Broke Suction. Rolling!

Anchored Puerto Pattilla, south east coast Puerto Rico

Ahoy. I weighted anchor from Salinas PR yesterday morning and > made my way 6 miles to an anchorage adjacent to the Jobos mangrove > system to pre-stage myself prior to heading into the Caribbean Sea > early this morning. During the short transit to my pre-stage > anchorage I ran up the Yanmar to full power and ran most of the > other systems, raised sail (first time in 8 months) and pretty much > ensured that I had no weaknesses. I'm happy to report that Christa > ran strong and all systems are G. I am also excited to report that > the Burton Family aboard Wandering Dolphin of Rudyard Montana joined > me in the anchorage at sunset last night. They also were struggling > to break the ties from Salinas. It's wonderful to caravan with > another boat. > > Our original plan was to sail our the Boca de Inferno inlet at > sunset last night and sail all night and hopefully make the west end > of Vieques Island by sunrise. But the forecast was for 13 to 18 > knots on the nose of course and a 8 to 9 foot long period north > swell. That large north swell could make some areas of transit > tricky as the north facing beaches are predicting max 16 breakers. > It was not worth it as the forecast is improving greatly over the > next couple of days. So instead Wandering Dolphin and I weighted > anchor by 5 am and made an easy, pleasurable trip 17 miles east to > the little fishing village on the SE point of PR. The trip was easy > with no strain in early morning calm. We watched a wonderful sunrise > as we motor sailed at 5 knots. We had the anchor down by 8:30 am > right off the beach. It is very picturesque. Palm trees line the > beach with towering green mountains in the backdrop. Beautiful. > > So the current plan is to rest here all day and weight anchor about > 8pm and make the 30 mile or so sail to Vieques. If the conditions > are nice as expected and were making good time we may decide to go > the extra 20 miles to Culebra where I plan on spending two or three > weeks before moving to St. Thomas/St. John USVI, St. Thomas is only > 20 miles east of Culebra. > > More later. > > > Capt Chris >