2024-01-21 We've been shot! - well the dink anyway.

We arrived in Salinas around noon on Sunday last.  Salinas is a very protected harbor, where many sailors stop to provision and to leave the boat to rent cars to tour Puerto Rico.   We were greeted by two manatee on our way into the anchorage.

Two manatee that approached the boat as we came into the anchorage

We went extra slow as they came right up to the boat

They left as we motored further into the anchorage area.   Next day a nice walk in order, took our dinghy to the local marina, who provides a dinghy dock for free.  We checked in with the marina, to make sure all was OK, and if there was a dinghy dock fee, and also got a phone number for a local rental car.

A quick walk through town, up to the large Econo grocery store, lunch out and walk back.

Kris always takes chicken photos.  This yard had pigeons as well

Large Econo supermarket and large "future" area for development

Lunch at Wendys - stale fries

Back at boat, nice rainbow over the anchorage in Salinas

We arranged a rental car for the next day, as we needed to get some plumbing parts to fix our broken coolant drain line on the port engine.

Dean behind the wheel - haven't driven in a while

Quite a few bananas grown in the area

We arranged the car for 9:00, but it was closer to 10:00 before we were on the road.  After drivng to Ponce and going to Home Depot, WalMart, National Hardware, Pep Boys auto parts and a quick lunch at McDonalds, it was 3:00 already, so we did not have enough time to do the scenic driving we wanted, so took a shorter scenic drive on our way back to Salinas, up into the hills to drive by Lago Toa Vaca, (All cow lake?) a large reservoir.   

Lago Toa Vaca at the dam

Spillway from dam, and downstream from dam

The countryside is very hilly, and quite steep.  Some of the roads are quite narrow,  and very few had a center line to seperate traffic.

Quite hilly and steep

We got back to the dinghy dock before dark, but to our dismay, found the bow section of the dinghy completely deflated.  Dean took a few groceries to the boat while I waited at the dock, and then grabbed the pump and came back for the rest of the groceries and me.  I pumped the dink while on our way to the boat.  By the time we got to the boat, and groceries unloaded it was dark, so did not look at the dink until the next day.  We found two holes in the dinghy tube - and noticed that they were in alignment, almost like something was poked from one side through to the other side.

Hole on outside through dinghy chaps

Dinghy chaps removed, you can see the hole

And a hole on the other side as well though the chaps

Chaps removed, you can see the hole.

The more we looked, it seemed like the dinghy had been shot, by a powerful BB type gun or something else.   We called the marina and let them know that our dink had been vandalized.

We had patch material, so spent the day working on that, and fixing the port engine coolant drain with the parts picked up in town.  We let some other cruisers know about the dinghy as well, since we were all using the same dock.

Next day, we decided to test the dink repair, by going in for lunch.  Kris had had mofongo when in Puerto Rico back in 2013, and enjoyed it, so wanted to have it again.  Found a close restaurant called La Bakira, and went in for lunch.

Sitting outside at La Bakira

Kris's lunch - Mofongo de Camarones

Lunch was very good, and enough to take a bit back home as well.  Unfortunately the dink still has a slow leak on one side, so will have to try that patch again.

Friday we headed 5 miles east to Bahia de Jobos.  Dean made bread and pizza dough, and Kris went for a nice kayak trip.

Kayaking through the mangroves

Water was surprisingly clear in some areas

Dean's perfect looking bread 

While there, we got an email from the cruisers we had met in Salinas.   They let us know that there was a fellow at the marina walking around with a 22 caliber rifle.  The marina hires him to shoot Caiman for the safety of the marina patrons.  Now we know what happened to our dinghy.  Either he accidently shot it and did not realize while aiming at a Caiman, or realized, but was afraid of repercussions so did not confess to it. Either way, we felt better knowing what had happened - at least we are 90% sure of the cause, and knowing it wasn't a personal attack on us made us feel better.  Still sucks though to have our brand new dinghy shot.

Evidently the non-native Caiman are causing quite a problem in Puetro Rico.

Smaller than crocodile or alligator, but still a pest.

Saturday we moved 15 miles east to Puerto Patilla, as a staging anchorage for the large trip east to Vieques.   This should be the close to the last motor trip against the wind for a while, and we can hopefully start sailing more.

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 :)