Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We hope that you all had fun over the holidays. We’ve been busy ourselves. We welcomed in the new year in Saint Thomas USVI surrounded by a awesome fireworks show. Nice way to kick off the year! First though let us catch you up to what we’ve been up to before we got here…

When we last left you were were in Esperanza Bay, Vieques. We loved the beaches and the town there, beautiful! Next stop for us was the magical bio bay. We headed to what we thought was going to be a nice and protected anchorage just outside Mosquito Biolumenscent Bay. Our guide book described it as a good anchorage but when we arrived we saw that it was tiny, really tiny! There was one other boat anchored in the harbor and if they would not have been in there we probably would not even had to tried to enter. We made our way in a skinny cut, through the reefs that jutted out from either side and did out best to try to find a spot to anchor. Did we mention that this harbor was very small? There was just enough room for one boat to anchor but we really wanted to see the bio bay so we tucked in as far as we could, ran aground in mud, moved the boat back a bit and raised our rudder and anchored. With the rudder up we were no longer aground. Whew, we made it! Brian and Rachel scouted the area around us and the bottom was all mud (no rocks) so not too bad if we hit bottom again. We knew that we would just be here for the night so we sucked it up and stayed.

Not a very good photo but the only one that we have of a “sort of” glow at the bio bay.

As the sky darkened we donned our flashlights and headed into the bay famous for it’s bio-luminescence. We were lucky enough to be here on a new moon so it was pitch black! They say that the unique conditions that are found here are not found in almost any other part of the planet, making it Puerto Rico’s most brilliant bioluminescent body of water and probably the most brillant in the world, with a Pyrodinium density of between 100,000 and 600,000 organisms per a gallon! All of that info is for our science geek friends out there for the rest of us lets just say it was magical! We’ve seen other bio bays before but none other like this one. You could see every fish under the water. It was like watching the most active meteor shower you have ever seen only instead of being in the sky they lit up the dark bay. It was really cool when something big would swim by leaving us guessing in our small dinghy what it was, hoping that it was not a shark out to get us. Rachel wanted to jump in and swim to really see the water glow but we had heard of a shark attack that had happened in the past so she decided that watching via the boat was a smarter choice.

Unfortunately, this was not a very photogenic trip with it being so dark all of our pictures looked like dark blobs so you’ll just have to close your eyes and imagine how cool it was.

We woke up early the next morning with our boat bumping on the bottom so that was our sign to get the heck out of this harbor and head on out to our next island.

Culebra Island, Puerto Rico.

Ensenada Honda Harbor, Culebra Island

Having been to a few of the top 10 beaches in the world today and repeatedly throughout the years, where do I begin with Culebra? It’s a small (about 11 square miles) island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. It is smaller and less busy than her sister island, Vieques. The first inhabitants on the island were Pre-Taino Indians (500 B.C.). In 1880 colonist from Vieques and Puerto Rico came to the island. And the beaches? WOW! That’s all I have to say about the beaches of Culebra… absolute paradise. It is outlined by some of the most natural, pristine beaches and crystal clear water you will ever see and the snorkeling here is incredible!

View of the non lift bridge from the canal in Culebra Island.

Neat sculpture on the jetty at Culebra Island

When we arrived we decided to anchor in the main town harbor Ensenada Honda so we could be close to town. We we happy to see some of our cruising buddies were already here. It’s always nice to arrive somewhere and see people that you know. We found a good spot to anchor and went to town to explore the island.

View of the Dinghy Dock restaurant from the harbor. At night this place gets so packed out that it’s hard to even find a spot to park your dinghy!

We were really surprised to see that there was lots to do here. Good restaurants to eat at, lots of tourist shops and two decent size grocery stores. Yea! Prices were not even that bad. Some things even cost less than on the mainland of PR….how could they do that we wondered? We bought some fresh veggies at a veggie stand and were in heaven!

Shot of shops near ferry dock, Williams Pizza our favorite cheap pizza place.

Culebra dive shop near ferry dock.

Hanging out in the town park near ferry dock, Culebra

Street view, Culebra

This house was really different…it was covered in the “Yellow Pages” just like you see from a phone book! You would think that it was a school with the kids on the outside but it wasn’t…not sure what it was.

Neat spider that we saw on the side of the road.

Libre Puerto Rico!

This town here is really nice. There is a ferry that takes tourist to and from the mainland of PR so that’s why there is so much going on here. It is a mixture of people from families to young backpackers. Lots of people come over to use the campgrounds on the beautiful beaches. And did we mention that the snorkeling here is something else? This island is paradise!

One thing that we really liked about it was that even though it was hustling with people the island still had the charm of being small. No condos or highrises, just mom and pop lodging were all that we saw. We really liked that.

Playa Flamenco (Flamingo Beach)
This horseshoe-shaped, palm-tree-lined public beach that is situated between mountain ridges, used to be in the line of fire of US Navy artillery practice.

Part of the reason for this is when World War II erupted, the US Navy turned Culebra and the 23 other islands in the archipelago into the primary site for gunnery and bombing practice. Sound familiar? This island remained a target until 1975, which turned out to be a good thing. The reefs and surrounding waters remained unscathed by boaters and divers and the beaches were unspoiled by large scale tourism development.

Old Tank at Flamenco Beach. Rusted monument to a prior military occupation of Culebra.

Yea…just use your imagination on this one…Brian couldn’t resist!

Many people fail to associate a Caribbean paradise with historic significance, assuming instead that it has always been a sandy, sun-drenched beach swathed in sunbathers and snorkelers. That’s part of the beauty of Puerto Rico’s Culebra Island. Yes, this island, situated 20 miles off the northeast coast, has beautiful beaches and plenty of sun, but it’s also an old pirate hideout loaded with virtually undisturbed treasures. Wish that we could have found some of them…believe me we are always looking! Not to mention that in 1493 Christopher Columbus dropped by this tropical oasis during his second voyage, and in 1909 Theodore Roosevelt declared Culebra one of America’s first wildlife refuges.

Not the prettiest site, but yet a vivid reminder that Culebra was once used as a gunnery and bombing practice site for the U.S. Navy since 1939. It wasn’t until the early 1970’s when the residents of Culebra started protesting the military presence on the island that the gunnery range ceased and all operations were moved to Vieques.

OK enough history for now. Needless to say we loved this island! We celebrated Christmas here and were treated to a fun carnival style parade, we had a blast!

Captain and crew from SV Imagine singing us handwritten nautical Christmas carols…

We decided that it was time to do some more exploring so we set sail for Culebrita Island, PR.

Culebrita is the largest cay near Culebra Island.

Culebrita Island, Culebra, Puerto Rico.

Culebrita Island possesses the oldest lighthouse in the Caribbean, built on September 25, 1882 and completed on February 25, 1886.The Spanish Crown built it as a protection by the reclaiming of Culebra Island.

Our favorite island in Puerto Rico might just be this unspoiled gem called Culebrita, the affectionate “little sister” of Culebra. Once again the U.S. military used this beautiful island for bombing practice from 1930 to 1975. It is accessible only by boat, and boasts the oldest operating lighthouse in the Caribbean.

Rachel paddling and Moon off of Culebrita Beach.

Hard to see but the white dots are goats on the beach at Culebra Island. They made lots of noise in the mornings!

The water here is so clear! I just can’t get over how pretty the places are that we have been! It’s so nice to be where you can see the bottom and just jump off your boat and swim. Culebrita Island is heaven on earth!

Culebrita Lighthouse was the oldest operating lighthouse in the Caribbean until 1975 when the US Navy and Coast Guard closed it replacing it with a solar powered light beacon.

The lighthouse is in danger of collapsing. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Marilyn caused vast damage. No work has been done to maintain the facility. Trying to help the lighthouse since 1994, the Culebra Foundation has tried to get local and federal help without success.

These guys made fun of me not wanting to climb to the top of the lighthouse but look at the grip that they have on that railing!

Yup, these are the stairs that you use to go up into the lighthouse! The Culebrita Lighthouse was built in 1886. In 1975, the Navy and Coast Guard closed the facility. Since then, the lighthouse has sustained heavy damage from hurricanes and vandalism.

View from the top of the Lighthouse of the harbor…Moon is too close to the island so you can’t see her.

Another view from lighthouse.

We hiked to the top of the old rickety lighthouse, to Tortuga Beach on the north side of the island and hiked over the jumbo rocks to the most awesome tide-pools that I have ever seen. The pictures just don’t do it justice! We absolutely loved this island!

Rocky path to the tide pools.

View from the tide pools…Brian and friends on top of the rocks across from us. Culebrita Island.

Lighthouse in the distance seen from where we hiked to get to the tide pools.

Brian standing at the pools edge just before the wave crashed in.

Our friends on SV Imagine were here with us to share in all of the fun and crew member Vinny made us a yummy vegetarian dinner…thank you Vinny it was awesome! We all listened to the weather and it was calling for strong north winds in a day or two so we had to decide whether to return to Culebra or to sail on to Saint Thomas. You guessed it…well, if you read the start of this rambling you already know…we sailed on to Saint Thomas. 🙂

We are currently anchored in Charlotte Amalie Harbor, Saint Thomas USVI. There is a whole world of history in this town, right off of our port side. There is so much to explore here and we can’t wait to check it all out and share it with you. I see lots of walking in our future! That’s all from us for now but as always we’ll be exploring and taking lots of pictures to share with you.

Take care –

Jennifer, Brian and crew Rachel