Cabo Rojo, PR
17.56.369N
67.11.846W

Pam & Charlie hailed us early this morning to let us know they were making their move north. We said our goodbyes and wished them well.

We made a dinghy ride into town to upload the internet posts and returned to ready the Palace for pre-staging to Cabo Rojo. We hoisted anchor about 2:30 pm and sailed most of the way.

After leaving Boqueron Harbor we looked back and witnessed for ourselves the thunderstorms VanSant describes in his cruising book. They build up over the land and then drift northwest out over the Mona Passage. An artist that we met in Boqueron told us that it rarely rains there. The rain clouds just pass overhead and move out to sea. When we called later to speak with Moon Goddess (who had elected to stay there for a few more days), it was raining.

Another observation that we made is that the mast isn't creaking as much. During the time that we were sailing across the Mona and things were quiet during the night, we heard a new creaking sound. We tracked it down and discovered that it was emanating from the mast (or at least the compression post vibrated when we heard the creaking sound. Dale tighted down the mast bolts that came through to the salon side and one of the pieces of standing rigging. So far the sound seems to have subsided.

Tonight finds us tucked just below the Cabo Rojo Lighthouse, a beautiful structure that is actually functional. It's refreshing to find navigational aids that work.

Tomorrow we head to Gilligan's Island. We were trying to hum the tune for Mike so that he could play it tomorrow at sunset on his sax but then Dale up and sang the entire song for him; word for word. Just when I thought he was under control, he lets out with one of his quirks. Oh well, I guess his real personality was bound to come out sooner or later.