We started February on a mooring ball in the lee of Cayo
Louis Pena, in the Spanish Virgin Islands, doing not very much as there was no
wind to take us onwards. On the 2nd,
we had a lazy start and then headed off downwind under full sail to the nearest
bit of Puerto Rico, Fajardo, anchoring in the lee of Isleta Marina. We wanted to do a little touring, and some
laundry, but could not see anywhere to leave the dinghy. We took it ashore to a marina where old
reports said we might find a friendly welcome.
It being Sunday afternoon, they were very busy lifting out small craft
which were returning from their weekend away and being returned to their racks
so, once tied up to the dinghy dock, we had to dodge monster fork-lift
trucks. The girl in the office seemed to
think that we would have to pay $20 dollars per day for the dinghy, which was
clearly ridiculous but allowed us an hour for free. We located a service laundry and went to look
for the local car hire. En-route, we
passed another marina and popped in only to be told that there was no dinghy
dock. We found the car hire and arranged
to take one the next day. Rumour was
that there was a dock we could use near the ferry terminal but it was clearly
privately owned and open to the public so not somewhere to leave a dinghy all day.
On Monday, I took the laundry ashore at 0800 and made
further enquiries at the first marina.
Sure enough - $20 per day. No
Thanks. I tried a third marina on the way back and, after a check with the
boss, I was told I could leave it next to a disused restaurant. Result.
Back to Ruby to collect Elsie and ashore for the car. We collected the car and drove out to El
Junque, a tropical rain forest on a mountain.
We had been here before and were worried that it might have been
devastated by the 2018 hurricanes but, apart from a few closed trails, it
showed no adverse signs. Lunch was at a
Burger King on the highway. We like to
do this once a year to remind ourselves what crap food tastes like. We then wend for a long country drive before
returning and doing some dry store shopping.
On Tuesday, we went into the capital, San Juan. We had booked a ‘free’ walking tour of ‘Old
San Juan’ and left early fearing traffic but it was a smooth trip, we found
free parking so had a 40 minute walk before the tour. We waited at the designated spot but the
guide never appeared so eventually we went to one of the defensive forts. For $10 per head, we got entrance to that and
another one a mile away so spent the rest of the day walking round and between
them. Lunch was a pasta meal in a
Subway. Slightly better than the
previous day’s but not as good as the salad we had for supper.
On Wednesday, ashore to get the propane bottle topped up and
do a little more shopping before returning the car, collecting the dinghy and
returning to Ruby. It was calm so, after
lunch, we picked up and motored the 7 miles to and anchorage in the passage
between Isla Pineros and the mainland.
Here we met OCC members Mark and Lisa on Wild Iris. They popped over later that afternoon and
gave us a lift to the beach. This was
covered with signs warning of munitions and prohibiting access. More to the point, there were vicious sand
flies, so we retreated to the dinghy and drifted, beers in hand, for an
hour. They were heading basically the
same way as us so we expect to see more of them. Thursday was a sailing day, so we picked up
at 0900 and sailed 9 miles to Green Beach, on the western side of Vieques. A pleasant enough spot but used by tourist
boats, so we stayed on board. Much of my
afternoon was taken up with arguments with Vodafone, who had suddenly decided
to charge me for services I had already paid for. Saturday, again an 0900 start and a longer
sail, downwind, to Bahia de Jobos on the south coast of Puerto Rico. There is an inner bay but, with the weekend
coming up and strong winds forecast, we decided to creep into an isolated bay
and anchor for the night. We were 10
minutes late for the weather and got soaked (well Ruby and I did, Elsie
sheltered inside) with a sudden shower.
That done, it cleared up enough for sun-downers in the cockpit. Saturday morning was again spent on-line with
Vodafone with an operator in India assuring me that he would sort it and I shouldn’t
worry about the extra £100 bill.
Otherwise, a fairly lazy day.
On Sunday, we took advantage of the flat conditions to
replace the fog horn / PA, which entailed me going halfway up the mast. The inner bay is listed as being ‘scenic’
so, after breakfast, we picked up and motored the couple of miles to its
head. The view wasn’t any better than it
had been in our previous anchorage and there was a constant buzz of jet skis
so, mid-afternoon, we picked up again and sailed four miles downwind to another
little inlet in the mangroves. We picked
a double-lobed bay and anchored next to a buoy giving a 5 MPH limit because of
manatees. This didn’t stop the
occasional jet-ski whizzing past and, just before sunset, a large American cat
came to anchor next to us, spoiling our sunset view. On Monday, we headed downwind again, under
jib. There are little mooring fields
between the barrier islands and we wondered if any were large enough for us –
no, so we continued the few miles to Salinas, anchoring just off the entry
channel, rather than joining all the boats next to the marina. In the afternoon, we took the dinghy to a
little ramp and had a walk along a rough track and back, then continued to the
main anchorage to say hello to Wild Iris and a Swedish boat, Asta. On Tuesday, a little later than planned, we
dinghied into the marina and walked the mile-or-so to the Econo supermarket,
intending just to get a couple of things but, of course, returning laden down
with supplies which might be handy in Cuba.
In the evening we went ashore again for ‘Taco Tuesday’ at the marina
restaurant. Very good. Wednesday was another lazy day for me, apart
from further discussions with Vodafone.
I kept getting promised that incorrect charges would be removed from the
bill but my running total was reaching my spending limit. To avoid being cut off, I removed the limit
and crossed my fingers. Elsie was more
actively employed on cleaning. On
Thursday we managed to get ashore early, did a weekly shop, then sailed 15
miles downwind to the lee of Coffin Island in winds gusting up to 30 knots. On
arrival, we anchored in an area which was remarkably flat given the wind and
swell only a few hundred metres away. I
spent the afternoon doing on-line things, including checking that Vodafone were
aware that I had removed my spending cap.
At 20:01 local time, midnight in the UK, I was informed by Vodafone that
I was being cut off as I had breached my spending limit. Given that we are planning to spend a couple
of months in Cuba, with no phone signal, this was more an irritation than
serious harm.
An early start on Friday and after the essential coffee
dinghied down to the south end of the island.
Here, there had been until recently a tourist facility with substantial
pier, museum, gazebos with barbecue pits, etc.
Following the 2018 hurricanes, these have largely been abandoned as
there is no money available for their upkeep but there are still daily boats
full of tourists who are content just to sit on the beach. We managed to find a little beach to land and
had a good walk through the woods and up the hill to the lighthouse and back. This again is in a poor state of repair, with
the light now provided by a small self-contained, solar powered unit rather than
the previous Fresnel lens. We returned
in time for an 09:30 breakfast. We
contemplated moving down to the southern end, where it was a little flatter
but, at 10:30, saw the first of the day’s tourist boats arriving and decided to
stay put. We did similar on Saturday,
with me exploring inland trying, and failing, to find a trail right round the
island and Elsie exploring the shore line.
In the afternoon, I swam ashore from the anchorage and explored the
shore near to it. There was a small
sandy beach here but it had a rocky ledge, just submerged which would prevent
an easy landing. Our final trip ashore
was on Sunday morning. As we were
leaving, Asta arrived. A brief
conversation with them revealed that our next intended stop, Ponce, was
practically closed because of the large number of earthquakes occurring in the
area.
We had an early lunch and headed of to Ponce anyway, as we
needed some food and also to get my phone working again. It was another downwind sail, with the wind
gusting up to 30 knots, so we made good time under just the genoa. We intended to anchor in the harbour but, for
some reason, we couldn’t get the anchor to set properly. Possibly it was soft mud and, with the strong
wind, I couldn’t hold position to let it settle. Whatever, we headed half a mile north to a
sheltered bay where we had no problem anchoring in 3 metres. I noticed, on the chart, a small fishermen’s marina
and we headed there early on Monday. No problem,
said a local. I needed to find a WiFi
signal to re-set my phone and we tried a little café which had a signal. Having bought coffee, I asked for the internet
key. No, that was only for office use. Wandering further along the street, a local
asked if he could help. We explained the
problem. Again, no problem. He gave us a lift to the
local mall where we would be sure to find what we needed at one of the big
stores. Except, it being only just gone
08:00, they were still closed. Oh dear,
I said, the only signal I can see is someone’s hot-spot. “That will be mine”. Within minutes, the problem of communications
was solved and he even gave us a lift round the corner to the supermarket. What lovely people they are here. Since we knew we would be getting a taxi
back, we stocked up on fruit juice, etc. as well as a week’s fresh food. $4 for an Uber back to the marina and job done. Breakfast, then I popped back to dump some
rubbish, fill a can of petrol and a couple of cans of fresh water. Then, deciding not to bother going into town
proper, we heaved up and sailed another 15 miles downwind to a little, mangrove
fringed, bay. Here we anchored near to
Asta, who had obviously not enjoyed Coffin Island as much as we had. There were a few jet-skis and kite-surfers
milling around but it quietened down in the evening and we were able to catch
up on 3 days of radio and other internet type things.
On Tuesday morning, we went over to ‘Gilligans’ Island, a
local tourist spot. There is a little
pier, but that is reserved for water taxis so, after dropping Elsie on it, I
picked up a close-by mooring ball and waded ashore. There were the usual gazebos and barbecue
pits, but that was it so we didn’t linger and instead went for a slow dinghy
tour of the mangroves, looking for manatees.
We didn’t find any of those, just some fish, pelicans and a heron. One of the inlets led to a tombolo, so we
beached the dinghy and had a little walk along the ocean side beach. Since it was only a couple of hundred metres
long, we were surprised to find bicycle tracks. Hmmm. Further
round the bay, we found a little ramp, near a small jetty, and hauled out to
investigate. There was a rough track a
picnic facility and the jetty, not private as we had assumed. Waking further we found a locked gate with
notices on the other side proclaiming the start of the nature reserve. By this time, we were hungry and returned to
Ruby for breakfast.
Thursday, another downwind sail, this time with gusts over
30 knots, to weave our way, through reefs and mangrove clumps, into Parguera,
although it was still breezy, we were well protected and took a long dinghy
ride past this holiday town with lots of attractive waterfront properties and
into the mangrove-fringed passages beyond.
We stopped at a public ramp on the way back for a wander round the town
then back to Ruby for lunch and a lazy afternoon. On Friday, we headed downwind again, past
Cabo Rojo and up to Puerto Real, our last stop in Puerto Rico. Our original intention had been to spend some
time in the Dominican Republic on our way west, but we kept getting reports of
aggressive and greedy officials and also of burglaries from boats (even that
the two phenomena might be connected).
The places we wanted to see were land based , so we decided that we to
give it a miss and, maybe try to get a house-sit there in the future.
Ashore, early next morning, with laundry. We managed to get this on and, while it was
washing, wandered to the local store, to see if we could get final supplies for
our trip to Cuba. No. We decided to hire a car for 24 hours and do
a little sight-seeing but, as there was no working drier, take it from 1 PM, to
give the washing time to dry. This
worked, so we set off on the main road round the coast. Not scenic, but we wanted to get to the big
radio telescope at Arecibo. Only with 10
miles to go did we realise that this closed to visitors at 3, so we had missed
it. The return journey was much more
scenic, over hills with some great views.
We stopped at a big Econo supermarket on the way back to get supper and
scout for the morning. On Sunday, we took
advantage of the car to go a few miles south for a walk on a nice beach we had
seen on passing. Lovely, apart from
other people. Back to the supermarket
for our final stock up then back to Ruby to prepare for our longest voyage of the winter, 600 miles to Cuba.
For the past 3 weeks, there had been constant trade winds,
which would have made for a rapid passage.
Now, we were faced with a succession of fronts. There had been a calm over the weekend and we
now had 3 days of good wind.
Unfortunately, it was going to take us 4 days. There was no better
prospect coming up in the next 2 weeks, so we had decided to take this window
and accept that we might have to motor the last 100 – 150 miles. Our preferred option was to leave Puerto Real
that afternoon and motor 15 miles up the coast, both to shorten the passage and
to get a better angle on the wind to cross the Mona Passage. A storm, much further north, however, was
kicking up a big swell, and there were no anchorages that would provide shelter
from this, so we, after taking fuel and water, stayed put for the night. Up and out at first light to motor 10 miles
into a light wind, then set sail. We had
2 reefs in the main and the wind quickly built to 15 knots on the beam, so we
made good speed using, initially, full genoa.
There was, indeed, a 3 metre swell running, which vindicated our
decision, but made it less than totally comfortable. We had rigged the wind-steering rudder for
the passage and this worked well. For 24
hours, we tracked north west, across the Mona and along the coast of DR. We then broadened out and Hattie continued to
perform well. On Tuesday morning, I spotted a spout, so called Elsie. There were a couple of humpback whales on the
surface, flipper flopping. We passed a
couple of hundred metres from them, which was quite close enough as they have
been known to broach and fall on passing boats.
As they were longer, and much heavier than Ruby, this would not be good. That evening, the wind veered a little and we
wanted to turn a little to port so we gybed the main and ran, goose winged for
the next 24 hours. The swell, though
decreasing, was still too much for Hattie to cope with, so we had to get
George, the electric auto-pilot to take over the steering. With winds a little stronger than forecast,
we were making good time, now expecting to arrive at 04:00 on Friday. The wind was still forecast to die on
Thursday, giving us a slow finish and we considered diverting to Mathewtown,
Great Inagua, to wail for a northerly wind on Saturday to complete the
voyage. We finally rejected this on
Wednesday evening and, when the wind did die on Thursday morning, we started
then engine and motored at 1300 RPM, giving us 4 knots, to arrive at daybreak
on Friday. Almost anywhere else in the
world, we would have headed into a little bay and anchored for a few hours but
this was Cuba where you definitely do not stop anywhere before checking
in. There was one appealing looking bay,
actually another country’s sovereign territory but, it being Guantanamo, this
would have been an even worse option.
While ‘browsing’ the coast on the chart plotter the previous week, I had
tried to look at this area, only to be presented with a blank screen and the
plotter throwing a big wobbly. Late on
Wednesday, I zoomed in to look at the eastern tip of Cuba and the same
happened, even though we were still 80 miles from Guantanamo. This time, presumably because we were in the
‘prohibited’ area, re-starting the plotter didn’t work and it kept cycling and
throwing out spurious warnings.
Eventually, I had to remove the data card to get it to work at all. This enabled us to get a basic picture of the
coast and use AIS. We just had to hope
that, once at Santiago, we could replace the data card and have navigational
data restored.
As expected, the wind died at 02:00 on Thursday and we
started a slow motor as we still had 110 miles to go and 29 hours to do it in
for a dawn arrival on Friday. It got
calm enough for me to have a little swim at lunchtime (sails down, floating
line out) but then picked up for a few hours to enable us to save fuel by
sailing at 4 knots. We were back to
motoring before we passed Guantanamo bay that evening, giving a wide berth to
the exclusion zone though this didn’t stop a little patrol boat shadowing us on
the boundary. A stronger, northerly,
wind then sprang up and we had to reef right down to prevent us from doing 7
knots and arriving too early. With 12
miles to go, I called the El Morro lighthouse as required with no reply. We had heard nothing on channel 16 for days,
apart from occasional buzzes and were concerned that our VHF was
malfunctioning. With 5 miles to go,
however, we did get a response so continued in.
I restored the data card to the chart plotter and yes, it was still working. Phew! We passed the impressive fort at
sunrise and made our way to the marina which was easy to approach and the
check-in hassle free though very formal.
4 hours later, we were out at anchor and enjoying a nice wind-down. Elsie is writing about our stay here, so I
will leave the rest to her.
Monthly stats:
Over ground 702
Log
749
