Beach Panorama

Beach Panorama

Friday, April 19, 2013

Charles and Carol with us in Culebra

If you haven't checked recently, there are a couple of new videos I've uploaded to youtube...highlighting our time with Charles and Carol.
 
Our adventure continues...on to the Spanish Virgin island of Culebra. You ask..."what are the Spanish Virgin islands?" They are part of the Puerto Rican commonwealth, located just east of Puerto Rico, and consist of Culebra and Vieques, along with numerous smaller islets. Large sections of these islands were used for military bombing practice and maneuvers since the early 1900's. They've been released back to the local government/people, but there is some residual anger among the population for the lack of stewardship of the military to clean up the bombs and mess left from over 50 years of use. Some interesting links, related to the military's use, are below:
 
 

Flying wing and wing to Culebra...
in 15 knots of wind with no whisker pole...
quite a challenge!

 Along the way from St. Thomas to Culebra, we saw Royal Caribbean's "Allure of the Seas" (the largest cruise ship in the world), with its load of passengers headed to port for a day of souvenier shopping, daysailing, snorkleing and visiting the beaches. Our friends, Charles and Carol, got a lot closer look of the ship as it passed us.
 
"Montana Sky" on a parallel course to Culebra

Rain squall overtaking us from the east.
Remember the wing and wing?
We decided to take the sails down a bit...

We made it about 2/3 of the way across, when the weather caught up. The rain didn't actually make it, but the waves kicked up from the storm were larger than 6' on our stern...not bad at all, until it combined with the larger 12' North swells that had already been hitting us on the beam. Oh, and I forgot the wind...even though we didn't get the rain, the wind whipped up to about 25 knots from the east. Pretty "sporty" conditions...making over 7 knots downwind in confused seas with a double reef in the main, no genoa out, tossing us around like a cork on the top of champagne..and just when we thought it couldn't get better, we had "fish ON"....Karen grabbed the helm while I started to reel in the pole. I looked off to the north at the oncoming swells, quite a bit higher than the boat, and I had a grin on my face. Sorry, we don't have any photos of the drama, as we were a little busy.
 
The wind started to ease up a bit as we neared our destination for the afternoon, and we turned into the protected bay on the lee side of Culebrita and grabbed a mooring. I don't think we were there for more than 15 minutes, before a guy on a small powerboat near shore started shouting. I thought he was yelling at someone on shore, so I continued tidying the boat up after our sail. After about 4 or 5 times, I glanced over to what he was shouting about...and he was pointing out towards us....there was a large whale and calf about 200 yards behind the boat. The whales remained on the surface, with the calf swimming back and forth along the cow. The calf was about the size of a large porpoise. Pretty neat!
They must've stayed on the surface for about 5 more minutes, before another sailboat came over. The boat circled around the whales, which immediately dove away.
Charles and Carol arrived about an hour later (they took a side trip into Ensenada Honda)and we all headed into Bahia Manglar, a protected anchorage on the eastern shore of Culebra. That evening we had "sundowners" on their boat and watched another whale breach about 4 times in front of us, just on the other side of the reef. Looked just like something out of the movies!

NW shoreline of Culebrita

...the small black spot above the words

While doing some snorkeling along the west side of the island of Luis Pena, I discovered an interesting artifact...an unexploded artillery shell! It was in about 20' of water. I thought of free diving down to check it out, but figured it might be a bit unstable...any undo movement might be the undoing of me.
About 4 days later, Karen and I heard a loud "whump" sound coming from the island of Vieques (about 14 miles to the south). There was a large column of smoke rising, which we think might have been some of the ongoing disposal of old ordinance that they find...or an unlucky boater chose a poor place to anchor.


Unexploded artillery shell on seabed

Charles' and Carol's sailboat, "Montana Sky"

We really had a great time in the various anchorages, sharing the excitement of Culebra with Charles and Carol. So much diving...and dinners...and games of Farkle. Have any of you tried Farkle, yet? I highly recommend it!
 
Unfortunately, Karen became ill and had a really tough time...lot's of chills, fever, aches and pains. A few days of this, with the help of Charles and Carol (both trained RN's) and nothing seemed to benefit Karen, so we went to Dewey for a visit to Dr. Del Toro (nice man) and we were told she needed to get to Fajardo, Puerto Rico and get some blood tests and CT scans to make a good diagnosis...we were thinking something wrong with her Gall Bladder or ?? Karen toughed it out, on a 1 hour ferry ride and a taxi to the hospital. With a lot of anitbiotics and time she got better. We'll still need to get her some backup tests when we return to the US, but she appears fine now.
 
Here's some of the sea life we saw on the numerous dives we all took:



French angelfish

Boxfish

Karen took this wonderful photo of the sunset over Puerto Rico...about 16 miles to the west.



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Colleen, revisiting



Colleen visited the Sheltons again...and we couldn't let her down with a boring and uneventful trip. 


Colleen sure is a happy girl...despite all of the medicated spots
from numerous mosquito bites!

Although, we didn't even get out of the harbor of Charlotte Amalie before we ended back on shore for a quick visit to the open-air market to look for souvenirs...
 
 

When we finally did get on our way, the first stop was to the island of St. John...we think of it as the land for the pirates. We've discovered a willing accomplice when it comes to "pirating"...all it took was a short conversation about going to Gt. Cruz Bay to visit an "unnamed" resort, and Colleen was all in! Of course, our version of resort "visiting" involves full use of the facilities including pool, getting "foo-foo" drinks and snacks and using the beach property...you know, just like real guests! Yes...we do pay for it all (well, some of it, anyway.)
 
Our brief visit to the facilities included a nice little snack
from the local deli.


where's my Corona when I need it?


All that's missing are the pirate hats, swords and a parrot or two!


I couldn't believe my eyes....we're in the Caribbean
and the phones are still in use...


Another day of hard work...avoided!
 
Rendezvous Bay is a comfortable stop that allows us to find a great anchorage, away from most of the wind and waves. Of course, this allows the girls to play in the water some more.
 
Our floating chairs have been discovered by Colleen...

Before we left for our return sail, we headed to Kittle Bay for a scuba dive with Colleen. Not finding a suitable mooring ball, I found some sand to set the anchor in. I took Colleen for a little dive in, while Karen snorkeled above us. Colleen should really look into become certified, as we believe she's a natural!
 
 
Some soft corals, called gorgonians

Colleen had a great time on the dive!


French angelfish, blue tang and (I think) a juvenile striped parrotfish

Nice underwater scenery
 
When we got back to the boat, we sorted out the gear to prepare for our return trip along the south side of St. John. Now, I'm saying there's no foul in anchoring like we did, although according to the jerk on the hill yelling at us, we weren't supposed to do that in the park. I've read in many places that it's ok, if all of the mooring balls are taken. Anyway, I just waved like a good sport and we weighed anchor and left. (We found out later that I was right...as long as it's on the north side of St. John...oops) What's a pirate to do?



Colleen wanted to treat us to a special dinner...sausage
with bowtie pasta....mmmm!


We ended our stay with Colleen at Lindberg Bay on St. Thomas. This is a great place to anchor and pick up or drop off folks that are using the airport, as long as the waves aren't out of the east or southeast.


You know things are going well when you get a double
rainbow when you wake up in the morning!


More playing in the water...yes, I did set all this up for
them, including refreshing cold drinks!


I guess the sun was getting in their eyes...


Our evening ended with a walk around the two resorts and then a stop at one of the beach bars for a nightcap. What a special visit!


A banana tree right next to the resort's staff quarters.


some kind of pink flowering plant...


Cheers to another great vacation!


Sunset over St. Thomas

This isn't Idaho...

Our friends, Alan and Tyler, joined the "Caribbean happy boat" for a week of fun and sun. Their journey with us took them to Norman Island, Virgin Gorda and just about everything in between. Yep...the usual: snorkeling, hiking and trailblazing, conch blowing, dancing in the sand, coconut hunting and, of course, the sailing were all hallmarks of their time with us.
That teeny, tiny boat in the far reaches of
Benures Bay....
that would be this week's host sailboat


Cactus in the Caribbean...who would've guessed


Same trail....more scratches, less to see...so we
decided to keep pushing on



Returning to starting point, Money Bay in background

Spending time at the Michael "Beans" Happy Arrr was great, made much more special by some of our other friends that joined us for the evening: Toddy and Sue with their guests, Eddie and Mary, as well as Charles and Carol and Herb and Karen.


This...is...a...man's burger, topped off with a swig
of Murphy's Irish Stout!


Our tables were the most well-behaved....


Tyler and the rest of the folks in the Pirate-naming contest


Alan trying to beat Charles' time in the conch-blowing
contest. Charles (on the left) won the spoils of the evening, with
a 33 second blow!

An afternoon in Virgin Gorda's North Sound requires a visit to Flip Flop Beach:


Our return to Flip Flop beach was a success!


Coconuts have many uses....


...including juggling....


...and providing practice with machetes.

 
We had no idea how easily the guys took to the water...almost like Labrador puppies. It appears they both REALLY liked The Baths...we spent quite a bit of time there, mostly in the water, but also climbing all over the rocks and taking routes through them that most wouldn't dare...


Tyler, at The Baths


Alan, looking for lobster (not to eat or maim or play with)
just to observe for scientific reasons.



We decided to take the path less used, and
it made all the difference in getting to the
top of the rocks.


Our last afternoon was spent visiting Road Town, enjoying the usual tourist traps: the gift shops, Pusser's Restaurant, and the visit to the ferry terminal.



We think Tyler was contemplating how to get Lizzie
back down for a visit, really soon


Tyler, Alan and Karen making their way from the dinghy dock through town to
the restaurant for lunch. Yes, I was there, too.