Culebra

2/3/07-2/11/07

So I take it that you heard we made it safely to Puerto Rico. We ordered
new bearings and a new raw water pump. The thought was that if we
couldn't repair the old water pump with the new bearings we could just
throw on the new pump and if we were able to repair the water pump we
had the option to return the new pump or keep it as a spare. We managed
to keep ourselves busy by reading and exploring the town of Boqueron.
The hardest part of not having an engine is living without power. Our
refrigeration unit sucks our batteries dry even during our black out
policy. We did fill the refrigerator with ice when it became clear that
the wind generator was not supplying enough energy to run the fridge but
ice doesn't last long in these climates. When the part finally did
arrive a day late we were ready to move on. Crux and Aurora had already
left a day earlier to La Parguera. After a couple hours spent
disassembling the old pump we managed to get the new bearings. The most
difficult part was removing the bearing race from the shaft and the
other race from inside the pump. The parts were fused together. To
separate them we placed the pieces inside the barbeque. Heating them
expanded the parts differently making the impossible possible. The pump
works like new and the engine roars again.

On the 8^th we traveled to La Parguera to join up with the others. When
we arrived we set out in two dinghies to find an island that has monkeys
on it. Of course we weren't able to find the island but we had a
fantastic time searching for it. La Parguera has many islands that form
a mangrove maze. We sped through mangroves finding huge fish, beautiful
birds and porpoises. There was one spot where the path is so narrow the
trees form a canopy above that is uninterrupted from one island to the
other. We turned the engines off in hopes of hearing the monkeys.
Although the path was spectacular we lucked out on the monkeys. That
night we returned to the same mangroves on a luminescence tour. It was
no where near as spectacular as what we saw in Luperon but you could
still clearly make out the glow surrounding the arms of Brad while he
swam among the microorganisms. After the tour we returned to Aurora to
watch Captain Ron again. It did not disappoint.

In the morning we left for Ponce with Rosario. It was David's birthday
and to wish him a happy birthday we broke out the water balloon
launcher. Unfortunately, before they even noticed that we were hurling
balloons at them they hooked a mahi mahi. Tough luck, I would much
rather be hit with a water balloon than reel in a dolphin fish. We
didn't stay in Ponce long. After getting water and diesel we anchored
off the customs building for a couple hours before continuing on through
the night. We left that night to travel the 75 miles to Fajardo. The
night was uneventful and the wind was slight forcing us to motor the
entire way. We anchored off Isleta Marina and took the ferry in to the
town. Brad rented a car and picked up Anika from the airport in San
Juan. The four of us walked 35 minutes into town at night. The bar we
went to was not a bar at all. It was a liquor store that had a couple
chairs out in the parking lot and some music on. Nonetheless, it was a
fun night even with the 35 minute walk past numerous deadly dogs.

We happily left Fajardo in the morning. We motored to Culebra and met
the other boats again in Ensenada Honda, the largest anchorage in
Culebra. From anchor we can see St. Thomas of the USVI.

Happy Birthday Hal.