Singlehanded to Culebra

Departure was at 6:05 on Monday, March 7, planning to stop somewhere on the south shore of Vieques.  That's basically due east, which as usual is right into the wind, so it was bumpy, and things fell and broke along the way.  However, I made 52 miles in less than 10 hours, so that was good.  Motor-sailing the whole way, like this:

Stopped at Puerto Real, or the Town of Esperanza, and spent most of the day checking out the condition of Magus and doing a few little projects. Also went into the nice little tourist town and bought some groceries, the highlight being the discovery of a mango tree with enough ripe mangoes to spare.

After lunch, I left for a short 6 mile trip to Isla Chiva to spend the night, a little closer to Culebra. This place has a lovely beach, and not many people, day trippers only it seems.  The phosphorescence in the water is big in certain places along the south shore of Vieques, and it was very cool at this spot.  Once it was dark, the water was sparkling, and the big fish would make trails in the water, with the little fish doing occasional freak-outs and dispersing.  Never seen that before. 

Left sort of early again, but not until 6:45.  It's about 20 miles to Culebra, and I motor-sailed into the wind to the east end of Vieques, then actually did some sailing.  Slower, though, especially since I was still going as close to the wind as I could.  The wind went around to almost due north, so I motorsailed the last 5 miles or so.  And the tacking added 5 miles to the trip.  I got into the ferry harbor at Dewey on Culebra at about 12:30, Wednesday, March 9. I also almost caught a couple of fish on this leg, but they got away, of course.  I'm going to buy some more lures and equipment, though.  

Daughter Sophi and her boyfriend Travis will be here on Friday morning, so I'll get a few projects done in the meantime, in addition to this post.