No 11. Vieques, Fajardo Puerto Rico – Fairy Dust.

Passages anchored in Sun Bay, Vieques.

Sunday morning at 7.00am the clanking of our anchor was heard by others in Charlotte Amelie, St Thomas as we were preparing to sail to Vieques, which is part of the Puerto Rico. Sometimes referred to as the Spanish Virgin Islands or the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands.  A bit of UI (Useless Information) – they were once known as the Passage Islands. As we were leaving the harbour, a large container/freight ship was waiting for us to pass so they could enter the harbour. On top of the container/freighter was a rather large yacht. 

Our sail to Vieques was enjoyable despite once again the swell. Winds were 20 odd knots but as we are now running/going with the wind, you don’t feel the affects of the wind other than the swell or wind-driven waves. Our plan was to anchor in the bay of Esperanza which is the main town of Vieques or in the bay next to Esperanza, Sun Bay. We really wanted to go to some of the other

The beach at Sun Bay.

lovely bays and anchorages along the south coast of Vieques, but we had the annoying yet necessary formality of ‘checking in’ to Puerto Rico. We knew we would have to go to the airport on Vieques and Esperanza was the closest anchorage on the south of the island to the airport.

It took us approximately 6 hours to reach the entrance of Sun Bay, passing the southern coastline of Vieques as Esperanza and Sun Bay are both located on the western part of the south coast.

Sun Bay was a large beautiful sandy bay with turquoise blue waters. We tried to tuck in as close to the NE side of the bay as there was a slight swell which made us rock a bit.

We took the dinghy down as we needed to contact the U.S. Coast Guard as is the procedure when entering U.S waters. It can be frustrating as we felt we had just left St Thomas, which is U.S. and now we are in Vieques which is also U.S. Anyway, that is the way things are so off we went in search of Wi-Fi so Mel could use Skype to contact the U.S. Coast Guard in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We dinghied to the far side of Sun Bay to the Esperanza side, where Mel left me to watch the dinghy as we had no secure place to tie her up too. While I was waiting for Mel to return, a few horses came galloping along the beach and into the bush along the side of the beach. While on the island and anchored off Sun Bay, we saw quite several horses just grazing along the edge of the beach, occasionally walking along the beach, like what their human counter parts would do.

Mel managed to contact the US Coast Guard in San Juan and advised us to go to the airport to complete our immigration and customs requirements, which we had intended doing the following morning, Monday 16 April 2018.

Trying to launch the dinghy was another ‘Dunkirk’ landing type event where we got totally saturated by the waves as we were attempting to motor back out into the bay. Luckily the water was warm although the wind was coolish. 

Entrance to Sun Bay, Vieques.

Bright and early Monday morning, we dinghied to the beach closest to where we had anchored at Sun Bay. We managed to drag the dinghy up the beach and tie her up securely onto a large tree. Close by was a gentleman sitting in his deck chair under and umbrella, sipping a glass of what looked like, champagne. We greeted him, and he was keen for a chat and to find out where we had sailed from etc. He was the owner of one of the stores aptly named, ‘The Green Store’ and was on his three-week vacation, camped on the beach. He was extremely helpful when we asked about finding our way to the airport, finding a taxi etc. After chatting to him for a while off we walked along the beautiful white beach, to find the main road and a taxi.

We were in luck as we were approaching The Green Store where the friendly gentleman had advised us to go to find a taxi, one passed us and took us to the airport. Along the way we could see once again the affects of the Hurricanes of September 2017.  Vegetation had been ripped out, roofs had been blown away. Even palms trees looked whittled and bent from the force of the hurricanes.

The airport was extremely small and ‘manned’ by a few people whom, I must say all looked quite annoyed that we had disturbed their morning chat. The Customs and Border Protection person was not sure of what he should do as their system is in the process of going from paper to computer based and as always when there is change, there is a bit of uncertainty and ambiguity in what the appropriate procedures are. Almost 2 hours later, all the forms, paper work were completed and payments  made.

Mel and I often remark on the difference between the islands and their Customs and Immigrations procedures but it’s the way it is, so there is nothing we can do about it if we intend travelling/sailing. It can be frustrating at times and of course quite costly as we realised when entering the Dominican Republic, but that is for another time.

Now that we were legal, we were stuck at the airport. Like always in life, there are those that are helpful and those that couldn’t really be bothered. Anyway, luckily, there was one person at the airport who helped us to find a taxi back to Esperanza. As we were waiting for our taxi to arrive, a group of about 6 ladies (mums and their daughters) arrived from mainland U.S.A. One of the ladies owned a house on Vieques and was visiting her home for the first time since the hurricanes in September 2017. They were keen to find a taxi to take them home so when our taxi arrived to collect us, we were quick to point out that we had called the taxi, but they were more than welcome to share the taxi ride. This was do-able as the taxi was a HUGE American type mini van and could easily have fitted another 6 people.

The lady who had a house on the island suggested that we go to a restaurant in Esperanza for lunch which we did. As we were leaving we noticed that they had all arrived for lunch as well. We had approximately a 3km walk back to the dinghy along Sun Bay beach and when we got to about half way, who was lounging on the beach but the same group of ladies. We said to them, ‘One would think we were stalking them’.

Entrance to Puerto Ferros.

One of the main attractions on Vieques is Puerto Mosquito Bioluminescent Bay. We were keen to see this amazing magical yet fragile ecosystem. However, like most things, it costs and to visit Mosquito Bay would have blown the monthly budget sky high, plus it would have been logistically quite a challenge for us to be at the meeting place by 7.30pm. Remember we have to dinghy to the beach, drag the dinghy up onto the beach somewhere we can secure her, then walk the 2 – 3kms, in the dark to the meeting place. We would then have to repeat the whole operation in the opposite order to get back ‘home’. We read on one of the many cruising guides we had downloaded, that the bay – Puerto Ferros, which is just east of Puerto Mosquito, is also bioluminescent. Puerto Ferros is used as a hurricane hole and the tricky part is the entrance which goes down to just under 1 metre! 

There was another yacht anchored close to us in Sun Bay – Christina. We happened to stop and chat to them as we were heading back to the boat and they mentioned that they had spent a night at Puerto Ferros and found it to be enjoyable. Theirs was the only boat in the bay, except for a few boats that had been damaged beyond repair when Hurricane Ima and Maria paid the area a visit. 

Puerto Ferros - abandon yachts.

So, on Tuesday morning we lifted the anchor and motor sailed the 6 nmiles to Puerto Ferros. As we always do when approaching an entrance, particularly one that is tricky, we drove in very slowly. The depths were shallow, but we had been in shallower waters in the Bahamas. We just hoped that seeing the bioluminescent was worth the effort. While we were having our dinner, we saw a lone dolphin swimming about in the bay. It came quite close to our boat and was  still swimming around the bay the following morning. We patiently waited for the magic to start happening AND it didn’t disappoint us!

As it became darker and darker, so the water started lighting up with silver sparkles. It was as if someone was switching individual fairy lights on and off. We got our dinghy paddles and ran them through the water. It was magical! It was as if the dinghy paddles were a fairy’s wand, with fairy dust trailing after it. The little girl came out in me! I spent about an hour playing around.

Here is some information from the pamphlet we obtained in Esperanza when we were inquiring about the Bioluminescent Bay/Puerto Mosquito: the Pyrodinium bahamense is responsible for the bioluminescence – this a one celled plankton measuring approximately 1/500^th of an inch. It is a dinoflagellate, having only two tails or flagella to assist its movement. Their bodies contain chlorophyll, producing food by photosynthesis. These tiny organisms create light when they are mechanically stimulated or touched. Each individual glows for 1/10 of a second and is believed to be a defence mechanism against predators.

FYI – there is also a Bioluminescent Bay near Fajardo where we were sailing to the following morning.
Wednesday morning, we upped anchor and headed towards main land Puerto Rico to Sun Bay Marina, Fajardo. The sail was enjoyable, and we arrived at the marina just after 4.00pm.

Puerto Ferros.

 We don’t like going into marinas unless we must. This is often for security reasons or if we need to do some work on the boat. We had ordered several items for the boat, like a boom preventer, a new cockpit light and some more globes for the boat. On our previous visit to Fajardo, we stayed at Sun Bay Marina as we get reduced rates since we are members of the Seven Seas Cruising Association (www.ssca.org). It is also easier to have items sent to the marina as Olga, the owner, is always extremely helpful in keeping the items for you until your arrival at the marina. Mel was also keen to buy a new anchor – one that he has always wanted. The new style of anchor has a greater holding capacity and sets within a short distance, as the tip is weighted.

We hired a car for most of the time we were in the marina as we knew we would also have to stock the boat in preparation for the next 2 months when we would be spending time in Cuba. We had been told that it is difficult to get most food items in Cuba, as many items are government controlled (for example: eggs, onions and potatoes). Olga lent us her Costco card, so after finding our way to West Marine (chandlery) in San Juan, which was quite an experience in the pouring rain, we spent the next three hours going up and down the isles at Costco. Our fridge, freezer and grocery cupboards are all full, so I don’t think we will be starving over the next few months.

While in the marina, we washed, scrubbed and polished most of the boat. Mel did the odd never-ending maintenance while I made the courtesy flags for Jamaica, Cuba and Guatemala, did some baking and cooking in preparation and caught up with some correspondence as the Wi-Fi was ok, especially in McDonalds.

The sad aspect about Puerto Rico is the slow progress that is being made in its recovery from Hurricane Maria.  Many homes are still without electricity – 7 months after the Hurricane. When we arrived, there was no electricity, so we battled to make radio contact with the marina. Thank goodness another marina heard us calling Sun Bay and phoned Olga, subsequently our messages were relayed backwards and forwards to each other. The roads were not in a great condition when we were last in Puerto Rico, 4 years ago. Now they are even worse. Traffic lights are not working, main power poles are still down so traffic intersections require you to be extra vigilant. The laundry was not working at the marina – Olga has tried to get someone to fix it, but the parts are not readily available nor, are the tradesmen. While we were in West Marine, there was a power failure. The shop assistants looked so fed up and unmotivated. It was quite sad and frustrating to see.

We stayed in Sun Bay marina for 10 days. We left Fajardo on Saturday 29 April 2018 for Boca Chica, in the Dominican Republic. We sailed over night along the Puerto Rican south coast until Boquerón where we decided to spend Sunday night. As we entered the bay, two dolphins came along beside us and once we were anchored, we saw them swimming around the anchorage. We left Boquerón early Monday morning, arriving in the DR, Tuesday afternoon. While in Boca Chica, we will be staying in a marina called Marina Zar Par. This is solely for security reasons and it’s a lot easier for immigrations and customs. Boca Chica is approximately 40 kms east of the capital Santo Domingo which we are looking forward to exploring.
Until next time when I write all about our sail to the D.R. and our stay in Boca Chica - Keep well and safe.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn
sv Passages

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Sun Bay, Vieques - along the beach we found some beach art.