Our position is 18:01.277N 67:10.564W

 

The weather was still strange, very light winds on the south of the island and high sea swells on the north/north-west. Now that the swell had subsided it was time to make the next short passage to Boqueron. We departed Pta Parguera on Wednesday 15^th February, navigating a tricky course avoiding shallow reefs on the way out. Once again, we had to motor the full passage, but it was nice, calm and clear day so the views as we skirted the Cabo Rojo ‘red headlands’ south west tip of the islands were probably at their best.

You may have noticed by now that Mike hardly leaves the helm, unless of course he is on anchor or water duty. He does that while Ted and I do the planning and navigation stuff, the crew are definitely pulling together better now, all about strengths and weaknesses. We have decided to change our planned route to DR due to poor chart and GPS detail of our port of entry ‘Cap Cana’. Instead, we have decided to go directly to ‘Puerto Plata’, which is likely to take us approximately 24-hours at 5-6 knots. Ted will be checking the weather tonight before we leave tomorrow.

Boqueron is only a small harbour town with some quaint little bars and food kiosks.  Its very quiet in the week but come with weekend, well its not the same place, locals seem to come out of the woodwork to enjoy the seafood stalls and atmosphere, seems pretty typical of Puerto Rico having been here a few days now. Hopefully you can see from the photographs that the bay has real natural beauty and charm.

We hired a car today to travel further up the west coast to Mayaguez, where we needed to get our immigration papers. We took the opportunity to look further up the west coat, and drove as far as the lighthouse just beyond Rincon (Punta Higuero). Quite a different coastline as you can see, with many surfers enjoying Friday afternoon on the waves, see photos. Ted and I even saw a whale in the distance, but it was too far to really appreciate its presence, hope we get a closer encounter during the passage…not too close though.

We will be departing for the 2-day passage to DR tomorrow midday, during which time it is unlikely we will be able to make contact other than emergencies. We will try to update this blog half way through with text only.

 

Now there is a pose!

Hurry up Ted, Mike can only hold is chest out for so long                Moorglade on anchor at Pta Parguera

  

 

Setting off from Parguera                                                                                   Mike at the helm again – as happy as a pig in …..

  

 

Dave having just swam ashore at Boqueron – further than I thought,

had better put fins on next time.                                                                         Mike on the beach at Boqueron – now this is more like it!

  

 

Where is everyone!                                                                                        Evidence of human life…clearly the locals have nice arses!

  

 

Dave getting ready for the swim ashore, not forgetting fins this time

Forgive the budge smugglers…                                                                        

  

 

Looks a nice place to eat…                                                                              Hang on Ted, we want take a picture of that Tuna ‘platter to share’

  

 

Check out the raw Tuna platter, ‘fantastic’, only a little missing!              Tony and Jill, great evening with them in local bar, beware though…

                                                                                                                         Jill might invite you round for a game of Mexican Dominos! 

  

 

Dave on the look out for island inhabitants…                                                Explorer Mike…Lycra working well!

  

 

Mike..don’t really know what he’s doing, but I know he’s missing home     Lunch en-route to Rincorn, chicken kebab on the road.. literally

  

 

Surfers beach just down from the lighthouse, if you can see the green dome in the background…it’s a nuclear power plant apparently!

        

  

 The bay of Mayaguez..dark maybe volcanic sand.                                     

 

  

 

 

Lighthouse at Punta Higuero point…built 1921