When we arrived at Leinster Bay we were greeted by donkeys on the beach.
We left the U.S. Virgin Islands March 6th and cruised back to Ensenada Honda in Culebra for a couple of days. While there we and took the 90 min ferry over to Fajardo on the Puerto Rican mainland for $1 per person each way. The Fajardo area is the boating capital of Puerto Rico with many marinas and plenty of opportunities for boaters to cruise the Spanish Virgin Islands.
Many consider the Spanish Virgin Islands to have the best bays, coves and beaches of all Virgin Island anchorages. Untouched by developers, they stayed off limits most of the last hundred years, and they have had little use as anchorages before that. Until very recently, the US Navy have used the eastern end of Vieques for war games. As we visited the coves, we could see that the amphibious landing beaches are more pristine than the beaches that have been spoiled by humans with their development and litter. We were able to use a free mooring off Isla Chiva for three nights and we had the entire beach and cove to ourselves as we were the only boat within miles.
Vieques is well known for it’s two bioluminescent bays, Puerto Ferro and Puerto Mosquito. When the water is splashed you can see a burst of millions if lights that look like sparklers. When the one celled animals are disturbed they react by giving off light.
As we continued our westward journey, we stopped at Palmas del Mar Marina on the south coast of Puerto Rico. This immense gated community is one of the nicest facilities we’ve seen so far. We especially liked the pool.
As we continued our westward journey, we stopped at Palmas del Mar Marina on the south coast of Puerto Rico. This immense gated community is one of the nicest facilities we’ve seen so far. We especially liked the pool.
We are currently in Marina de Salinas in Puerto Rico for a couple of weeks to charge up batteries and get enough provisions to take us through the Bahamas and over to Florida. We met another Nordhavn owner, Bill & Rosemary from New Zealand, who will be traveling with us through the Bahamas.
We visited the Bacardi rum factory with them the other day. Bacardi is the largest distiller of rum in the world and pays $300M in taxes to the Puerto Rican government every year.
We visited the Bacardi rum factory with them the other day. Bacardi is the largest distiller of rum in the world and pays $300M in taxes to the Puerto Rican government every year.
El Yunque rain forest here on the eastern end of Puerto Rico covers 28,000 acres. It’s peak rises 3,533 ft and is the only tropical U.S. National Forest. It gets approximately 200 inches of rain a year. We took a 45 min. hike to La Mina Falls.
The next day we drove to San Juan to see the city and Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristobal. Both forts were constructed in the late 1700’s. They were used to repel attacks by the British, Dutch and the French.
We have completed our sightseeing and boat fixings and are ready to head out again. Our next stop will be Gilligan’s Island, off southern Puerto Rico. The locals named it after the 1970’s TV show. We will then wait for a weather window to leave with a full moon for the Bahamas. The crossing should take about 50 hours. This will be our third overnight trip. We feel we are in good company with Bill & Rosemary on their 43 Nordhavn. They have been “Out” now for two years and are experienced sailors.
Until next time……
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