Another day at Flamenco Beach.  This time we got caught in a downpour.  It has been raining here everyday, mostly light showers, but today was heavy rain and wind.  Luckily we got our Tostones (fried plantains), red beans and rice and barbeque chicken, before the sky fell.  After about a half hour of cowering under the picnic shelter with other beachgoers, the sky started to clear, and the beach was on.  The kids got about 2 hours of swimming and sand castle building before it started darkening up again, and we headed for the taxi.  On the way back into Dewey, it started raining hard again.  We stowed the chairs, cooler, beach bucket and shovels in the dingy and decided since we were already wet, to walk to Mamacita’s and check out the football game.  The Patriots/Chargers game was on when we got there, and as luck would have it, most of the people watching were Patriot fans.  They weren’t too appreciative when we told them we weren’t San Diego fans; we were just fans of whoever was playing against the Patriots.  The restaurant was starting to fill up while we were there.  I will have to agree the food there is very good.

The island is still a mystery to me.  As everywhere in Puerto Rico, you can see the US tax dollars hard at work.  The island receives a lot of government assistance.  Right now in addition to personal government supports, they are building new roads, and the school looks pretty new.  An older gentleman in Mamacita’s struck up a conversation with me.  He was originally from San Antonio, and had that great soft Texas accent.  He had sailed to Culebra on a sailboat 20 years ago and liked it so much, he sold his boat and settled here permanently.  He was a great source of information about the island.  Besides the tourist industry, the other business here is a Cobia fish farm.  Off shore, under about 80 feet of water, lies some kind of geodome, and inside it they raise Cobia.  The fish are raised from hatchlings, and harvested as they get older.  The fish are sold locally to the restaurants and are starting to be sold off island too.  He told me that not too long ago ABC News had an article about the fish farm.  Cobia is supposed to be good to eat though I am sure we haven’t had any.  Then he asked me if we saw the Triathlon the day before.  I said no.  He told me all about it and pointed to some people in the restaurant who had participated.

“That lady over there, she nearly got first place.  And this lady holding the baby,” he pointed to the lady who worked there, holding her young baby on a carrier on her chest. “She just had her baby not too long ago and she was in the race.”

I looked at her in awe. (Kind of makes my yoga workout seem lame!)

He told me in the military he was a pilot and I asked him about the airport here. You can see the route the planes have to take.  They start high over the mountain that separates Dewey from Flamenco Beach, then they shoot down between a break in that ridge, and head for the harbor, dropping low quickly.  At the point you think they’re going to land in the harbor the plane makes a sharp turn and drops to the runway.  It is quite a sight.  We met a couple here, from Wilmington NC, who had flown in.  She was sitting in the copilot seat and her husband, who was bigger, was sitting further back.  When the pilot approached the runway, the plane has to be put into a stall.  Of course, she said, they don’t tell you this, as they like to see the look on passengers faces when all the warning lights and sounds start.  I am glad we sailed in!  One time, he told me, a gust of wind hit the plane as it started to land and blew it under a house!  Luckily no one was badly hurt.

My friend had some good stories and it was obvious to see he had a lot of pride in his new hometown.  It made me start to see Dewey in a new light.  Unfortunately it was starting to get dark, and we had a long dingy ride to our boat so we had to leave before the game was over.  Back on the boat we caught the end on Sirius radio.  Looks like there is no stopping the Patriots!!    

Today we went to Flamenco Beach, a quick cheap cab ride ($2.00 each)  to a really nice park and beautiful beach.  The kids had a great time playing in the sand and the turquoise clear water. We ate lunch from one of the few vendors there, and for $2.00 we got  bar-b-que chicken on a stick.  It was excellent!  I may be changing my mind about this place!!!   

We are still here hunkered down on the island of Culebra.  The weather is calling for high winds and seas, so we are stuck here for awhile.  We are on mooring balls, way outside of the town of Dewey.  Can’t say I am a big fan of the town.  The guide book calls it a quaint town, to me it feels more like desperate.  It is a home for expatriates, and a winter retreat.  I just can’t take a liking to it, I am not sure why.  It is clean enough, but feels a bit left behind.  Not too long after we got here, we went to a restaurant bar called Dingy Dock.  I struck up a conversation with a guy who I was sure was on a sailboat.  Sure enough, he rented sailboats, then acted as the captain, and charted the boat.  Seemed complicated to me.  He was saving up for his own boat someday, and in the meantime, it allowed him to sail and be a captain and the charter guest covered the bill.  I told him we were cruising fulltime, and he was very surprised. 

“Wow,” he said.  “You don’t look like sailors.  You look like you just came off of work at Merrill  Lynch.  You guy are too dressed up.”

It should be noted here that I am wearing shorts and an Old Navy tank top and Dan is dressed the same.  However, we have showered, so apparently that has put us at another level.  Give me a break.  But before I come down too hard on the guy, I should describe the other patrons.  Out of the 10 or so people in the bar, including this guy and Dan and I 4 guys are in their 60’s with long, white ZZ Topp beards and stained T-shirts.  Typical expatriate attire, so maybe we did seem out of place. 

Dan seems to like the town though.  The next day we ate lunch at Mamacita’s and that was good.  I don’t like waiting for weather here though. With the rain, we have to use the new generator, the Honda EU 2000, we had shipped to us in Puerto Rico.  Dan about flipped out yesterday, as I was using charge to play a yoga DVD and then we made Café Mochas with our espresso machine(please don’t let the other cruiser’s know we have a coffee maker and an espresso machine!) and we were getting in the hole as far as power goes.  He has to fire up the generator again.  I am not sure what the problem is as the reason we bought it was as a backup power source, and we need the backup.  I think he might have still been mad because the night before I spilled wine on the computer and it looked for awhile like it was dead.  That was a close call!!  It was not a fun night on Alegria, let me assure you!!