-thirds of this lusciousluy endowed Spanish Virgin Island for military target practice.and there are a lot of unexploded land and sea mines. You even get the effects when they go off in Culebra .Vieques has a protected wildlife refuge and the tranquility remains-at least for the time being. There was much to see on all the coasts and after arriving back in the town we had a nice lunch and awaited the ferrry at 1500 for our trip back to Fajardo. The trip back to Fajardo was a little rougher and upon arriving back at the ferry dock it had started to rain. This stopped us from doing any more exploring in Fajardo while we waited for the ferry to go back to Culebra at 2100. We heard about the cargo ferry that was suppose to leave at 1600 but was still loading. We bought tickets and finally left around 1730. It turned out the ferry inside was like a meat locker and John found the thermostats and turned them up from 65 degrees to 75 degrees which was a little better. We all looked like drown rats because we hadn’t dried off yet from the rain. Thank goodnes it had stopped raining by the time we got back to Culebra and arrived back to our boat just when it started to pour again.
The harbor is full of boats now awaiting a weather window and hope that will be soon. We have already been here six days and are itching to get underway.
Stay tuned for more adventures from John & Carol aboard the S/V Sweet Caroline.
Just spoke with Sweet Caroline and they are sitting in St Thomas Harbor. Crossing was good with 3 foot seas.