YACHT "WANDERING STAR": Mangrove Snorkelling

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Just Another Day At The Office

Fantastic dolphin display along the Puerto Rican coast

We could not have asked for a better outcome with the starter motor. The engine now roars into life at the turn of a key. And I can’t say we had a fraught five days waiting for the part to turn up either, as even though we were engineless and on a mooring buoy of suspect integrity, and even though we touched bottom occasionally with our keel, life could have been a lot worse. We swam and snorkelled, we hung out with friends and pottered on with a few jobs in perfect, balmy weather. The trip back across to the mainland to pick up the part was a doddle this time around. Sim fitted the starter motor as soon as we got back that night as the light was fading. In front of us a squall line had developed several waterspouts – quite an impressive sight as long as they kept their distance. These innocuous vortexes can cause havoc to a small bobbing boat. I was glad that the engine was now working.

The start of two water spouts

We said our goodbyes to friends and the sleepy island of Culebra, again and motored happily out of the anchorage, looking forward to a nice sail over to the neighbouring island of Vieques and to Puerto Ferro on the south side; about a 20 mile trip. What we didn’t expect was to get one of the worst squalls Sim and I have experienced in a long, long time. This baby was packing some punch with over 40kts gusts and seas to go with it. Naturally we had too much sail up and it took some time to get down in those conditions. The inside of the boat looked like we had been ransacked with stuff thrown all over the place. Luckily the only major damage was to my Aloe Vera plant that I have sailed doggedly with for many years. Sadly it ended up in the washing up bowl with no chance of revival. The squall was a good lesson in things we need to be better prepared with for future sails.

The approaching squall.

Puerto Ferro is a bioluminescent bay that we have been to before. Basically it means that when you agitate the water in the dark all the little organisms give off a little glow. We had to wait for a dark and moonless night, then disturb the little critters in the sea so they glowed. What resulted was our boathook in the water looking like it had come straight out of a fairytale with stardust in its wake. I thought it looked quite magical though Sim was slightly less impressed, but then he is a boy. Humph!

Looking out of the entrance to Puerto Ferro in Vieques

We cracked on the next day with a very early 6am start so that we could get all the way to Salinas half way along Puerto Rico’s south coast. We were fairly dubious about this sail, as it was dead down- wind which was supposed to get lighter as the day went on. We need at least 15kts to get any decent speed especially as we are relying on our main rather than Jib until we can get the pole for it fixed. But it turned out to be a cracker! The wind blew, the skies were clear and we stonked along, a pod of dolphins joined us and put on quite a show for more than ½ an hour. Another sight we have not seen in a long time.

The dolphins loved playing in our bow wake

We pulled into the mangrove bay of Salinas already catching a glimpse of the shy manatees that make this bay their home. We are sitting in flat calm waters, surrounded by the Puerto Rican hills in the distance. It’s a weekend so music blasts from local boats as they go out and party. But it is a relaxed and chilled out place to be while we get on with a few jobs that need attention before we carry on with our journey to North America.

Puerto Ricos hilly shoreline

More acrobats

More dolphins

Lionfish in Culebra

Angelfish in Culebra

Upside down mangrove jellyfish

Ray in Culebra

The seabed was littered wit starfish

Streets of Culebra

The dinghy dock bar

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Exploring St Johns In The USVI's - Above And Below The Water.

Sailing from the BVI's to the USVI's

I don’t know if it is because we know we are leaving the Caribbean for a while that is changing our perspective or if it’s because of our perpetual daily moving Wandering Star from one wondrous location to the next which explains why we are enjoying cruising the Virgins so much. These scattering of salt ringed islands continue to impress us. Maybe it is because familiarity breeds contempt in our beloved east Caribbean – who knows. But we can now add another little island to the list of all time favourites.

Cruz Bay, USVI

St John’s USVI – We haven’t even begun to touch what this island has to offer and already we are totally in awe of it. Because most of it is a national park, mooring buoys have been put into place to stop yachts damaging the coral. We get that. $15 a night for a period of time can be a little prohibitive for us, half that would have been far more affordable but there you go – sometimes you have to splash out. So we have divided our time between picking up the park buoys or anchoring for free outside the park boundaries. Although the fees are charged on a nightly bases, daytime use is free which helps make exploring a little easier.

Sim Chilling!

We checked in with Customs and Immigration in the cool and quirky little town of Cruz Bay. They took our pictures and a print of every finger – we must remember not to misbehave!! St Johns is all about above and below the water. The coral reef surrounding the island is a national monument and the hilly terrain above is full of hikes and trails throughout the island.

An evening with Dave and Alex

We got to spend a lovely evening with new friends Dave and Alex on SY Banyan at Watermelon Bay. The snorkelling is great around the cay especially if you can avoid arriving at the same time as a tourist group. But the highlights for us have to be the hike (yes we did get Sim to hike) a 5 mile return trip from Lameshur Bay to the petroglyphs or rock carvings in the Reef Bay valley left by the Taino Indians before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. It was such a neat little spot with the carvings etched into the rocks around small pools which attract dragonflies, butterflies and hummingbirds. We were surprised to see that there were deer on the island as well. Back in the bay snorkelling around the headland with rocky caves and grottos filled with fish and coral was lovely. But once again below the boat we seemed to have attracted more Ramora or shark suckers. They are supposed to be fairly genteel, inquisitive creatures but Sim and I found their similarity to sharks little off putting! To top it all off we bumped into people we have not seen for 5 years, since our days in the Dominican Republic and crossing the Mona Passage and had a great evening catching up with Susan and LeRue on SY Southern Cross.

Taino rock carvings

The big surprise though was the advice that we should try snorkelling the mangrove reef at Water Creek in the Hurricane Holes. Not only was the bay stunning, lined with thick green foliage down to the water’s edge but the snorkelling was surprising. Most of it was on a micro scale but it was a spectacular display of healthy coral attached to mangrove roots in vivid colours, even more vibrant in the shallow clear water. I love getting up close and personal with it all despite the constant appearance of small barracudas and a persistent little fish that befriend Sim and would leave. We saw Lobsters and shrimp and puffer fish hiding in rocky crevices as colourful fish darted in and out of the roots. For anyone that likes snorkelling I recommend giving this a go.