Hi
So we set sail for Culebra which only took about 3h.navigating now with Chartplotter as well as proper paper charts as I need to brush up on that, and its fun to see the dot going forward. Culebra is a tiny island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. Long reef filled bay to get through but well marked out. Good anchoring but windy. First stop the mini market and getting the hang of the fact that everybody speaks Spanish. I love the language but can say only 5 words….music is great and here you hear the Latin stuff at every corner which just makes you dance to it or as Chris so kindly puts it “wobble to it!”
Met this lovely American couple, Annette ans Walter from states who took us under they wing for driving us to the beach and borrowing the washing machine and being a great company. As we can’t go out much in the evenings we miss out on the yachtie social circuit. So nice to have adult conversation and best of all? The kids got to watch tv!!! They were in heaven. Charlie was bouncing up and down and shouting” there is a tv!!” Bless:)
From there we sailed to an even smaller island called palomitos.just beach and nothing else. South end of island was reserved to a hotel from mainland so ferries was coming and going but didn’t disturb us at all. We snorkelled, even me with Alice on a woggle and me behind and it worked! We dingied to a tiny sandy island just south where there was nothing but sand and few bushes. A bit like sandy island in Carriacou.beautiful. And we couldn’t spend any money, best of all.
In the evening we were watching the mainland with lots of lights and wondering how we will feel about stepping into a city…busy,dirty,noisy…? We stayed another day and another until basic fresh food was gone and we had to move on.
So Puerto Rico, big island and as we motor sailed the coast we got all excited. Maybe we can do cinema, bowling etc. and as we came closer to San Juan we saw the big El Morro fort built by Spanish about 500 years ago.absolutely stunning. I called the boys to come up and have a look at this amazing piece of history and when they finally dragged their bottoms of the bed and the iPad they came out, looked around and said: oh ok. And went back down again! Daaahh! What can I say?
The bay is huge. We found the anchor spot, anchored perfect and settled down to watch what is around us. Us military base, marina, sky rise buildings, police car noises, local airport and cruise ship docks. Talk about noise!!! Chris was moaning and bitching what an awful place this is, blah blah blah and I let him rant and rave. Why? Because I read that people can have culture chocks and he was having that moment right there. Go to bed,its better tomorrow!
Well, we have been here now nearly 3 weeks and love the place. Chris thinks it’s great anchorage, we are in the city and surrounded by history. Seen the fort, bought some kites and fly them there at the fort. Old town is beautiful and found the children’s museum where the kids had a blast. Been stocking up in Costco for food and went to Arecibo where the worlds largest telescope is.just huge. A bond movie was partly filmed there.
We use the local buses, go to parks, have access to washing machine and everybody at the marina knows who we are. The Spanish love kids which make life a lot easier. They don’t mind the noise and the climbing and the shouting…
We also met Bill Butler who in 1989 got whacked around by pilot whales on his boat in pacific and he and his wife had to abandoned ship in just half an hour and survived the seas for 66 days in a life raft. Bought the book and its well written. Called “our last chance” Amazing who you meet or bump in to….
Mum here for the moment so busy doing more sightseeing and looking to move on end of next week. Will be sad to leave San Juan….
Alice is coming up with few more words, Charlie seems to have meltdowns about everything and James gets the blame… The kids are good sport and walk around without moaning. They hair is gettin longer, they don’t get chocked about anything they see and just accept that sometimes life is rather cruel. We see a lot of homeless people here and beggars but we just can’t give money to all of them….
On that note I will sign off.
X
moodyfinn 