Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands…unmissable!!

We arrived in Boqueron, Puerto Rico, after crossing the Mona Passage, which is a potentially very dangerous passage of water. Again, Pete’s planning meant that we had a relatively calm passage of wind and waves, only having to dodge one thunderstorm on the way :) It was a lovely wide bay that we entered, but REAL hot! We rested for a few hours then dinghied in to explore the town. We found a delightful restaurant that was air conditioned and served beautiful food to have a late lunch in, then we wandered the area. It was really interesting to be back in a place that had such a strong American Influence again after the DR (Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands are actually territories of the US but unlike the US Virgin Islands they still speak Spanish). We spent a few nights there, prepping in haste for Oscar’s birthday which was a few days away. The majority of our buddy boats that travelled from Samana Bay arrived the same day as us or the day after. We loved the architecture of the houses here, if by the water they tended to be built on stilts (which we reflected was copying the strength of the mangroves to help them survive hurricane season) and the way that they were painted in bright colors.

We moved round to the southern edge of the island with some buddies, to La Parguera. There we were met with crystal clear waters around the mangroves which made for a wonderful place to celebrate Oscar’s 10th birthday. We spread the celebration over a couple of days as new buddy boats arrived, and spent the day swimming with huge Tarpon (fish) around the waters. We were also joined by a small iguana who climbed on our dinghy, then our actual boat, to ride out a massive rain storm that came in the evening.

We then headed along the bottom of Puerto Rico, maintaining some pace to continue our easting and southerly trajectory….as we left La Parguera we finally caught our first (edible) fish! A beautiful Spanish Mackerel! Pete reeled it in and then I got to kill it, practicing my filleting skills. Arriving in Salinas anchorage, we were back in a land of manatees around the boat. We rented a car for the day and headed to do some provisioning in the US branded stores. It was strange being in a Spanish-speaking Walmart and Home Depot again. Pete and I then left the kids on the boat for the day and headed to San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico. We spent the morning in West Marine (huge boat chandlery), doing bulk laundry and finishing provisioning then went to old San Juan for the afternoon. We wandered the streets of the colored buildings, got as far away from the cruise ship port as we could, and found a great tapas restaurant with extremely authentic Spanish food. Many of the streets in old San Juan are paved with adoquines, or blue cobblestone pavers, made from waste from iron smelting. The cobblestones were brought as ballast on European ships in the 18th century!

From Salinas we headed to spend the night in Culebra, a beautiful town surrounded by the island around it. The next day we couldn’t miss the opportunity to head to Flamenco Beach, where we spent the day doing work/ school then explored the tanks that were on the end of the beach. The US army used to use the area for missile/ target practice before the Vietnam War having purchased the land, so the Sherman tanks are there as a reminder of this. The stopped when the locals eventually had enough and had a massive protest! As the sun set we headed round the corner to Culebrita, a tiny deserted bay where the kids sailed the Tiwal and we had sun downers on the beach with friends.

The next day we reluctantly left the Spanish Virgin islands and had the night in St Johns on a mooring ball in their National Park (US Virgin Island proper now). There we had an unexpected and totally unforgettable day. We snorkeled around the boat in clear 15 ft water and saw loads of parrotfish and schools of blue tangs. Then we headed to the beach and came across some turtles who let us drift snorkel with them, as did some huge stingrays. Bethan experimented with her new sea scooter (birthday present!) that quietly propelled her next to the turtles and she dived down as they did and we stroked their shells. Quite magical. That night our boat was surrounded by huge tarpon attracted to the tiny fish that in turn were attracted to the underwater lights we have on the boat, none of which we had seen during the day!!

We only had the night there before our next passage to St. Maarten to get as far east as we needed to go in the Caribbean.

Tarpon having a feast under the boat at night!