1-06-03 We spent 9 days in the USVIs between St. John and St. Thomas with the most glorious weather. Lots of clear, crisp sunny days with intense blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Just perfect. In St. John we watched the new year come in and relaxed, hiked and snorkeled. And in St. Thomas, of course, we shopped (KMart). We loaded up on American products we have been missing. Nice to see familiar foods again. Actually St. Thomas is duty free, so you can get a few bargains. We stocked up on the essentials - beer, rum, soda and snacks. We also had to have some work on our liferaft in St. Thomas. One of the 2 bands that hold the fiberglass canister together had failed and the second one was near to failing. We had the raft serviced in Cape Town, RSA, but they used inferior materials to do it. The bands are supposed to be stainless steel with stainless steel fasteners. In RSA they used plastic bands with "white metal" fasteners and one corroded and failed within 8 months. So the liferaft service center in St. Thomas replaced the bands with the proper stainless ones. Charlotte Amalie Harbor was too busy for us with 3 to 4 new cruises ships everyday, and we have been to St. Thomas before by plane, so we only stayed there long enough to shop. Now we are in Culebra, Puerto Rico (Lat 18°18'N/Lon 65°15'W). Culebra is a small island off the east coast of PR and only 20 nm west of St. Thomas, but much more low-keyed. We'll spend a couple days, then sail over to mainland PR and cruise our way along the southern coast.
1-10-03 We are still in Culebra, great anchorage just inside the reef on the southern end of the island. We like it here. We took an hour-and-a-half ferry ride over to Fajardo on mainland Puerto Rico yesterday. It was a shopping excursion: West Marine and Walmart. Ended up being an all day affair since the ferries weren't quite on schedule. We were gone from 5:30am to 7:00pm. Long, tiring day. Today we are relaxing on the boat.
1-12-03 We left Culebra and sailed to the SE coast of Puerto Rico today. Along the way, we passed by the US Navy base Roosevelt Roads, nicknamed "Rosey Roads". It was named after FDR as is one of the largest US Navy bases outside of continental US. Colleen was reminiscing of her trip to Rosey Roads 18 years ago when she worked for the Navy. As a young engineer just out of college, she had the opportunity spend 5 days aboard an aircraft carrier - the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). That was before women served on US combat ships, what an unforgettable experience, flying on-and-off of a carrier. She stayed at Rosey Roads base before and after her time shipboard. There are a couple of aircraft carrier groups performing exercises around the island, according to the local newspaper. Haven't seen any military vessels at all so far, just a few helicopters overhead.
1-25-03 We are in Salinas (Lat 17°57.6'N/Lon 66°17.5'W) on the southern coast of Puerto Rico (PR). Puerto Rico's history is interesting, especially to us since it is part of the USA. Christopher Columbus discovered PR on his second voyage in 1493. Taíno Indians were the indigenous people then. The Spanish founders named the island San Juan Bautista in honor of St. John the Baptist. Juan Ponce de León was the island's first governor. It became an important Spanish military outpost in the Caribbean with riches (gold) passing through PR enroute to Spain. English and Dutch enemies tried many times to conquer the Spanish stronghold without success. In 1898, the US seized PR in the Spanish-American War and it became a US territory under the Treaty of Paris. Geographically, Puerto Rico lies 1,047 miles SE of Miami, the island is 35 miles wide by 100 miles long, with the Atlantic Ocean on the north and the Caribbean Sea on the south. The mountains run east-west along the length of PR, resulting in a drier south side and a wetter north side. The population is 3.9 million with two official languages, Spanish and English. Puerto Ricans are US citizens with their own constitution and a governor who is elected every 4 years. Now you are more informed about this enchanted island. We have been in Salinas for 10 days now. It's a very protected bay and a great place to leave the boat to tour the island. We hired a car for a couple days and drove up over the mountains to San Juan, the oldest city under the American flag. Historic Old San Juan is a charming town with 18th-century Spanish architecture, cobblestone streets, forts, museums, shops, plazas, restaurants, and plenty of tourists. The city is protected by a 60 foot (20 meter) high wall around the perimeter and several strategically placed forts. It's no wonder the invaders were not successful here.
1-27-03 Watched the Superbowl (American Football) game last night here in Salinas, along with 30 other yachties that are anchored in the harbor. A good excuse to party. Tomorrow we will leave and make our way westward again, a few more hops along the southern PR coast. Then we wait for a good weather window to cross the Mona Passage and sail to the Turks and Caicos (T&C) Islands about 340 nm. We were planning to go to the Dominican Republic, but now we are thinking we'd rather get to the T&C islands and the Bahamas sooner, rather than later. We are ready for beautiful shallow turquoise waters to swim and fish.
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