An Unplanned (but serendipitous) Stop

Pre-dawn departure from La Parguera

Our next stop after La Parguera was going to be Caja de Muertos, an uninhabited island off the southern coast near the city of Ponce.  It is a nature reserve known for its beautiful scenery and we were looking forward to visiting.  We raised the anchor before dawn, retraced our path to open water, and set a course for Caja de Muertos.  It was a nice morning for motoring east and although we knew we were passing a few nice anchorages, our plan was to continue to our planned destination.  But just as we were almost past Gilligan's Island (yes, really), we suddenly decided to turn left and stop for the day.  It was a beautiful morning and still quite early; if we stopped, we'd have plenty of time for a full school day and some exploring.  If you look at our track on the map, you'll see our hard turn to port.

Boats on the shore near Guanica

There were a few windsurfers in the small bay and we enjoyed watching them speed across the water.  One of them stopped near our boat and we went out to say hello.  While we chatted, one of the others came over and stopped to join the conversation.  They were from a group of friends who met every year, all either currently from or originally from Germany. One of them and his wife have a house on the bay.  When they saw Eoin, Marin, and Isla, they offered windsurfing lessons and invited us to stop by their house that afternoon.  

The kids were excited to give it a try, so after lunch and school, we headed over. We had a lovely afternoon watching the kids learn to windsurf and talking with the three couples and one PhD student staying in the house.  Turns out the student works in a field related to Brian's field and had been at a conference in San Juan with many of his colleagues and friends the week before.  

By the end of the afternoon, each of the kids had been able to sail on their own for a short distance while tethered to buoys by long ropes.  As we loaded the dinghy to head back to Counting Stars, we were invited for another day of lessons.  Although we had only been planning to stay one night, we realized the offer was too good to pass up since we really enjoyed their company.  The girls worked on their windsurfing in the morning and then enjoyed a day on the beach.  Eoin showed great determination and practiced from 10:00am until after 4:00pm, with only a few breaks.  By the end of the day, he had learned to sail a short distance in one direction and turn and sail back.  It was an incredible experience for all of us; it is wonderful when the people we meet by chance turn out to be so special.  ​