Before we got married back in 1997 and during our engagement,
Mel often said to me “I can’t always promise you smooth sailing but I can
promise you an adventure” - well he has kept to his word!
Saturday night/Early Sunday morning we were up at 2.30am for
a 3.00am start, sailing from Gilligan’s Island to Ponce. We went through our
usual routine when preparing to lift the anchor. I am at the helm and Mel,
bringing up the anchor. We have our headsets on and I am constantly letting Mel
know the depth of the water.
Mel said we were free to go and to go a sharp port which I
did… but no sooner had I started going port I saw the depth went right down to
0.1 then 0.0 and bump! Oops! We were grounded! Thank goodness we knew we were
in soft sand so no damaged to Passages but when I tried to reverse hard as Mel
was instructing me to do, she wouldn’t budge and we were rocking quite a bit. I
quickly checked the tides as I usually write them down in our Log so I knew we
were at high tide – oh dear! Calm Mel came to the helm and tried to reverse
hard once again. Nothing! We both started laughing as we could imagine the next
few hours or even the whole day we would be stuck until we managed to “break
free”.
It seemed like much longer than it actually was but after
less than 5 mins, Mel said to me are we drifting? Yes we were, we were free!! A
HUGE sigh of relief and off we were on our way to Ponce.
Once we were out in the ocean, Mel went down stairs to sort
something out and I was on watch when I said to Mel “I have just seen a HUGE
but quick flash light on our port aft quarter” i.o.w. behind us on our left
hand side.
The yacht is on auto pilot and we set the waypoints into the
chart plotter and program the auto pilot to go to the next waypoint BUT someone
has to be on watch.
We couldn’t see anything in the dark and there was nothing on
the chart plotter to say that there should be anything remotely resembling a
HUGE flash light so we carried on our merry way.
About five minutes later, this HUGE flash light came racing
up behind us. Mel went onto the radio, identified ourselves, and then asked the
boat on our stern to identify themselves and to take their flash light off our
boat which they did. BUT less than 2 minutes later they were right next to our
boat! Mel asked them again to identify themselves and he told them who we were
once again. That is when we noticed a big blue Police coloured light flashing.
They ran their search light up and down our boat. I waved at them when they
shone the light at the cockpit. There is a HUGE drug problem in this whole area
and we assumed it was the drug trafficking unit of the Police force because
after “checking out our boat and us” – they disappeared as quickly as they
appeared. Talk about excitement so early in the morning. This was at about 4.00
am! WOW what a way to start the day – one grounding and one encounter with the
drug trafficking unit.
They actually followed us from a distance until it started
becoming light as we could see on the radar and there would be the odd quick
flash of their light.
The rest of the sail down to Ponce was uneventful – Thank
goodness.
We arrived and anchored at Ponce before 8.00am when we knew
that the trade winds would start blowing. Before anchoring we refuelled at the
Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club.
Ponce is Puerto Rico’s second largest city and is at times
referred to as the “Pearl of the South”. It has an historic centre and a
cultural centre.
Mid Sunday morning, we met up with John and Linda (Blue Moon)
at the “waterfront” area. John and Linda were still in Mayaguez waiting for
their boat to be hauled out and fixed so in the mean time they have been
sight-seeing and they wanted to see Ponce. They still had their hired car so
off we went sight-seeing around Ponce.
The old buildings and architecture in the historic and
cultural areas were simply beautiful.
The symbol or emblem for Ponce is the lion and in one of the
many city squares there was “The Lions Parade”. Since 2012, the Lion Parade in Ponce is a municipal
project which reflects the arts, the
cultural and promotes the city, to
tourism. It consists of 15 fibre glass lion sculptures, all decorated in many
different and elaborate ways by Puerto Rican artists. www.visitponce.com
When John and Linda brought us back to Ponce harbour where
“Passages” was anchored we decided to walk along the waterfront area. There
were many different restaurants and bands playing vibrant music and stalls
selling the usual touristy stuff. It was lovely to see people just dancing
whenever and wherever they felt like. There were people feeding the many
pelicans with sardines. The whole area had a happy feeling about it with
families enjoying themselves.
It was sad to say “Bye” to John and Linda as they were
heading back to Mayaguez and Mel and I would be leaving Ponce in the morning
and heading to Salinas which was 22nm further east along the south coast.
Monday morning as the sun was rising, we were on our way to
Salinas.
Salinas is a popular fishing spot of Puerto Ricans and there
is a monument dedicated to the local fishermen.
The anchor and the dingy (we refer to it as our limo) was
down by 10.00am. We went to the Marina de Salinas where we hired a car for the
day – what follows next will sound ridiculous! We had to go back to Ponce so we
could collect some chemicals for our water-maker!
We needed these chemicals to clean the membrane so we could
make clean, drinkable water.
There is always a HUGE debate between boaties/yachties – “To
have a water-maker or NOT” – that is the question. Some believe it to be
essential while others believe they give you endless trouble and are not worth
the hassle. They need to run every other day at least so that the membranes
don’t collect bacteria. Passages came with a water maker.
We could only get the chemicals from somebody in Ponce and we
had been trying to get hold of this guy for ages (since Puerto Plata DR) and
while we were in Ponce but we were unable to until Monday morning when we had
arrived in Salinas!!
We were back in Ponce by lunch time and had the chemicals by
2.30pm.
Some of you will think well why didn’t we just wait in Ponce
and leave later or the following day for Salinas BUT remember the weather
actually dictates and the wind was down
(approx. 10knots) so we HAD to continue south on our hop skip and a jump.
Tuesday once again by 6.00am our anchor was up and we were
heading further east along the coast to Puerto Patillas which was a further 23nm
east along the south coast.
The winds were coming from the S/SE and were unusually mild.
Remember the easterlies usually start blowing hard from 8.30/9.00am. They
weren’t today so as always you have to grab every opportunity you have to sail
further. Mel and I are keen to get as far east as possible so we can do more
sailing than motor sailing so we SAILED – yes SAILED to Vieques(Green Bay)
which is one of the Spanish Virgin Islands. We were planning on sailing to
Vieques on Wednesday from Puerto Patillas.
While we were sailing we went through a very heavy down pour.
My first heavy rain storm! It was exciting yet also quite daunting as the wind
came up and boy did we heal over! When I said to Mel I felt very uncomfortable,
he reduced sail so we were a bit more horizontal and I was a lot more
comfortable.
We arrived at Green Bay Vieques at approximately 2.30pm and
were having our afternoon tea by 3.00pm.
Tuesday night wasn’t a great night as the wind was blowing
S/SW and not east so it was a rather bumpy night. If the wind had of been blowing
in its usual direction (E) we would have had a peaceful night BUT the wind just
didn’t switch round like it should have!
Needless to say when Wednesday morning arrived and it was
time to pull the anchor up, we were rather happy to do so.
We had arranged to go to Fajardo (East coast of Puerto Rico)
to a marina for a few days as we were keen to explore San Juan – the capital of
Puerto Rico.
We had a good sail to Fajardo and were all tied up at Sunbay
marina by 1.00pm.
Mel organised the car hire for 5 days while I organised our
accommodation in San Juan for 2 nights (Thursday and Friday).
The rest of the day we caught up with the odd chore on the
yacht – Mel changed the engine oil while I updated our grocery inventory.
Puerto Rico is our last port of call where we can stock up like we did in the
States. There are mega Walmarts here so before leaving the marina on Monday, we
will be doing a HUGE shop.
Thursday we took possession of our hired car and visited a few
marine shops. There is a West Marine close to the marina so we had to go there
as there is always something we need for the boat – the never ending supply of
spares.
San Juan was only about an hour’s drive (54km) from the
marina passing the entrance to the El Yunque National Forest and the highest
point in Puerto Rico – Cerro El Torro (1,077m) when the heavens opened. My
goodness did it rain hard and the visibility was almost zero.
We had booked into a hotel in Ocean Park which is a popular
tourist and beach area. The hotel was ocean facing (Atlantic) and it had a
lovely view of the long stretch of beach towards the headland where old San
Juan is situated.
Thursday evening we went to a Puerto Rican restaurant and
tried a local dish called the “Argentinian grill” – it was HUGE – at least 5
different meats including blood sausage and sweet bread which are the glands in
a cattle’s neck - we didn’t try either. Needless to say we took “home” a doggy
bag.
Friday was the day we put aside to visit old San Juan and the
Fortaleza San Felipe del Morro.
Old San Juan was founded in 1521 and for about four centuries
was one of the New World’s most important harbours especially for Spain.
Old San Juan or San Juan Viejo (old) is laid out in a grid on
the headland and it has many historic buildings which have been restored to
their beautiful 17th and 18th century charm. Many of the
buildings have been painted in tropical fruit pastel colours and the roads have
cobblestoned streets.
It was lovey to walk through the many narrow streets and have a look at what was in
these beautiful buildings – Burger King, Mc Donald’s, Subways – can’t get away
from them can one. There were some lovely jewellery shops and clothing
boutiques. The people in Old San Juan definitely take pride in their city and themselves
as they dress so smartly and with sophistication.
Fuerte San Felipe del Morro was built to protect this strategic
harbour. It rises 140 feet/42,672 metres above sea level at the entrance to San
Juan Bay and it has 6 levels.
Information taken from DK Eyewitness Travel Caribbean and
from pamphlet received from the National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
– “Fuerte San Felipe del Morro was initiated in 1539 to guard the harbour entrance.
The headland fortress was completed in 1786.
Spain wanted to fortify Puerto Rico because it was the first
of the major island with water, shelter and supplies that sailing ships came to
on their way to the Americas from Europe and from the west coast of Africa. It
took 250 years to build Fuerte San Felipe del Morro and it meant that Spain had
control to a New World – the Western Hemisphere. Spain controlled Puerto Rico
from 1508 to 1898 when the Spanish – American War took place and Puerto Rico
became a U.S. Territory.”
It was amazing to see the sophistication from that age and to
see the six levels of protection.
After walking around the Fuerte San Felipe del Morro, we
caught the tram bus that had various stops around the city. It gave us an
opportunity to see more of the amazing and beautiful sights of the old city.
Saturday morning we were hoping to go to the El Yunque
National Forest and the highest point in Puerto Rico BUT the heavens opened so
we decided to head back to the yacht and start restocking her as we found out
that shops are closed on Sundays!!!
El Yunque National
Forest is not far from Sunbay marina so here is hoping the weather improves on
Sunday before we head out of Fajadro to Culebra (one of the Spanish Virgin
Islands) where we hope to spend two days then it is on to either the BVI or the
USVI.
So that’s what the Ebstein’s have been up too…. Until next
time from where- ever in the Lesser Antilles.
Sending lots of love from
Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx
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| One of the many lovely buildings in Ponce. |
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| The many lovely and interesting sights around Old San Juan and the Fort. |
