2024-01-13 Gilligan's Island and Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island)

We had a relatively calm motor trip to the unnamed bay formed by Isla Ballena and Gilligan's Island.  No, not the real Gilligan's Island of TV fame, no professor, skipper, the movie star or anyone else.  It was nicknamed Gilligan's island in the 1970's by some folks from Philadelphia that just moved to Puerto Rico.   

Still the bay provided a calm anchorage, and we hung out there for four and a half days.   The bay is just east of Punta Ballena (Whale point), and is surrounded by mangroves, with a few upscale homes on the hillsides.  There is no town, but there is a resort a little further west.   

Took a trip up a small mangrove inlet and walked on the Punta Ballena beach.

Dink parked at end of mangrove inlet

Punta Ballena beach

Trail running next to beach

Some of the beach had lots of driftwood on it.

Went over and checked out Gilligan's Island.   When here in 2013 there were regular tourist boats that picked up people on the mainland and took them to the island, where services were set up for swimming an relaxing on the beach.  Due to the earthquake of 2020 and hurricanes, the beach is pretty much gone, the dock destroyed, and no more regular tourists. 

Some of the leftovers on Gilligan's Island

This is the biggest beach left on the island

Mangrove lined inlet at Gilligan's Island

We had been the only boat in the anchorage for the last 3 days, but on Wednesday a French boat arrived, and on Thursday two more boats.    

On Thursday we went into the the near the resort, where there was a restaurant called San Jacinto that used to do more business when the tourist ferry to Gilligan's was operating, but now is much reduced.  Out of the menu of 50 or more items, they only had about 10 items to choose from.  So Empanadillas were the lunch of choice.    Kris got lobster and Dean picked shark.  They were not that great - so glad we got potato wedges to eat with.

San Jacinto restaurant

Empanadas - called Empanadillas in Puerto Rico

Early Friday morning we headed out at 5:30 a.m. to motor east before the winds picked up.  We did not make it, and winds came earlier than normal, but it was fine - went 21 miles in 5 hours on one engine, doing around 4.5 knots.  Choppy head on waves, but going slow was fine, as we took very few waves onboard.   

Kris had meant to look at the port engine while at the anchorage as she had seen a small amount of coolant in the engine bilge, but forgot.  So after anchors up, she checked on it, and happened to touch the pipe we had put in place for early coolant draining.  The pipe moved - which it should not have, and gave Kris a nice spray of warm coolant to the face.  Luckily the engine had not been on long at all, so coolant only warm, and leak of coolant minimal.     This is when having two engines is great.  We shut off port and started the starboard engine and finished the trip.

Kris did spend about 15 minutes in the semi-warm engine compartment draining all the engine coolant so it would not leak into the bilge while we bounced around in head on seas, which was not fun, but that is part of boating.

We made it to our next stop at Isla Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island) before noon, and relaxed and had lunch, then started working on the engine.   A brass pipe nipple had cracked where it went into a reducer fitting where the engine coolant drain was.  At the end of the nipple was a bronze valve to use to drain the coolant.  In retrospect, a bad design of ours (hate to admit that), and the heavy bronze valve at the end of the nipple put too much stress on the joint when the engine was vibrating.   

The broken nipple, you can see it broke right where it entered the reducer bushing.

We tried to get the broken nipple out of the reducer, but no luck, so decided that we will just use one engine for the next trip when we head to Salinas, and will rent a car there to go pick up needed parts for repair.

Isla Caja de Muertos is about 8 miles off the south shore of Ponce - Puerto Rico's largest city on the south coast.  It is a nature preserve, and was maintained by the department of natural and environmental resources until the earthquakes of 2020 did too much damage and made the buildings unsafe.  There used to be a ferry to bring people out, but no longer, although still a popular spot of weekends for locals to come and hang out at the beach.   There is a 1 mile one way trail you can take to the top of the hill where there is an old lighthouse.  We took the trail, and wandered around the deserted and partially destroyed buildings.  The trail is no longer maintained, and was a bit rough.

Small but nice beach on NW corner, where we anchored

Charm, all alone at the anchorage

Some of the old structures, and solar panel array

Quite the buildings for tourism at one time

Inside the buildings, lots of leftover rubble

Nice paved and covered walkways and small cabanas with tables - no longer useable

This sign posted everywhere  " Do not pass - Danger zone - Area affected by earthquakes"

Inside main building

Dock, now unsafe to use

Part of trail to lighthouse

Many of these large cacti along the trail, and partially in the trail

Cacti must be at least 15' tall

Could not figure out this signs meaning.  Used to be more trails, so think it was where two trails joined and made a loop.  Could not find other trail, area too overgrown.

Old lighthouse

View from base of lighthouse.   Charm looks like a small dot 

We left for our walk at 9:00 am on Saturday morning.  By the time we got back, 4 more boats and couple of jet skis had arrived.   Boats came and went all day.  If you want solitude, then don't come here on a weekend.

After the walk, we got in the 83 degree F water, and scrubbed the hull.  Dean did not wear a wetsuit, but Kris did.   Saw two very large fish swim by under the boat while we were scrubbing, probably attracted to the little shrimp we were dislodging, and our thrashing in the water.  We think they were Tarpon.

Hard to see in the cloudy water, but they are about 20' away and are about 3' long.

After scrubbing the hull we relaxed and read while watching the activities on the other boats.

We did our good deed for the week, and did rescue three young adults in a dinghy who had run out of gas while out playing in the water.  They were trying to row against the wind back to shore.  They tried to get the attention of the parents, but they were on the stern of their large motorboat with music and drinks and had not noticed the kids situation.  The kids were never in danger, and the parents would have noticed soon, but Dean saw them and thought we should be kind and go help, which we did.

Early tomorrow we will head to Salinas, where we will most likely be for a while.

2024-01-07 Puerto Real, La Parguera and the Bioluminescent Bay

We spent New Years day aboard the boat, relaxing and recovering.  Did some clean up from the trip and took naps.  Lots of people fish while they are sailing, we are so good the fish just leap onto out boat.  Not a very big meal

Saw lots of flying fish on the journey.

On the 2nd we decided that it was time to step on land again.   We went for a walk, and had lunch out.  Kris has been practicing her Spanish, so she was happy to use a bit of it.

First for us - tourist board in town with information on the sights and restaurants.

History of Puerto Real

Nice little town square

We think kitty lived at town square, as there was a water bowl for him/her there

Puerto Real is a small town, with a few restaurants, but the main focus here seems to be fishing.  Not big commercial fishing, but many small boats that go out each day.  There are two fish markets in town.  It still is a sleepy little fishing village.

Outside of one of the fish markets

After a walk about town, it was time for lunch.  Took the recommendation of the marina staff for the restaurant to try.

Inside Restaurant Bodega 308, where we ate in Puerto Real

In the restaurant, which was obviously a family business, we were the only customer for quite a while.  Some folks stopped in to get take out.  A newborn baby was in a carrier on the floor near the bar, and everyone who came in stopped to googoo over the baby.  Then they brought in a cake and sang happy birthday for one of the 8 family members there.    All is Spanish of course.

Steak sliders and fries.  Yummy

Next day Kris changed the oil on both engines, and then we headed into town, and with the help of the Marina, got a taxi and went into Cabo Rojo for groceries.    Through some help of other taxi passengers we arranged for the driver to pick us up again in 40 minutes for the return trip.

The grocery store was large, and carried a good variety - with close to prices found in the United States.  The fresh fruit and veggie section was a little smaller than large US stores, but had good selection.  The only thing we did not find was brussel sprouts and mushrooms.   The rest of the store was comparable to a US grocery store.

Upon checkout the clerk, who was a young girl who spoke excellent english asked if we found everything.  We said yes, except for the brussel sprouts and mushrooms.   10 minutes later, and 3 employees involved, but they did have both - don't know why we did not find them, but happy to have.  We apologized to the people in line behind us, but no one really seemed disturbed by the delay.

Fruit and veg area of grocery store.

The marina here in Puerto Real is real nice, and the folks are very friendly and helpful.   We were able to get rid of our trash, and they even have a used oil disposal bin in town which was great, since we had used oil.  Filled up with diesel, only took 65 gallons, we had filled up at Spanish Wells in the Bahamas but with the amount of motoring thought we might need more.  It was only $4.75 per gallon, gas was $4.76.

We heard from our friends on What If, that the 9 Barrios restaurant in town had decent pizza, so next day after a morning of miscellaneous boat chores, we headed in for a late lunch.

Outside on the deck at 9 Barrios

The restaurant was not busy at all, I think us and one other customer.  At the end of the meal we spent a good 15 minutes talking to our server about life in Puerto Rico.  She had gone to university  - which was much cheaper than in the United States, costing around $3000 per semester.  Had a degree in Biology, but still unable to find work in her field in Puerto Rico.    Most young folks will go to university in Puerto Rico, then head to the States for employment

Friday we left Puerto Real, and motored the 22 miles to La Parguera.  On the south coast of Puerto Rico, we most likely won't do much sailing, as the trade winds blow out of the east the majority of the time, and that is the direction we want to go.  So we get up early, and motor to the next anchorage, before the winds build.

Rounding the SE cape of Puerto Rico - Cabo Rojo

La Paguera is a locals tourist spot. As it wa a friday before the holiday "Three kings day"  there were a lot of people there on vacation.   Lots of small boats head out to the smaller islands in the bay, where they spend the day relaxing on the small beaches, or more likely hanging out in the water on floats, near the beach and boats.   

Collection of boats at one of the small cays offshore.

Water not as clear as in the Bahamas, but we are anchored in 15' and you can see bottom, of grass and some sand.

La Parguera coastline is all mangrove, so people build homes on pilings over the water, adjacent to land.

Homes on the left along shore, and mangrove island toward sea, with a narrow channel between.

Homes and boats along "shore"

The town is quiet and closed up Monday through Thursday, and comes alive on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.   We were in at 10:00 on a Saturday, and town was just starting to set up for the day.

Restaurants getting ready for the day

Nativity display in one of the larger hotels entryway

Shops still closed up, but getting ready to open for the crowds.

Christmas tree in the town square

End of town was less scenic, with the large garbage dumpster.  Lots of chickens with small chicks and pigeons taking advantage of the dumpster.

Monument dedicated to the fishing industry of La Parguera

Entrance to fenced housing, done all in tile.

The anchorage was a bit bouncy from boat traffic off and on.  We decided not to wait until Monday for a snorkeling trip, as friends had reported it not that great and last time we were here in 2013 we had searched for good snorkeling, but did not find much, so we moved and anchored in Bahia Fosforrescente, which is a bay that has a natural phosphorescence. The unique part of this bay, is that it allows motorized vessels, anchoring and swimming.   

We were the only boat there anchored, until around 6:30 at night when the sunset, then about a dozen tourist boats came in.   We shut off all lights on our boat, as did all the tourist boats, so people could enjoy the bay.   It takes a bit of a disturbance to see the phosphorescence, so most people jump in and swim around.    We had dolphins swimming buy us, about 100' away, and although we could hear them, and see them when thy broke the surface, they produced no visible phosphorescence.   All the tour boats left by 10:00, and we had a peaceful night.

This morning we got up early, and headed out with sunrise and headed to Cayos de Cana Gorda, otherwise known as Gilligan's island.  It is just named that.  The show not filmed there.   

Will hang out here for a few days, and do some exploring.  The day temps are now in the mid to upper 80s with the lows in low 70s.  Kris is finally warm, most of the time :)

2023-12-31 Perfect way to end the year - we have arrived in Puerto Rico

Well, it was a 5 day slog, but we made it.   It wasn't a bad trip overall.

We stayed in Cat Island for a few more days.  Took a nice hike up the hermitage.  Built in 1939.   The Hermitage

Had to avoid this guy sunning himself in the road

New little goats - cut and fun to watch

At the base of the road to the Hermitage

Fun to explore

Was not built for Dean size people

Steep walk up to the top of the hill

We were thinking we would be heading out soon to make the Caribbean passage, so Kris started doing some small cleanup to get the boat ready and everything stored.   We have a small storage bag under the doorway to the main salon that had ripped, so she wanted to replace that.  Everything came out, and then she noticed something that looked like it had fallen out of the bag and slid down along the hull.   Had to remove some cabinet framing, but retrieved the item.  - YES   It was the missing brushes that we had for our watermaker.  We had searched the boat multiple times for them last year when our watermaker motor brushes had failed, and we spent a month or more dealing with that.   We knew we had ordered them - but could not find them anywhere.  Now we know what happened to them.

Kris digging into the storage area

The missing parts - finally found.

We had a nice Christmas, relaxing on the boat.  We were the only boat in the anchorage - so was very quiet and peaceful.   Ate chips with dip, and apple pie for dinner.  YUM

Tuesday after Christmas we took a nice walk on the beach.  Nice sunny day

Charm at anchor at Cat Island

Walking the beach

Nice large starfish in the surf

We looked at the weather one last time, and decided to go for it.  Upped anchor at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday the 26th and set sail.  First night and next day was not that pleasant, as winds were supposed to be SSW, but were SSE instead, so bit of a bumpy lumpy slamming trip to weather with choppy seas, but then the wind died down a bit, and the seas settled.  Winds were south, but since they were light - 10 knots and under, we decided to motor sail close to the wind, and head southeast for a while more.

The rest of the trip was pretty much a motor sail, heading SE as much as possible until we got past the Turks and Caicos, then we headed more easterly. 

That is about when we ran out of fresh water.  YIKES  Our freshwater pump had been acting a little odd, and it decided to come on and pump our tank dry, and fill the bilge with fresh water.    About 75 gallons of fresh water was gone. We did not hear the freshwater pump, or bilge, as the engine was on.  No worries, got out the spare fresh water pump we carry, installed it, and made water.  Crisis averted. 😅

Saturday night was the big night when we started heading almost due south to Puerto Rico.  The winds were east, but clocking NE, so Saturday night and all day Sunday had a nice run.

Pretty much this was the view for 5 days - water and sky and nothing else

Had some pretty sunrises

Only had one ship get within visual range the entire trip

Dean on watch

Had about 8 hours of glassy seas where we just motored

Land Ho - Puerto Rico

Out of the 120 hours, we had about 48 that were less than pleasant, with lumpy bumpy ick, but the rest were not bad.  We had 75 hours of motor time, about 32 for each engine.  We knew the winds would be light, and expected to have to motor a lot, but still got tired of listening to the engines.   Nice to sail into Puerto Rico on Sunday - great way to end the year.