This is a blog of our preparation and cruising experiences aboard our sailboat, C-Time. There are many more posts on the other pages, so be sure to click on the "Starboard" and "Port" tabs.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Isla de Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands to Dewey, Culebra


March 9, 2014
[Happy 2 month birthday, Joshua!]
 
We were moored in 35 feet of water last night and the water was so clear we were able to see the bottom.  We even enjoyed a couple of dolphins who came by to wish us a good morning. 
The winds calmed down last night, way down, so much so that we had no sailing possibility from our mooring on the west side of Isla de Culebra to the town of Dewey.  We were able to enjoy the view of the beautiful island of Culebra as we motored to our next anchorage.  We even saw cars on the roads on the side of the island mountain.  Blenda commented that it had been “three days since I’ve seen a car” – welcome to the cruising life, buddy!  We motored about an hour and came into a beautiful open harbor that was “guarded” by a reef.  We found a spot close to town to drop our anchor and we were set for the day. 
We took D-Time into town and tied up at the city dock.  We started walking to “the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world”, Flamenco Beach, according to the Discovery Channel.  We were anxious to see it and since we couldn’t find a taxi or a bus, we thought walking was the way to go.  The sun was up, it was about 10 a.m. and it was turning out to be a really hot day, and a really long walk.  After about 20 minutes when we saw a bus coming by that said “Playa Flamenco”, no one’s Spanish was lacking – we all 4 jumped in the front of the bus and threw money at the driver begging him to take us to Flamenco Beach.  He didn’t disappoint us.  It was probably a 5 minute bus ride, but seemed like a really long ways, so I was glad we found the bus.  At the entrance to the beach area there were a few stand alone type, walk up, fast food eateries – we eyed them over good but since it was only about 10:30 a.m. we decided a walk on the beach would be best.  The beach was absolutely beautiful and the walk was really nice.  There was even a Sherman tank on one end of the beach, left over from when the U.S. Navy used the island for target practice and assault type practice. 
After the beach walk, we were hungry so we headed back to the local eateries.  Daniel tried some fried shark, Blenda and I went for the pizza empanadas, and Tim had the chicken with rice and beans.  It was all very good.  Since we’ve been to deserted beaches, it was really hard to just spend time on the weekend with the rest of Puerto Rico that had come to Flamenco Beach, so we called it a day and left the beach.  We headed back into town for some ice cream and a little shopping and taking in the local color.   
Later we headed back to C-Time for a siesta and to get ready for dinner.  We did spend part of our afternoon watching lots of other boats arriving in the harbor and trying their hand at dropping an anchor – it was quite comical at some points.  Blenda and I had gone below to read when Daniel and Tim called us up on deck to watch the man in the next boat, sitting on the stern of his boat, taking a shower, wearing not much more than a smile.  Two words – bathing suit.  Enough said. 
We took D-Time back into town to have dinner at Mammacita’s.  It was really good food and we all waddled out of the restaurant after filling up on steak, salmon, grouper, and the house chicken specialty.  A short D-Time ride later and we were back on C-Time to enjoy some quiet cockpit relaxing time and Oreos.  Then it was time for the cutthroat game of Shanghi.  Another wonderful day in paradise.

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