Q is for Q Flag (Quarantine)

Who would have believed that sailing the Mona Passage could be a pleasure?

Our first stop in Puerto Rico at Juanica.

Our crossing of the Mona Passage went very well....in fact I even got to read my book while on watch. It is such a dangerous passage so it was great to be safely over to Puerto Rico. We stopped in Juanica hoping to check in but were told that we had to continue to Ponce. After a night at Gilligan's Island it was off to Ponce. Both Katerina and Celebrian filled up with diesel and took a slip to wait for customs. When you arrive from a foreign country you have to put up a yellow Q flag to say that you need to check in the new country. Once you have checked in you can put up a courtesy flag for the new country.

After customs and immigration came to the boat we were told that we had to go down to the main office in Ponce to pick up our passports and boat registration. All in all it took us almost seven hours to do this process and left little time for anything else. We wanted to visit Santiago's Bulk Store that Bruce Van Sant had talked about in his book so after the custom's office visit we walked to Santiago's and loaded up with some bulk food and drink items. It was sort of like a Costco but without the fresh food and membership needed. The store closed at 5:30 so our shopping was done at a blistering pace and we returned by taxi to the marina. John and Kathy came for dinner and we made plans to see John in a few days. Kathy was flying home the next day for a couple of weeks and John is hoping to single hand to wherever we can get safely.

The anchorage at Isla Caja de Muertos.

The fisherman have a chapel near the top of a large hill. We left early the next morning for the seven mile trip out to Isla Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island) which is a state park. From a distance the island is supposed to resemble a coffin but in fact looks more like a shrouded body if you use your imagination. The island is run by several rangers and they only allow so many visitors per day which arrive on a ferry boat from Ponce. In this way they limit the human impact on the island. It was wonderful to see a beach that attracts green, loggerhead and leather back turtles to come ashore to lay their eggs. We walked up to the light house on the summit that was built in 1887 by the Spanish. Today it is run by a solar panel.

The view from the summit of Isla Caja de Muertos. You can see Celebrian if you look very closely.

The next day we paddled to the north end of the island to snorkel in the under water park; however we were very disappointed as the coral was not in very good shape. We were definitely spoiled snorkelling in The Bahamas. Today is April 7th and we will spend one more day here before heading the next 15 miles to Salinas on the coast. Salinas is supposed to be a great harbour for boat related shopping. I am also hopeful of a supermercado with fruit and vegetables as the ship's stores are running on empty. From there we are hoping to work our way to the eastern end of Puerto Rico and spend a little time in the area known as the Spanish Virgins....Vieques and Culebra which are both islands to the east of PR. From there we will sail to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. Today is Easter Monday but no sign of the Easter Bunny. I think that the weather is just too hot for the chocolate eggs?! It is easy to lose track of days let alone holidays. we had hoped to do some shopping today but then realized that many businesses would be closed for the holiday. John arrived on Katerina this morning and we are going to go out for dinner with him and plan our next moves. Kathy will fly to wherever we get to by the time she returns. The weather may slows us down a little but we are now thinking that we can get to Culebra in the Spanish Virgins by this weekend. We will have to leave very early in the mornings but at least we won't have to do any over nights as we are concerned about John on his own.

The harbour at Salinas is quite large and has at least 50 boats anchored and on moorings. Many of them are local and many look like they have been here for awhile. sometimes people reach a place and decide it is comfortable and they just don't want to go further. we chose to anchor out along the channel where we hoped to get more of a breeze and have a little more privacy. The area is well protected by mangroves and a great area for manatees. We even saw one stick his head up out of the water to take a look. There are signs for boaters to slow down all over the harbour and channel to protect the manatees from getting hit by props. For the most part the boating community seems to be obeying the signs.

The little museum at Isla Cajas de Muertos has a good display of turtle shells.

We paddled around the Isla de Muertos and found nesting sea birds on the cliffs.