We sailed from St. Thomas to
Culebra, which is a Spanish island that falls under Puerto Rico. We arrived
around 3pm and anchored in the Ensenada Fullados. When we left St. Thomas,
customs and immigration said we did not need to check out as Puerto Rico, and
its surrounding islands, were under U.S. Territory, however; when we phoned
customs upon arrival, they said all passengers needed to report to the airport
to check in. Here is a little interesting piece of information for cruisers
whose boats are non-US registered: the customs officer explained to us that
Puerto Rico is separated into 4 zones (north, east, south, and west) and
because we are a South African flagged ship, we need to recheck in, if we move
between zones (What a pain!). Another interesting tidbit is that because we
came from the U.S. Virgin Islands, we had to pay a $36 check in fee, compared
to a $19 fee if we came from a foreign port. He explained that coming from a
normal tax area like the BVI is cheaper than U.S. ports because they add tax
and St Thomas is deemed duty free. . . or something like that. But the annoying
fact is that the check in fee is $36 and the check out fee is $37, so it would
cost us $73 if we moved to a new zone. So we are currently checked into Puerto
Rico’s eastern zone, which includes the islands of Culebra and Vieques, and the
Puerto Rican port of Fajardo.
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| Military Tank |
We stayed in the same bay in
Culebra for a few days as the weather was not so great, no one wanted to go
overboard for a swim though due to all the upside down jellyfish we could see
floating past the boat! When the weather cleared we sailed around to the
Northern part of Culebra and anchored in front of Flamenco Beach. What a
stunning beach! It is ranked the #6 beach in the world, and well, you can see
why. We took our dinghy onto the beach and walked to the point where 2 US navy tanks
were abandoned when the U.S. military left the island in 1975 – a reminder of
when the US navy used the island as a gunnery range. They were all rusted, but
every so often a new layer of graffiti gets added to them, making them a piece
of artwork on a stunning canvas. As we walked back to the dinghy, we stopped
and bought some sorbet from a man with his ice-cream trolley. The little old
man spoke no English and our Spanish is limited to hello, thank you and
goodbye. So with much hand gestures and pointing at pictures we were successful
in each getting some amazing sorbet. Very good value for money - $2.50 for a
sugarcone and 4 scoops of sorbet (makes you want to eat 3 cones!) – and very
delicious! Well worth it if you ever find yourself in this corner of the woods,
we each had a cone with a mixture of coconut and strawberry sorbet (the coconut
was my favourite). There were other flavours too such as pineapple,
passionfruit, and soursop. We got back on the dinghy and lifted anchor. We
sailed around to Melones Beach – in the turtle sanctuary area – where we picked
up a bouy for the night.
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| Flamenco Beach |
The following morning, we
snorkeled around Melones Beach, where we saw filefish, trumpet fish, a peacock
flounder, and the highlight – a nurse shark, the biggest one we have seen yet. We
moved the boat around and picked up a bouy by the Luis Pena Cay Nature Reserve.
We had lunch here and went snorkeling again, where we saw a spotted eagle ray.
We moved to the ferry dock and anchored there for the night. We had dinner at
the dinghy dock restaurant. My mom ordered the whole strawberry grouper and
well, she literally got the whole fish! Besides the appearance, it actually
tasted pretty good. We had great fun
feeding the resident Tarpons the left- overs. We left the next morning and
sailed to Vieques.
We picked up a bouy in
Esperanza and arranged to go on a tour to the world’s number one bioluminescent
bay – Mosquito Bay. It is illegal for anyone to go to this bay without a
licensed tour guide and it is also illegal to swim in this bay. The number one
threat to the bay is humans, and therefore it is greatly protected. We had
heard from numerous people that in the past week and a half of us arriving
here, that 10 people have had their dinghy engines taken. So my dad decided to
stay on the boat and my mom and I went at 7:30 on a tour to Mosquito Bay. We
got into our 2-man see-through kayak (I highly recommend doing this in a
see-through bottom kayak) and set out into the bay with our guide and 2 other
kayaks. It was amazing. The see-through bottom kayak looked as if it were
speckled with stars. Every stroke of the paddle would make the water light up.
We were allowed to put our hands in the water and watch is light up as we
swished our fingers around. It was truly marvelous. It was too dark for any
pictures, but if you look up mosquito bay, you will see other people’s
pictures. The following night my dad went on the tour and my mom and I guarded
our dinghy.
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| Overgrown road |
We decided to rent a car and
do a little island tour. We waited 45 minutes to get fetched from Esperanza to
be taken to the car hire place. We rented the Jeep and my dad was peeved that
we didn’t have a spare tyre. The lady told us that if we have a puncture, they
charge us $10 dollars to drive to us and change the wheel. Needless to say, as
we are getting close to our first destination, we got a flat tyre. . . and waited
for 30 minutes for the car company to
come change the tyre (take note that the island is really small, so 30 minutes
is a long time). We then decided that we needed to pick what we most wanted to
do, as it was already 12pm at this point. So we decided to go see the sugar mill
ruins and the military bunker’s. . . well lets just say after a whole lot of
bundu bashing we didn’t get there either. The map was very inaccurate as there
were many more roads than were indicated. We ended up going down roads that
were so overgrown it looked like nobody had driven down them in years.
Eventually we gave up and went to go see the 375 year old tree. The tree was
spectacular. We decided it was time for lunch so we picked a restaurant on the
map and went to it, only to discover that it was under renovation. So we ended
up going next door to subway. From here we decided to go snorkeling in the
national park area. As we drove through the gate my mom saw a sign that said
visitor centre closes at 4pm, it was currently 3pm. So we drove to the beach we
wanted, got our snorkel gear on and started swimming out. The water was so
murky we couldn’t see the ground below us. We weren’t even 5 minutes out when
my dad was calling us to come back because of time. We drove back and saw
another sign that said the park closes at 6:30pm and it was just the
information centre that closed at 4. . . what a disaster. Anyway we ended up
going for a cocktail and a snack before calling it a day.
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| 375 year old tree |
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| Boat wreck |
We were now on our way to
Puerto Rico. We anchored off the coast of Fajardo for the night. In the
morning, my dad and I went to a few marinas to check them out (the 2 we went to
were terrible and did not cater for catamarans at all). While in the dinghy, we
noticed a whole bunch of debris floating towards our boat, it ended up being a
whole wooden cupboard that was broken up and various other objects that had
broken loose from the wreck infront of us. We towed it all away from the boat
but decided we needed to get outta here before something hits us. We ended up taking
our boat into Puerto del Rey marina, the largest marina in the Caribbean with
1400 boat slips. It was very expensive, $175 a night, but the facilities and
services were great. Our boat was about a kilometer and a half away from the
bathrooms and marina office but luckily there were golf carts that came and
fetched us whenever we called for them. We had planned to do 3 days of island
touring so we wanted our boat locked up and secure while we were gone.
We rented a car and decided
that we would go to the El Yunque Rainforest. How spectacular! This is the only
rainforest in any U.S territory. We got lost a few times getting there (this
was a trend over our three day tour as the roads and map were very confusing)
so we arrived late. We decided we wanted to go to La Mina Falls so we drove
there and hiked alongside a river until we got to the falls. It was very busy
at the falls with people swimming. It was amazing, but I would advise going
during the week when it is less crowded (we went on a Friday afternoon). We
went to a lookout tower after the falls but it was closed already. We headed back
to the marina for the night.
The next day we decided to go
walk around old San Juan for the day. After getting lost numerous times, we
finally parked the car and set on our way. The first stop was a little coffee
place called café Cuatro Sombras. The coffee was made from local Puerto Rican
beans. My parents both had sandwiches that they said were delicious, and I
tried their guava bread, which was also good. From here we walked around the
streets, and went in some of the shops. I got some shaved ice that was covered
in coconut syrup. . . which was absolutely delicious! There are carts all over
old San Juan selling this. We walked to the main fort known as El Morro. It was
really quite something. There was a massive green lawn where people were
sitting and flying kites. From the edge of the fort you could see the old San
Juan graveyard. You could see the ocean for miles from every point on the fort.
. . you could see how this fort could be a stronghold. From here we walked to
La Barrachina for lunch, the place that claims to have invented the Pina
Colada. I ordered a Pina Colada and the Puerto Rican tasting plate and was not
impressed with either. So after this we decided to leave. We stopped by a cigar
shop to get some Puerto Rican cigars for some friends and then headed back to
the Marina for the night.
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| Christ Chapel |
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| Old San Juan graveyard |
Our last day of touring, we
drove over 2 hours to the Arecibo area to go see the caves. We went to the
Camuy Caves first . . . the third largest underground cave system in the world.
We waited 40 minutes for our number to be called before heading to the caves.
The cave we went into was spectacular . . . we had never seen anything like it
before. Words cannot describe it so I took a few pictures for you to see. It was
well worth the long drive and we were so glad we decided to do it. Our only
complaint is that after the tour, we sat waiting for an hour until the trolley
came to fetch us and take us back to the main area. At his time it was already
3:30pm and so much of the day was gone. I really wanted to go see the window
cave (cueva ventana) so we raced over there in hopes they would still be open.
We arrived at 4:03pm so we missed the 4 o’clock tour but they luckily still had
a tour left, but only at 5. So we bought out tickets and waited until 5. We
started off going through one cave (although more accurately called a cavern
because it had 2 entrances and a cave only has one). It made us sad to see how
people vandalize and graffiti all over the caves. The cave has ancient drawings
by Taino Indians and right next to that people writing their names and such.
But we carried on and went down into the second cave, the window cave. It was
super dark so we were all given flashlights, we followed our guide to a big
room and he told us to turn off our torches. He turned on a special light that
wasn’t too bright for the bats eyes and shone it at the ceiling. There were
thousands of bands hanging off the ceiling of the cave. We carried on from here
to what was known as the window in the cave. OMG. It was truly unlike anything
you have seen before (there is a picture for you to see). You could see out
into the whole valley. From here we raced back to the car as it was already
6:30pm and we had a 2 hour drive back to the marina. Luckily, our drive back
was the first time that we never got lost!
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| The window in the cave |
Today we are checking out of
Puerto Rico and then heading over to St. Thomas as my boyfriend, Travis, flies
in on Thursday and then from there we go to the BVI, specifically, Tortola as
my sister also arrives on Thursday, but in the evening. We can celebrate a belated 20th
birthday with Rebecca for the 28th of June. Jangles is going to be a
full boat for a while!
The following morning, we
snorkeled around Melones Beach, where we saw filefish, trumpet fish, a peacock
flounder, and the highlight – a nurse shark, the biggest one we have seen yet. We
moved the boat around and picked up a bouy by the Luis Pena Cay Nature Reserve.
We had lunch here and went snorkeling again, where we saw a spotted eagle ray.
We moved to the ferry dock and anchored there for the night. We had dinner at
the dinghy dock restaurant. My mom ordered the whole strawberry grouper and
well, she literally got the whole fish! Besides the appearance, it actually
tasted pretty good. We had great fun
feeding the resident Tarpons the left- overs. We left the next morning and
sailed to Vieques.
The next day we decided to go
walk around old San Juan for the day. After getting lost numerous times, we
finally parked the car and set on our way. The first stop was a little coffee
place called café Cuatro Sombras. The coffee was made from local Puerto Rican
beans. My parents both had sandwiches that they said were delicious, and I
tried their guava bread, which was also good. From here we walked around the
streets, and went in some of the shops. I got some shaved ice that was covered
in coconut syrup. . . which was absolutely delicious! There are carts all over
old San Juan selling this. We walked to the main fort known as El Morro. It was
really quite something. There was a massive green lawn where people were
sitting and flying kites. From the edge of the fort you could see the old San
Juan graveyard. You could see the ocean for miles from every point on the fort.
. . you could see how this fort could be a stronghold. From here we walked to
La Barrachina for lunch, the place that claims to have invented the Pina
Colada. I ordered a Pina Colada and the Puerto Rican tasting plate and was not
impressed with either. So after this we decided to leave. We stopped by a cigar
shop to get some Puerto Rican cigars for some friends and then headed back to
the Marina for the night.
Our last day of touring, we
drove over 2 hours to the Arecibo area to go see the caves. We went to the
Camuy Caves first . . . the third largest underground cave system in the world.
We waited 40 minutes for our number to be called before heading to the caves.
The cave we went into was spectacular . . . we had never seen anything like it
before. Words cannot describe it so I took a few pictures for you to see. It was
well worth the long drive and we were so glad we decided to do it. Our only
complaint is that after the tour, we sat waiting for an hour until the trolley
came to fetch us and take us back to the main area. At his time it was already
3:30pm and so much of the day was gone. I really wanted to go see the window
cave (cueva ventana) so we raced over there in hopes they would still be open.
We arrived at 4:03pm so we missed the 4 o’clock tour but they luckily still had
a tour left, but only at 5. So we bought out tickets and waited until 5. We
started off going through one cave (although more accurately called a cavern
because it had 2 entrances and a cave only has one). It made us sad to see how
people vandalize and graffiti all over the caves. The cave has ancient drawings
by Taino Indians and right next to that people writing their names and such.
But we carried on and went down into the second cave, the window cave. It was
super dark so we were all given flashlights, we followed our guide to a big
room and he told us to turn off our torches. He turned on a special light that
wasn’t too bright for the bats eyes and shone it at the ceiling. There were
thousands of bands hanging off the ceiling of the cave. We carried on from here
to what was known as the window in the cave. OMG. It was truly unlike anything
you have seen before (there is a picture for you to see). You could see out
into the whole valley. From here we raced back to the car as it was already
6:30pm and we had a 2 hour drive back to the marina. Luckily, our drive back
was the first time that we never got lost!
