May 7-9
We left Salinas the Friday afternoon after picking up our still non-functional spare alternator. We anchored out at the mouth of the reef in front of Bahia de Jobos about 5 miles south of Salinas with the plan to leave in the early morning for Vieques. The easterly tradwinds have been reliably on our nose since we rounded Cabo Rojo on the southwestern corner of Puerto Rico and they have continued the length of the Southern coast of PR and as we now motor our way from the southeastern tip of PR bound for Vieques. The wind and waves were not bad at 9 – 16 kts with swells of 1-3ft as we motored to Playa Punta Arenas also known as Green Beach on the North East corner of Vieques. We left our anchorage in PR at 4:30am and made good time, arriving at Green Beach just before noon. There are 3 mooring balls in the anchorage and we were able to pick one up thus alleviating the need to drop or haul our anchor with our unreliable windlass. The water is clean and clear and we were able to run our water maker to supplement our fresh water during our passage from PR to Vieques. Green beach is surrounded by numerous shallow reefs close to the beach and large beds of sea grass, perfect conch habitat. We jumped into the water with our masks and snorkel gear and within minutes had found 3 large Conch. I have been Jonesin for Conch since we left the Bahamas. We are out of Goat Peppers for the conch salad so fritters for dinner it is! During the day we shared the anchorage with, what we have dubbed, the PR Navy. The many small power boats that come from PR to enjoy the beach for the day by tying their boats stern to the beach and lounge around in the water picnicking. But by Saturday evening we were again alone in this exquisite corner of the Island. The quiet beauty of the anchorage at sunrise, prompted Michael to row Mighty Mouse out for some great shots of DD in the glassy water. We spent Saturday and Sunday swimming the reefs which we found to have a wonderful variety of different types of living coral including an intimate experience with Stinging Coral. OUCH! We were on the lookout for a lobster to invite to dinner, but unfortunately did not find any here. We were on the lookout for a lobster to invite to dinner, but unfortunately did not find any here. We were on the lookout for a lobster to invite to dinner, but unfortunately did not find any here. We did enjoy the company of many colorful reef fish including my Mom’s personal favorite Sergeant Majors and my favorite Yellowtail Damselfish. We also hiked along the dirt road that paralleled the beach. I got to see an Antillean Crested Hummingbird, a new species for me. We made our way around the point where we could see Culebra in the distance and further on the faint outline of St. Thomas in the USVI. Travel now is primarily line of sight which adds a new dimension of anticipation to the journey. It is exciting to look out and see a shape in the distance knowing we will be visiting soon experiencing new adventures and creating new memories to share with each other and our family and friends.
Living the Dream 