18.18.330N
65.17.883W
We checked with MTNest to see what their plans were for the day, then hopped into the dinghy and went in for the “cruisers breakfast” at The Dinghy Dock. It might be “famous” and written up in the cruising guides but personally, I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary.
After the breakfast dishes were cleared away, we jumped back into the dinghy and went exploring. We motored into the channel leading from the anchorage to the main part of town by first passing beneath the “famous” lift bridge. As we understand the story of the bridge, Culebra was transferred to the U.S. in 1898. In 1903, Roosevelt gave control to the Navy, who decided that the town of Pueblo Viejo on Culebra and all of its inhabitants at the time needed to be closer to the water. So they moved it, lock, stock and barrel, built them a new town and changed the name to Dewey. However, there were a couple of fishermen who didn’t want to wiggle through the reefs and around the peninsula to get to town, so the military built a lift bridge for the two fishing boats. As you can see, it’s quite the construction project for two boats. As you can imagine, the boats are no longer in existence and the bridge is longer being lifted for water traffic.We passed by a couple of restaurants on the water, a gas station and small haul out before exiting at the ferry dock in town. The harbor between Dewey and Luis Pena was like a pond, so we took the opportunity to cross over to the little island and then walk across the nature preserve to the other side.
When we were stationed here in the early 90’s, the little harbor at Luis Pena was a favorite overnight stop to drop our anchor on our way to the Virgin Islands. Now there are a couple of free mooring balls in the harbor and several more on the western side. We beached the dinghy and checked out the boat washed up on the shore. Dale suspected that it had been a towed target for the military in a previous life as it clearly had “Navy” printed on its side.
I left my leather shoes in the dinghy so when we decided to walk across the island, I scavenged for a new pair. It only took me a minute or two before we were off on another adventure. Tromping across the little island, we surprised a couple of goats and they startled us darting out of the bushes. Other than that, we saw no other signs of animal life on the island. The huge mountain of harvested conch shells that had once dominated one side of the harbor were now gone (thankfully) and only those shells that washed up on the beach were to be seen. Dale saw that the winds were starting to pick up, so we headed back the way we had come and made a slower, wetter crossing to Culebra, through the channel and back to the Palace for a quiet afternoon.Mike, Terri and the girls told us hey where heading to Flamingo Beach for the day so we hoped they weren’t getting too wet in the passing afternoon showers. In the meantime, another catamaran behind us came by to borrow Dale’s pop rivet gun to attach their radar mount. I guess we looked well equipped as they pretty much made a bee-line towards us from their boat.
We met on MTNest for a pot luck dinner and a glass of champagne before heading into town for the New Year’s Eve festivities. We told them about channel to the other side and suggested that it was the quickest and, most likely, safest way of getting to and from the celebration.
We needn’t had worried though as the party in town was more of a family night than the wild craziness of Foxy’s we had come to expect in the islands at the end of the year. It was an enjoyable night of dancing and fireworks but the only food, drink or a place to sit was what you brought yourself to the party. It was a nice way to bring in the New Year and even the passing rain didn’t dampen the spirits.
