Dewey, Culebra
18.18.330N
65.17.883W

According to plan, we got underway about 7:30 am this morning, unfurled our main sail and made our way out of the base harbor. Dolphins in the channel played along side the Palace as we passed by which we always take as a good omen for sailing. We knew that we were in for a long day of motor sailing, emphasis on the motor, since we had not gotten our jib back from the sail loft yet.

We rounded out of the harbor and headed east toward Culebra and were met head on with some pretty stiff winds of a passing shower. Behind the shower we encountered the occasional 30 kts gusts; it‘s just not a shower unless it has the stiff winds somewhere in front, in the midst of or behind it. To make the ride more comfortable, we decided to tack back and forth between Vieques and Puerto Rico to take the waves left behind the shower less stressful on us and the boat. The last time we passed Vieques, they were detonating unexploded ordinances left behind from its days as a military practice area and our cruising chute fell down. One incident was not connected to the other but the loud explosions definitely caught our attention.

We were supposed to meet up with MTNest coming out of Puerto del Rey but they got a late start and ended up falling in about an hour behind us. Although it was a long slog into the teeth of the wind and currents, it was an uneventful trip.

Our course took us close to Louis Pena which has a very small anchorage we used to drop anchor in when we were stationed here back in the early 90’s. We tacked back out again and then dropped our sail to motor around the southern end of Culebra. We followed the bouys that led the way through the protective reefs lying across the opening of Culebra’s Ensenada Honda and worked our way into the farthest anchorage near the town of Dewey. We anchored a little west of the tiny island of Cayo Pirata. According to our guide book, Cayo Pirata “was originally constructed to give shelter to pirate ships.” We figured that was a good place for us. An hour or so later, MTNest anchored behind us. We observed the rules that dictate anchoring as a spectator sport and watched as their daughter, Tonya, fell into the water trying to assist in securing the anchor bridle.

After making sure that both boats were secure in their holding, we took the dinghies into town. We tied up at the town dock where power boats from Puerto Rico were already setting up their barbeques and wonderful salsa rhythms were setting the pace for the walk through town.

In all of the time we spent in this area, neither Dale nor I had ever visited the town of Dewey. Mike had stopped here on his way back to Puerto Rico from Trinidad, so he took the lead and showed us around town. Of course, with 4 women, we had to visit each and every shop and grocery store available. For a small town, I thought they were very well provisioned. In fact, I found a few simple items here that I hadn’t been able to locate on much larger islands further south. They even had a great selection of meats at one of the grocery stores; including a fully dressed carcass of a pig in a grocery cart that I hoped would be on the menu New Year’s Eve.

We walked up and down all of the major streets in town and visited all of the stores in about 2 hours. We returned to the boats early so that the MTNest crew could attend Mass in town. Dale and I kept a quiet evening but looked forward to tomorrow morning when we’ll partake of the famous “Cruiser Breakfast” at an appropriately named restaurant called “The Dinghy Dock”.