|
Log 43Q Culebra and
Culebrita, Spanish Virgin Islands
Green Cay, Jost Van Dyke, B.V.I.
May 23,2007
After leaving Roosevelt Roads April 22nd we headed 24 nautical miles over to
Culebra, one of the two main Spanish Virgin Islands off the east coast of Puerto
Rico. En route I caught a nice 24 inch Cero (a member of the mackerel family).
We proceeded south around Isla de Culebra, around the long shoal area and into
Ensenada Honda, immediately turning to port to motor behind the shoals into a
sheltered mooring field. However, I missed seeing a mooring buoy and fouled the
prop in its pickup line, coming to an embarrassing surging halt. After clearing
(unwrapping) it we proceeded into the far inner isolated bay known as Ensenada
Dakity to pick up a free (no charge) mooring buoy (18 17.22N, 065 16.92W). This
is one of the features we like about the Spanish Virgin Islands (Vieques and
Culebra); all their mooring buoys are free of charge. There was only one boat
moored further into the bay than we were, and it was uninhabited as this was a
long term storage situation for it.
Culebra is 7 miles long and 3 wide. Its history claims Christopher Columbus
landed there in 1493, and that it was the lair for several pirates, including
the notorious Henry Morgan, using the many bays to hide or launch attacks on
passing ships. Culebra and its smaller eastern island Culebrita are part of
Puerto Rico, having come under U.S. control after the Spanish American War in
1898. The island was left as a breeding ground for native seabirds, but also was
used as a bombing range for the U.S. Navy for a period of time. At present over
a third of the island and the adjacent islands of Culebrita and Cayo de Luis
Pena are part of the U.S. National Refuge System. The resident population is
only about 2000 friendly souls who enjoy their open small town atmosphere where
crime is not a problem and doors are left unlocked.
Ensenada Dakity was a pleasant quiet well-protected mooring with a brisk wind
blowing across the shoal bank to relieve the heat and help our wind generator
produce some power. While at that comfortable mooring we installed the new
Zantrex smart regulator to speed up our charge rate when on engine power. Next
day we saw a large U.S. power yacht trying to pick up a buoy inside us, but he
was having trouble. I hopped into our dinghy to go over to help him secure his
line to the buoy, but he fouled his prop in the buoy line before I arrived. He
had to go into the water to clear it. I then helped him to another buoy, but it
was too shallow for his draft. I eventually took his line to a buoy outside of
us and he was finally secure. However, I then realized that when he cleared his
prop from the first buoy, he had actually cut the buoy free rather than just
untangling the line! He just destroyed that inner mooring and the buoy drifted
free over into the shallows. Very irresponsible!
A day later we went up into Ensenada Honda to anchor off the town of Dewey, and,
small world department, we saw Avalon V whom we last met in St. Croix in
February after having spent some time with them at Hog Island in Grenada last
fall. Dewey is a pleasant small town, renamed after a U.S. admiral when the town
was moved from inland to the neck of the peninsula by the U.S. military. There
is a small airport just
outside of town, a few guest houses, car and motor scooter rentals, dive shops
and boutiques by the ferry dock, a post office, a few bar/restaurants, a
chandlery/hardware store, two fuel stations, a couple of grocery stores (we
preferred the one across the bridge near the fuel station), and a WiFi service
to which we subscribed, and could pick up in the anchorage or out at the mooring
buoys at Ensenada Dakity. (Happiness is access to the internet from the boat at
anchor!)
However, I made a second goof (after the first catching a mooring line in the
prop), when we dinghied over to the town dock. To keep Wave Dancer off the wall,
I threw out the small stern anchor, only to realize, too late, that the bitter
end was not attached, and anchor and line sank into 15 feet of murky water,
never to be found by us. I didn't feel too stupid!
We explored the mangrove inlets the far side of the bay from town, noting that
they would make excellent hurricane holes, several deep enough for Veleda in the
narrow channels. While we were anchored off the town we had a safety inspection
from a U.S. Coast Guard team. No problem, they were polite but thorough in their
questions and examination of our safety equipment, including checking the valve
in the heads that directs waste into our holding tank. The only small deficiency
was that we did not have a U.S. Coast Guard required notice posted in the boat
that no waste, oil or fuel was to be discharged overboard. Perhaps the notice is
not required for non-U.S. vessels? They weren't sure. This lack did not prevent
us getting a complete safety inspection certificate which we can use if boarded
again.
Back out on a mooring buoy in Ensenada Dakity we socialized with Avalon V before
they left, and another day had an enjoyable "dinghy drift" up the bay with six
other boaters, ending with drinks at the Dinghy Dock bar in town. This bar is
right on the water, with our dinghies alongside, and a small school of three and
four foot tarpon wafting around the pilings. Next day we had the same group over
to Veleda for a morning coffee get together.
We had read about Flamenco Bay on the north coast with its long half moon white
sand beach, and a the remains of a tank (now painted in outrageous colours) used
for target practice when the U.S. Navy controlled the island for a bombing range
from 1936 to 1975. We motored east around the island into sloppy north swells to
try to anchor in the bay. However, our windlass blew a fuse, an intermittent
problem we had not resolved yet, and we did not want to anchor by hand with that
northern swell rolling into the bay. So we turned around out of the bay and
continued a circumnavigation of the island. We picked up a mooring buoy in Punta
Tamarindo Grande (18 19.10N, 065 20.30W) on the west coast for a short lunch
stop. This is a well protected stretch of coast with mooring buoys available
along this bay and over on Cayo de Luis Pena, an offlying island, as part of the
National Park preserve. It would be a good location to spend a few days
snorkeling and exploring the park area, quiet, yet only a mile from the west
side of Dewey.
After stocking up at the nice grocery store in Dewey, we left to spend a couple
of days on a mooring in Bahia de Tortuga (18 19.13N, 065 13.68W) on Culebrita, a
popular well sheltered weekend anchorage for many power boats from Puerto Rico.
The island is uninhabited parkland with a few trails going in from the sandy
beach across the peninsula and up to the abandoned lighthouse. The weekend
power-boaters used their own anchors and put lines ashore to swim and party
between their sterns and the beach. We were there on a weekend and the thing I
found unusual was that no power boats stayed overnight Friday or Saturday, yet
many of them were large 35 to 65 foot vessels that would have had luxurious
living accommodations. We and two other cruising sailboats had the whole bay to
ourselves each night, yet during the day there were about 25 power boats lining
the shore.
 We
enjoyed a hike up to the old lighthouse, a large concrete structure built in
1880, that in its day would have been an attractive large Spanish-style home for
the keeper's family. There was a circular staircase leading up to the tower, but
it was too rusty to trust. I was impressed with the mosaic tiled floors in
several of the rooms. The view from the lighthouse is obstructed by all the
foliage surrounding it, but we had some good panoramic vistas over the island
and across to Culebra and Cayo Norte a few miles away on our way back down.
We circumnavigated the island in Wave Dancer, sliding over the shoals through
the clear waters surrounding much of it. On the south coast a fisherman was
working on an abandoned concrete dock with a large pile of fist-sized whelks. We
hadn't seen such a catch since we were on the Black Sea coast of Turkey several
years ago. There are some dramatic rocks off the northern point that have been
compared to the Baths of Virgin Gorda; however I think the comparison is
stretched. They are rugged and exposed to the northern swells bashing
relentlessly against them, not suitable for exploring by wading or snorkeling
except on the sheltered bay side of the cape.
Our next destination was St. Thomas, but we have very good memories of the
Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra, our best cruising grounds and
best sheltered and most comfortable anchorages since
Next log - Log 43Q |
