Taia (English): Busy Week, Relaxing Week, in La Isla del Encanto

Time to move again and get some chores done. With that in mind, Taia and Nordic Belle II sailed to Culebra, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands (all of which belong to Puerto Rico). An uneventful sail, on the slow side, but quite pleasant. The stop in Culebra, however, wasn't part of the chores we needed to accomplish. Anchored in Ensenada Honda and enjoying a solid cellular connection, we could get some of the tasks started. Just some of them, lest we get bored.

The weather continued to be on our side, mellow as we've ever seen it in the Caribbean. So we took advantage of it and spent a couple of nights anchored in Culebrita, a smaller island a few miles east of Culebra. There's a beautiful lighthouse on Culebrita, unfortunately fallen in disrepair since it was replaced by a much more modern and utilitarian steel tower to prop up the light. The lighthouse, an actual house from the 19^th century where the person responsible for the light and his family lived, still stands proud and pretty.

In Culebrita we met with Sila, a boat we had met a couple of days before in Culebra. And we had a chance to go aboard another true ocean-going sailboat. Sila has been cruising for a few years, but not in your run-of-the-mill vanilla cruising grounds! They went roughly from France to Panama, thence Galapagos, Easter Island, southern tip of South America (can't remember if they rounded the Horn or went inside), Falkland Islands, South Georgia Islands and then back to the Caribbean. Real sailors, them Sila crew!

Young crews of Sila, Nordic Belle II, and Taia at the top of Culebrita

Some of our blog followers (all one of them) might remember that last year we spent a couple of nights anchored in Puerto Ferro, Vieques. Puerto Ferro isn't particularly beautiful, but it provides the best protection from wind and waves imaginable. Last year was very rough when we were in the area, and Puerto Ferro gave us two nights of well-earned rest. And the reason we went there was because it is just 2 miles east of Bio-Bay, or, more properly, Mosquito Bay. The bioluminescence in Bio-Bay is second to none. We had to see it.

The problem we ran into in 2015 was that the 2 miles between Puerto Ferro and Bio-Bay were too rough for a dinghy ride. And the anchorage outside of Bio-Bay was not tenable in those conditions. After 2 nights in Puerto Ferro, hoping that the swell and wind would give us a break, we called it quits and sailed away without seeing the water light up thanks to the bioluminescent dinoflagellates that inhabit the bay.

But it's 2016 now, and the weather has been most agreeable. After Taia and Nordic Belle II were safely anchored in Puerto Ferro, Torstein and I went on an exploratory dinghy ride to Bio-Bay while there was still daylight. We got a good GPS track of the entrances to both bays and confirmed that the dinghy ride, though on the rough side, was doable. Before it got dark we all piled up on the dinghies, motored outside to the entrance to Mosquito Bay, and then paddled into it—no fossil fuel burning allowed in the bay.

Waiting for dark in Mosquito Bay

When it got dark nature, once again, amazed our frail little minds. Any disturbance to the water excites the dinoflagellates and they light up. Hands went in and shook the water, oars went in, lit-up water was splashed. Watching bioluminescence is akin to staring at a fire, it's just as enthralling and mystifying. As we paddled in the dark and scared the fish that were under water, we could see the trail of light they left behind when they hastened away from the dinghy. Magnificent nature.

The way back in the dark, to the boats anchored 2 miles away in Puerto Ferro, was better than we anticipated. The waves we had seen in the afternoon had come down in the evening and the wind was also diminished. Even so, we came back slowly, both dinghies within sight of each other, and making sure we followed the GPS track we had saved earlier.

After seeing Bio-Bay, we got back in chore mode. We had reserved a slip at Marina Puerto del Rey, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. Taia had not been to a slip since December/2014 and we weren't particularly looking forward to it. However, the feeling of freedom that stepping off the boat onto dry land affords quickly obliterated our cruiser snobbery. We were instantly happy to be tied up to a slip. And when the wind died entirely, we were even happier to get shore power and run the air conditioners.

The sail from Vieques to Marina Puerto del Rey was fun and fast

We had several tasks to accomplish, mostly administrative to maintain our tenuous presence in organized society. Natalia and I spent several hours on the phone with various people, as well as writing and reading emails. Other manual maintenance tasks were also accomplished. We thought a week in a marina would be relaxing, and the error of our thinking quickly became apparent. It felt hectic!

Mixed with all those chores, we did some sight seeing in Puerto Rico with Nordic Belle II. We visited the Caves of the Rio Camuy, San Juan historical town, and tourist-infested El Yunque National Forest. All three sites are extremely interesting. I'll spare our readership the gory details of our sight seeing.

Having rented a car for all that land travel, both crews took the opportunity to do two or three provisioning runs. Taia is loaded up with enough provisions to last us through Haiti and Cuba, places where we expect little opportunity to stock up on frozen food and other first-world delights. Fruit and produce shouldn't be a problem, though.

Yet again, the time came to say good-bye to friends. Nordic Belle II was going north west while Taia needs to continue west. We said our good-byes, which gets ever more tiresome as we do it, and promised to meet up again when we're all back in Canada.

The busy week at the marina came to its end. We left it in the middle of the calmest weather we've had. The trusty Perkins engine isn't used to running more than 30 to 90 minutes at a time. Fortunately, it does it flawlessly and without complaining. We've come most of the way to the west end of Puerto Rico, 100 miles of westing, under sail and engine. Hurricane season will be with us soon and we still have a few countries to visit. Time to haul ass!

As soon as the wind returns we'll head to Ile-a-Vache, Haiti. We're very much looking forward to meeting the people from the Good Samaritan Foundation there. While in the BVI we connected with the founder and picked up all sorts of stuff to bring to the local community and the school that the Foundation built and runs.