USVI’s, The Spanish Virgin Islands and we arrive in Puerto Rico

18:19.22N 65:12.75W

21^st February 2015

6170 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

            Here I am playing catch up again I really must stop enjoying myself and spare more time below typing. Firstly I have been told off for not mentioning our trip to Bluebeards castle while we stayed in Charlotte Amelie, so here goes. Whilst on our usual never ending hunt for internet access we stopped of in Jennys café (Their spelling so no apostrophe, sorry Sue) and met the very gregarious owner who was a part time local historian. He invited us on a tour up to Bluebeards castle on the headland that evening from where he gave a weekly talk on the history of St Thomas and Charlotte Amelie so being at a loose end we decided to go along. On the way back to Spectra we called over to Right Turn to see in Mike and Kate wanted to come along, which they did and so we all gathered ashore at 1700 for the walk up to the castle. It was quite a walk and we got lost a bit along the way and also lost Mike who played the, “you must all be mad card” and went back to Right Turn. Not to be dissuaded we headed on and eventually met up with our guide. The tour started with his friend, a local diver, talking us through his collection of artefacts gathered over more than 20 years of diving the wrecks around St Thomas. The top two floors of the small castle/watch tower were devoted to his extensive collection and the talk was quite amusing as he was in my opinion definitely more pirate/treasure hunter than history enthusiast. Finally we went onto the roof of the tower and were given a brief potted history of the harbour before night fell and the talking had to stop. That’s it for Blue Beards castle, by the way the man himself, Mr Bluebeard that is, just like his piratical friend Mr Blackbeard (or is that Mr Beard?),  who also has a castle in Charlotte Amelie, never actually visited St Thomas as the authorities chased them away but why let the truth ruin a good story I say.

View from the top of Bluebeards castle

            The Spanish Virgin Islands lie about 20 miles to the North East of St Thomas and so it was a short day sail over. We passed through a narrow gap in the islands and then went up behind a reef into water of less than 10 meters to follow the coast around the lee of the Isla Del Culabrita. Finally we entered a small bay and passed behind another reef to drop our anchor in 3 meters of dead calm turquoise water. The afternoon was lightened by the sight of a small French woman in a very small trimaran sailing up and down the bay with about 6 children aboard. The children were all having a whale of a time, singing and playing on the decks; every now and then one or more of them would drop off the side for a swim until the woman reached the end of the bay tacked around and picked them up on the return leg, it was really great to see kids having such a simple and carefree time, well done small French woman whoever you are. That evening Norma and Steve amused themselves by shining a bright light over the back rail of Spectra and watching a multitude of really quite big fish swimming around the boat, I was less than impressed as I had been swimming earlier and really didn’t like the idea of sharing my swimming pool with those big buggers.

            We were up at first light to creep out of the bay and head up to San Juan in Puerto Rico a journey of around 50 miles. That turned out to be a bit of a roller coaster and as it was Steve’s last sail on Spectra for a while at least it was a good one. We tramped along at 5 to 7 Knots all day and apart from one 30 Knot squall the wind stayed below 20 Knots giving us a pleasant last day together on the water. The only down side was the swell which did roll us onto our ear a few times, in fact for the first time in her life Norma was sea sick!!! Even Norma brightened up when dare devil of a flying fish took of from our port side and flew across the deck between our fore and stay sails before diving back in to starboard; well done little fish, apparently next year he is going to attempt to jump 13 London buses a record never achieved in flying fish circles. Late that afternoon we turned left past the large Spanish fort at the entrance and finally the waters calmed as we sailed into the harbour proper.

Approaching San Juan, Puerto Rico in the swell

The two marinas are at the end of a 1.5 mile cut which divides the old town from the new and we were held up at the entrance for a while as a sea plane decided to taxi out and take off right in front of us. Having seen him climb into the skies in a welter of spray we headed up the cut and dropped our anchor right under the bows of a 900ft long cruise liner creating a stir amongst the passengers lining the decks.

Now there’s a Super yacht fit for one of James Bond’s arch enemies, opposite our anchorage in San Juan

            That’s it for this one next edition marina swapping. Customs clearance again, my B@@?£^ generator and bon voyage to Steve. 

            I have also had it pointed out that my PS at the bottom of the blogs is incorrect, I wrote Bahamas instead of Bermuda. So see below corrected version and if you fancy a challenge this summer drop us a message, email or carrier pigeon.

PS: we are still looking for some crew to come back across the Atlantic at the beginning of June. Three legs of about 2 weeks each, Norfolk Virginia to Bermuda, Bermuda to the Azores, Azores to Cork….anyone interested in all or part? Please drop us a line.

Spectra {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com

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If you want to send normal email pics attachment etc.

Paul {DOT} russell732 {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} co {DOT} uk and I will pick it up when I am on WiFi