Sun Bay, Vieques, Puerto Rico
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Sat 11 Feb 2012 21:45
| Our last stop in Puerto Rico was the small island of Vieques. This was on the way back to the US Virgin Islands, in a sort of roundabout way! We set off this morning expecting to motor all the way as the wind, what little there was, was forecast to be right on the nose. For the last few days whenever John has mentioned the distance to Vieques, I have vaguely said "about 10 miles", it wasn't until we left at about 11.30am and looked at the chart that we realised it was more like 40 miles - oops!! Anyway off we went. To start with the trip went as planned, light winds but very rolly, so much so that after a while I had to go and have a lie down as I was feeling the effects of the waves in a bad way. After about 40 minutes, I was dragged awake by John as the wind had got up to 25 knots, & the waves were about 3 metres - so much for our calm day. As a result of this, the blue canoe at the front of the boat was making a bid for freedom, and the dinghy at the back, having gone cold & therefore less firm in the torrential rain, was swinging off the back of the davits. The anchorages marked on the charts were basically a non-starter as, despite being marked on the charts as such, are full of unexploded ordnance from the days when the USA used these islands as military practice areas. I was reading through the cruising guide getting nowhere fast when I decided to call Alan who had been to Vieques prior to meeting us in Culebra and he directed us to the anchorage they had used. When we got safely anchored about 5pm, it had just about stopped chucking it down with rain, I rang back to let them know we had arrived safely only to be told they had a great trip to Culebra, and Sue had sunbathed all the way!! They had seen the clouds and squalls which had hit us and were thanking their lucky stars that they were headed elsewhere! So was it all worthwhile? Yes, absolutely, when the rain cleared we were in the most gorgeous anchorage I have seen for ages, with a picture perfect, palm tree lined, Caribbean beach, and very few boats. As it was Sunday, there were a few other boats anchored but for the following 2 days we had the whole bay to ourselves. Vieques, as I have said is quite small and we were told that it 'all' happens in the town on the edge of the bay next to where we anchored, a short dinghy ride away. When we went ashore, it was to a lovely little town with a long promenade lined with gift shops and restaurants. Again, like Culebra, it is very Spanish, with fortunately few American influences. We shopped for a short while, buying a few souvenirs to brighten up the boat, including the newest member of the crew Gordon the Gecko, who is now blue tacked to the galley wall - not sure how long the bluetack will last - we may need a more permanent arrangement!! One of the 'must-dos' here is a kayak trip around the bio-luminescent bay, but unfortunately they were all booked up the nights we were here, except for the 9.30pm tour which seemed a bit late bearing in mind we had a 20 minute dinghy ride first, then a car ride to the bay etc, etc, - next time...... |