Moorglade's Voyage

Date: 04 Feb 2012 19:24:00

Title: Spanish Virgins - a case of confused identity (Part 2)

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Our position is 18:05.493N 65:28.436W

The wind had dropped a bit for the sail to Vieques and we managed to leave by 9am. This meant we could have a lunch stop in the beautiful Bahia de la Chiva. Incredibly, for such a fantastic spot, we had the anchorage to ourselves, although there were a few people on the beach. This was in a part of the island where the American military had target practice, and there were warnings about unexploded shells, but while we were on the beach we didn’t see any!

It would have been a lovely spot to spend the night but I was keen to visit a bioluminescent bay and see for myself the incredible phosphorescence that all the books promised. One said that you should dive off the boat in the dark and see the light shower this created and how your body shimmered, but I wasn’t sure about this on the grounds that it was likely to be cold and also recently there were reports of someone being bitten by shark while doing just that. (This however might be fictitious) So we pulled up the anchor and went to Puerto Ferro for the night. There were 4 other boats there but only one was occupied. We were enjoying a sun downer in the cockpit when the peace was disturbed but what sounded like heavy breathing. This was slightly alarming, but closer examination revealed a dolphin swimming round the boat. The disappointment was that there was absolutely no phosphorescence – I’ve seen more on the Exe – so there was definitely no night time swimming.

The next day we took a dinghy trip through the mangroves but found no way through, so were unable to work out where people went ashore. We did come across various abandoned boats – it’s so hard to imagine why people just abandon their boats to rot like that. Back at the boat it was off again, but only about 5Nm down the coast to the second largest town on the island, Esperanza. He books all recommend anchoring in the next door bay and dinghying round to the town so we headed into Ensenada Sun Bay and were able to pick up a mooring. However, although the bay was lovely the wind was very strong and the dinghy ride was too long and rough to be tenable, so we dropped the mooring and motored the yacht round to the anchorage off the town. The recommended side is East of a small island but on entering it seemed too exposed and shallow so we beat a hasty retreat and went to the west of the island, where everyone else was, in spite of all the books saying it was a last resort and the holding was dodgy. This was third time lucky and we anchored uneventfully and went ashore to try and find some Wi-Fi as the travel arrangements that I thought I’d sorted successfully on Culebra had not been confirmed and I needed to sort it out and check if they had taken the money.

We dinghied to the town dock, which had a dinghy section but proved to be nearly derelict and joined the land near to a rubbish dump and what seemed to be a ‘yoof’ hang out. On the road we asked at a dive stall and were told there were no internet cafes and we’d have to go to the capital on the north coast. They also said it might be better not to leave the dinghy where we had left it but to move it to the new fisherman’s dock, as it would be more overlooked. Ted went to move the dinghy and I set off down the road in search of the elusive internet connection. Intending to seek information in the offices of the Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust I went in and discovered that they had an internet room with computers and Wi-Fi so I was able to make an attempt to resolve the booking issue. Unfortunately every time I tried to Skype there were issues with the quality of the call so I got precisely nowhere before the office was closing and we were thrown out on the street. The bar next door offered a haven and while Ted was asking at the bar if they had wifi he was interrupted by Don Bishop – a salty old sea dog who knew the area well having sailed up and down the Caribbean. He recommended a restaurant up the road as a good place to get a meal and also wifi, so we set off to Tradewinds where, sure enough, they were able to oblige on both counts and we sorted the booking issue by re-booking with a different provider and also enjoyed an excellent meal.

Back at the dock where Ted had moved the dinghy it was a huge drop down – further than I could really reach – but I launched myself over the side, much to Ted’s alarm, and safely landed more or less in the right place. Then it was back to the boat for a peaceful night we hoped. Unfortunately this was not to be as there was LOUD music from the shore until 2am and then still audible music for the rest of the night.

The next day we went ashore again for some exploring and I had to negotiate the dock the other way. This was successfully if inelegantly achieved (luckily we weren’t going anywhere smart as I was floundering face down on the dockside at one point) and we set off down the road. It turned out there wasn’t much to find within a reasonable walking distance although we did go along the beach to the causeway between the bays that we had hoped to dinghy through the previous day. As the water was only a few inches deep in places this had obviously been a vain hope. Also it kept raining so we didn’t linger long but went back to the boat so Ted could have another session on the watermaker with the help of the most recently e-mailed advice and we could have an early night before the sail to Puerto Rico.