Hello Olga!

What a night. We were anchored pretty close to the mouth of the harbor, as it was a bit crowded in here.  It was a long bumpy night.

Early in the evening the boat was facing east.  By late evening, the barometer started dropping and we had a trade wind reversal.  Now the wind was coming from the west.  The waves came into the harbor and pounded us most of the night.  The wind really wasn’t that bad then, it was the waves, lifting us up and slamming into us.  Dan and I stayed up all night on anchor watch making sure we were going to hold.  Nothing like having your anchor tested only a few hours after you get it set. Here is a picture off our chartplotter that shows our path around our anchor last night.  It seemed the anchor held, but we used all the chain we had out.     Several boats drug last night and are still dragging now.

This morning the waves were coming in much worse.  We are going to leave the boat here, at the marina, when we fly back to the States next week, so instead of getting a slip on Saturday, we went ahead and pulled into a slip this morning, during the worst of it.  The worse of the storm seems to be on the north side, but the US Coast guard is very busy right around here.  We can hear them calling over and over again for a boat, and the rescue helicoptor is in the air.  The wind is getting up again, and we are getting lots and lots of rain.  But we are fine.  Hopefully this weather will be gone tonight and we can explore Ponce tomorrow.

Beach at Boqueron                                  route to Ponce

  Sunset at Ponce

We finally made it. We left Cap Cana on Wednesday with a small weather window, spent a rolly night at Mona Island, and then had a fairly calm motor to Boqueron.  Getting into Mona Island was not for the faint of heart!  There is a small opening between the reefs where you can safely get in.  That opening puts you dangerously close to the reef. We were lined up and then a big wave came and we surfed in.   After the reef, there are a few mooring balls but they are so close to shore.  It was a pretty anchorage, but not for the faint of heart in a northern swell!

When we left the next morning the waves were about 5 feet and coming from all over.  Once we got away from the island though, the seas gradually flattened out, and we had a good trip.  It was late afternoon on Thursday when we arrived at Boqueron, so we called immigration and they told us to come in on Friday.  We called Raul, the cab driver, and he took us to Mayaguez that afternoon to clear customs.  He also gave us some time to shop at the mall for Tristan’s birthday.  What a shock that was!  It was so weird to be in a busy MALL after so much time away.  Dan loves Puerto Rico, the jury is still out for me, as I keep comparing it unfavorably to Dominican Republic, but more on that later.  At the mall, we raced around for 3 hours, and only got to spend 15 minutes in Borders bookstore, which was something Dan and I had been looking forward to for months!!  But Tristan got his birthday present, and a Baskin Robbin Ice Cream Cake, which we carried through the mall for an hour, and then the 30 minute cab ride home.  It was great though, and he was extremely grateful.

That night we ate at Galloways and has luck would have it, they had a book exchange.  We hadn’t brought any of our books in, but the owner told me to take as many as I wanted.  We were very happy. Boqueron is all decked out for the holidays. Today we explored the town some more, looking for some fresh fruit and vegetables.  I was so happy I was able to get some more avacados.  Tonight we will take some pictures of all the lights.  We are leaving tomorrow to head to Caba Rojo, then to Gilligans Island and then Ponce.  We won’t have internet until Ponce.  Yesterday we saw the most beautiful sunset, with the GREEN FLASH!!  First time we have ever seen that.  I hope  to get some pictures of the sunset tonight and put them on the website in Ponce.

  At Mona Island, you have a very narrow space to enter between some fierce looking reefs.

  Mona Island   Boqueron at last

  Looks like we may have a long awaited, although small, weather window for tomorrow!  Tristan’s birthday is coming up and he is dying to get some where he can buy something with the leftover gift cards from last birthday.  We are currently getting the bottomcleaned and the boat washed and waxed for a very cheap fee. The guy, Gustavo is doing an excellent job.  This marina is nice, but the customer service is nothing like Ocean World.  We were so spoiled there.  They really took good care of us.   We miss all our friends there, Roberto, Ramon, Pablo, Saira, Modesto, and Wilfredo, and of course all our friends at the marina restaurant, and Sara and Brooks.  We hope they are doing well!  

Gustavo did such an amazing job on our boat!  He cleaned the bottom and washed, waxed and polished everything!  The stainless steel is beautiful!!  He only charged us $50.00 to clean the bottom and the rest was $80.00.  So well worth it!!!

If you come to Cap Cana please get in touch with him.  He is a very hard worker.

Funny story!  When we came into Cap Cana last week, our portable generator was leaking fuel.  When Dan tried to start it up, it wouldn’t run.  He tried worked on it several times and it didn’t work.  So today, he decided to give it to Gustavo.  It was going to be a tough translation as Gustavo doesn’t speak english.  So I typed into our online Spanish translator, “you can have the generator, but  you will need to fix it.”

While I read the translation, Dan dutifully repeated it to Gustavo and tried to start it to show that it didn’t work.  Well of course, first pull, generator starts right up.  Now Dan is so embarrassed, and the kids and I are laughing our heads off.  How do you translate RENIG to spanish?  Gustavo was fine with it.  I am sure he just thinks we are crazy!  I did wish him Feliz Navidad y Anos prosperos Nuevo.  He gave us a big Dominican smile!