Been There, Done That!

one martini too many - but whose counting.

WE DID IT!

Arrived in Puerto del Ray Marina on the Eastern coast of Puerto Rico this morning. Over 1700 Miles and 7 countries from late February to mid - May. Can hardly believe it!

You'll see no pictures of Puerto Rico as all we did since arriving late Monday May 12th was get up each morning between 3 & 4 sail 20 miles, get errands done, crash and do it again until we arrived here in Fajarado at the Marina.

The only way to cross the Southern coast of Puerto Rico is to use Bruce Van Sant's method
(The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South - the Thornless Path to Windward). The Trade Winds are brutal on the South coast of both Hispaniola and Puerto Rico but they were especially so this last week. Each day was the same; the night lees started about 9pm and all night the boat could rest in calm waters. The Katabatic Winds came down off the mountains during the early morning hours giving a land breeze from the North of 10 - 12 kts until the trades kicked in and the wind switched to East against us. It started building often before 9am and we would be in gusts of 25kts which either continued or got worst as the day progressed. So by sailing about 4 - 5kts an hour we could make 20 - 25 miles between 4 & 9am. That's how we did it.

There is a rather funny story about clearing back in to the US. Seems the most important thing is...
wait for it...
Your Garbage!
Do Not dispose of any foreign garbage except in designated "Foreign Garbage" bins. Of course, there are No, None, Nil, Zero, Zilch  foreign garbage bins anywhere. 

Our goal was to reach Puerto del Ray today, Sunday May 18. We need to add more chain to our secondary anchor (remember the story of us dragging during a 4 day blow while in Cuba?). Plus lots of laundry, provisioning, cleaning the boat and performing the odd chore or two (or ten).

All this before Austin and Amanda arrive Tuesday evening. We set sail for the Virgins on Wednesday. Their friends Will and Natalie join us in St Thomas on May 24th. We'll have both college graduates and college seniors on board.

CELEBRATION TIME ON WAHOO!