After leaving Vieques (in a hurry… see our last blog post, lol) we had a lovely sail to Culebra. A nice quick beam reach, and after months of heading upwind, it was – well – like a breath of fresh air.
We initially stopped at the outside harbor called Mosquito Bay. We wanted to make water before heading into the main harbor. (We did NOT see any mosquitoes there, thank goodness!) As soon as we were done, we headed into Ensenada Honda, the main harbor off the sweet little town of Dewey. Getting in there was no problem, and the holding was very good.
The town is a “big” little town. It has just about whatever you could want or need: boat parts, hardware stores, groceries, nice restaurants, vegetable market…pretty much everything. The town is charming, and we found the people to be very friendly and proud of their corner of the world.
Around town, there is some vibrant graffiti, which I very much enjoyed photographing, and thousands of beautiful flowers.
George and Sarah on Mirador arrived shortly after we did, and they invited us to share their golf cart for an island tour. We had an initial look at the various beaches, ate at a food truck, visited a cemetery where things apparently don’t want to stay buried, and ended up at flamenco beach,which is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.
I finally got the pleasure of meeting Sue and Rick on Orion, whom I had only met virtually until then. What a great couple! And obviously so in love with each other and the life they are living. What a treat!
We also did quite a bit of snorkeling while in various anchorages around the island, and it was the best underwater experience we had had since the Bahamas. We also got to witness the coral restoration projects underway there, which was very encouraging to see.
Culebrita is a tiny island just to the east of Culebra, which has a trail leading up to an old lighthouse. I love lighthouses, if you hadn’t noticed, so we made sure to check it out. It was pretty cool! I understand that there is a restoration in the cards for this lighthouse, and it certainly deserves to be preserved. These old lighthouses were built to last for many lifetimes, and I’d like to see this one last a few more, at least.
A careful observer might notice the breaking waves on both sides of this harbor mouth. Indeed, it soon became so rolly that Consort was swaying like a metronome. It was time to go!
Consort at Culebrita Anchorage
We returned to Culebra for a while, and then took off for the US Virgin Island. More on them next time!