2024-01-28 - Wind and sewing

We left Puerto Patillas after just one night, as we wanted to make it to a protected anchorage, as 4 days of winds above 20 knots were forecasted.   

We motored into the wind all day, making it to the island of Vieques, and we anchored in the furthest east anchorage of Ensenada Honda (Deep Cove).   

The island of Vieques used to be a Navy bombing range, and there are still many unexploded ordinance on the island, especially the eastern part, so going further east is not safe.  It is a shame, as there are some beautiful beaches on the east side.  This anchorage is surrounded by mangroves, but very protected and good holding, so good for the strong winds predicted.

Monday we went out and explored the mangroves before the winds built.  

Charm at anchor as we head off to explore

Heading into the mangroves

Found a sunken boat.  Looks like it was pretty well stripped of items.   

Sunken boat

Water is fairly clear, can see the boat below the water.

Another boat in the anchorage with us is a person who runs sail charters off of his boat.  Visited with him a bit, and he told us the sunken boat was in hurricane Maria, with 150 knot winds and 12' of surge.  Almost 3000 people in Puerto Rico died as a result of the hurricane.   The fellow we spoke with also had his boat tied up in the same mangroves, and his boat also made it through the hurricane fine, and he was able to get back to his boat quickly once the winds died.  The sunken boat also made it through the hurricane just fine, but looters stripped the boat and sunk it, as the owner did not get back to it for a while.

After our brief mangrove explore, we headed back to the boat, did laundry and relaxed.   Winds started to build that night.

Tuesday we started a project.   We have been wanting to recover our salon cushions for a while, as the fabric we picked 3 years ago, always looks dirty and worn.  We bought new fabric, and supplies we would need, and have been hauling them around for a few months, so this seemed like a good week to work this project, as we would most likely be boat bound during the winds.

We started the project Tuesday, and worked on it every day until Saturday night.    With big projects, it turns the main cabin into a mess.   We had to re-cut all our foam, and add pieces in to make it fit the way we wanted.  Then had to make up a pattern for each new piece of fabric, since we were not using the same design as the old cushions - we just had to make it more difficult.

Lots of time, spent cutting, sewing, patterning, checking etc, and as of Saturday night two cushions done, but all foam cut.

Almost a entire day spent determining how we wanted the new cushions and cutting and gluing foam.

The boat was a mess for 4 days while working on the cushions

Two seat cushions almost done.

We decided to put a knee rise in the cushions, which double the work, and a non-skid bottom on the cushions, which added more work.  We are using a fabric called Ultraleather, which is nice fabric, but stretchy, so had to pattern and plan the stretch into each cushion as well - adding more work, and confusion as it stretches in one direction much more than the other direction.  Also decided to put French seams on the exposed edges.    All in all - we could not have made it more difficult if we tried.   

Kris not super happy with them yet, but still better than the old ones.   The back cushions will be easier, as they are basically boxes.

We will move today, about 4 miles to explore another anchorage on Vieques.