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| Cerviche, beer and Sunset, Christmas Cove |
About a week ago we returned to our beloved Queen Emma, who was patiently waiting in Sunbay Marina near Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She was a little dusty but none the worse for spending a month alone in a somewhat bouncy dock against high, concrete finger piers. The fenders and our chafing gear held. We rented a car for a day and went on a short but intense shopping spree. We hit the CVS, Econo, Ralph's, Walmart (I got more shorts and belts) and a wonderful US Post Office. We got gas to put in our replacement gas tank and filled our propane tank at the depot. Nothing like a boat fully fueled, watered and provisioned. Sunbay Marina was nice and the service excellent but we were stern to the weather, bouncing on our fenders and very happy to put it astern.
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| We're sailing |
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| And we caught a fish |
It is now spring and the seas and winds are way down. It is so much easier to furl and deploy sails when it's not blowing like stink. Getting in and out of the dinghy is easy and the boat sails so nearly level that life underway seems a cinch. We had a painful hour of motoring over to a nearby island with a heavily barnacle encrusted propeller. We stopped and dove the propeller and got the worst of the barnacles off in Los Palaminos and set out the next morning for Culebra. A slow and very pleasant beat to windward in flat seas and 8-10 kts of wind. Queen Emma was able to make progress at nearly half the wind speed. It is a pleasantly dreamy experience if you aren't in a hurry. Even tacking is a pleasure in flat seas and light winds. We were dragging our two fishing lines but not expecting much because we were going so slowly yet we got a bite. The boat was so level and the motion so stately that I could just reel him in without stopping the boat and we dropped him in the cooler without impeding progress. We didn't make it to Culebra but stopped in Bahia Icacos on the Eastern End of Vieques. Who cares? Within an hour of anchoring we were enjoying Ceviche and a Presidente and a fine sunset.
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| Susie filets him |
We have decided that the key to successful angling is having a very full freezer. Fish has been on the menu every day since he came aboard. Aside from the initial Cerviche, we have had fish sandwiches, fish with bananas, and fish Quesadillas. The chicken in the freezer can wait.
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| Lance working hard |
The next day the winds were even lighter and we had to motor and sail to make it all the way to St. Thomas. The next stop was Christmas Cove, Great St. James, USVI. It was so calm a sail that Susie was able to make fish sandwiches for the midday meal. Lest you think we are simply idling away our time bobbing about in warm blue waters and sunshine, we did get down to business in Christmas Cove. The fist hundred feet of our chain is badly rusted and the last hundred feet quite twisted up in the chain locker. Christmas Cove has mooring balls so we decided to put all shipshape. We took out all 300 feet of chain onto the bottom and pulled it all back in, rusty end first. What a mess. Should the urge to work strike again, I will lie down until it passes..
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For those interested in our land side activies and the reason for leaving our beloved Queen in Puerto Rico, here are a few pictures off topic. Note: more pictures of the world's greatest grandchildren are available on request. In fact, you needn't ask; we will show you pictures if you just hold still long enough.
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| Rain Forest at El Yunque |
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| BHS Class of '30
Lance, Teddy, Enzo
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New mama sleeping
Aya and Yuki |
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| Leighton and Lance go for a ride |
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| DJ shows his art at Zellerbach Hall, UCB |
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