Culebra

The view of the harbor entrance from our spot in the anchorage

​Oh, wow, it has been a long time since we’ve written anything!  Blame it on the combination of being busy with school, work, and exploration and the lack of reliable wifi we’ve had recently.  It remains to be seen how good the current connectivity is, but we need to give the blog a try before we get too far behind!
 
So, where were we?  Oh, yes, Vieques. 
 
We decided to only spend one night at Vieques before continuing on to Culebra.  After being on the move pretty much every day for over a week, we were feeling the need to stay in one place for a few days to catch up on work and school. We’d heard good things about Culebra and it seemed like the perfect spot to slow down a bit.
 
On the morning of February 5, soon after raising the anchor and getting underway, we realized that our chartplotter had frozen.  We rebooted multiple times to no avail.  Although annoying and potentially problematic if it continued, we have plenty of redundancy on board and could have navigated to our next anchorage using only the chart apps on our phones.  Fortunately, after trying a few other fixes, Brian removed a malfunctioning SD chart card from the plotter and our navigation system was once again fully functional.  We also have redundancy in our SD chart cards – these are cards made by different companies that contain charts for specific areas – so despite having to remove one card, there were other, functional cards in the plotter.
 
Once the chartplotter was working, we realized that because of the wind direction and the scattered rocks and reefs that we needed to avoid, it would be difficult to find a good angle to sail to Culebra.  We picked one we thought would work and raised the sails.  After about 45 minutes it was clear we were not making much headway to Culebra.  We started an engine, furled the genoa, turned into the wind, and motorsailed the rest of the way.  By mid-afternoon we were securely anchored in Ensenada Honda, the island’s main harbor.
 
We ended up staying at Culebra for 4 nights, catching up on school and work, while still having plenty of time to explore the island and enjoy the wonderful Puerto Rican culture.  Highlights of the visit included the waterfront restaurants where we could tie the dinghy right next to our table, the stunning beaches, our bright blue rented Jeep, delicious food, and the eclectic cultural mix of islanders, tourists, cruisers, and 'expats' from the US mainland.

Ensenada Honda sunrise

Zoni Beach