Stuck in Culebra, wishing for a Cuba Libre

A five hour sail from Jost Van Dyke deposited in Culebra, off Puerto Rico in the Spanish Virgin Islands. Plans were to stay for a few days before heading to mainland Puerto Rico.

Culebra is a small island, when I say small; I mean that Culebra is about the size of a small town, very small, maybe the Mayberry of the Caribbean. There are no traffic lights – there is no traffic.  There is one post office and a library. Culebra is known as much for what is not here as what is; there are no McDonald’s, KFC, Holiday Inns, or chain businesses of any type.  The people here like it this way and are determined to ‘save’ their island from becoming another tourist destination. The island is very walkable with narrow and winding streets.  We anchored in the small bay, Ensenada Honda, which is a nicely protected anchorage well inside this tiny island and flanked at its entrance by two large reefs, one on either side of a narrow channel leading into the bay.  The channel is well marked and boaters will do well to stay within the marked channel.

Looking back at the entrance to Ensenada Honda

 

 For the most part, there is little development on Culebra with shops and houses generally being those built here 40 or 50 years ago lending a strong, small town feeling to the area.  There are two rather new developments at the entrance to Ensenada Honda, one to each side.  The Sea Breeze Hotel at Costa Bonita Beach Resort is on the starboard side of the channel and the Bahia Marina Condo complex is on the port side. Both offer more modern conveniences than those available in the town and provide those who desire to visit to the island a place to sleep in air conditioning, a luxury I am looking forward to when I get home.

Seabreeze Hotel

The first day here, a quick dinghy ride ashore provided a chance to wander about and get familiar with the area.  The downtown consists of a few businesses, restaurants and the World of Kokomo Hotel across from the ferry dock.  From Culebra, ferries offer transport to Fajardo, a main port in Puerto Rico, and also to Vieques, another, but slightly larger, island off the main coast.   A hop over to the mainland for whatever shopping or business is desired can be had for $4 a person round trip.  The island has lovely beaches and is surrounded by great snorkeling. There are several, small islands (really, they are smaller than Culebra itself, which is saying something) which are uninhabited with Tortuga Beach and its lighthouse, and Luis Pena’s Cay designated as National Wildlife Refuges. Cayo Norte, Botella Cay and Cayo Matojo are not much more than rocky protrusions in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, but offer nice, remote sandy beaches for day picnickers from boats.

 A small channel divides the island in two where a lift bridge was built several years ago allowing boats to go between the Ensenada Honda and the sea on the southern side of the island.  The bridge was constructed for two fishing boats that regularly traversed the island, however these fishing boats are no longer in service and neither is the lift bridge.   Painted bright orange, it does, at least, provide a landmark for visitors to the island.

On shore

The library at Culebra is tiny but has a remarkable movie theater (the only one in town) attached to it. Built with seats taken from an actual movie theater and a sizable screen, the library offers showings of fairly recent films, well basically what you could rent from Netflix, but for folks here, that is probably pretty good.  They also have a book exchange which I took advantage of while there to leave a bag of books I had read on the boat and grabbed some new ones.  Reading is a regular pastime on the boat so I panic when I run out of reading material. (or as I told someone--books are my crack cocaine!)

 

Finding internet during my travels is always a chore and while the library offers free internet, they are only open between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, after which they evidently turn off the wireless and go home. I was able to connect at a local bar next to the “World of Kokomo Hotel” across from the ferry dock in what passes for downtown here.  The bar was not crowded, offered outside tables and chairs and no one seemed to mind giving me the password for the internet.  In fact, the fellow sitting at one of the outdoor tables who helped me with the password told me that ‘they don’t care if you use it, but the bartender is an asshole”.  Only later did I find out that he was in fact the bartender himself.  I rarely saw him at the bar while there and had to hunt him down when I wanted a drink later.  Folks here are more than laid back. The few late afternoon drinkers at the tables were friendly and offered suggestions for dinner along with some basic information about the island.  Most of the people I met were mainland Americans, not native Puerto Ricans. Of course, when I asked one of the locals “Are there many Americans here?” I was curtly told “We are all Americans here”.  Whoops, I meant from the mainland US. I didn’t mean to insult the guy, but PR is one of those strange places no one seems to understand. As a territory of the US, it is not a state, but it is also not an independent country of its own.  This recently caused a bit of controversy when Netflix stopped allowing instant streaming of movies as they could only offer that service inside the US.  The Puerto Ricans tried to explain to Netflix that they WERE part of the US and the service was eventually restored.  Several votes have been taken asking the citizens of Puerto Rico whether they wish to become a state or an independent country.  There are never enough votes in favor of either so they remain a territory.  I guess they are happy with the status quo.

At the suggestion of a local, we had a wonderful dinner at a little restaurant across from the library,” El Eden”.  El Eden looks like an old farm building and their sign seems to have been painted on an old silo. The exterior is not very impressive, but the food is.  In fact it is so good, we were asked if we had reservations (no, we didn’t) and told that they would try to fit us in or we could dine on the front porch outside.  Not minding a little al fresco dining, and being very hungry, the outside sounded fine. We enjoyed a meal under the stars while being visited by small lizards that climbed among the plants surrounding our table.  Fresh fish, including local lobster is offered on the menu along with steaks and vegetarian fare.  The waitress suggested splitting an entrée of seafood pasta, which we did, and it was more than enough for two. Served with a salad comprised of fresh greens and goats cheese it was topped with homemade balsamic dressing.  I am sorry I didn’t take a photo of the dinner, but was too hungry so dove right in.  The evening was mild and a frangipani bush next to the table wafted its heady perfume over me as I enjoyed one of the best meals I have had in the islands.

The following day another trip was made ashore for some grocery shopping.  The local “Superette” seemed a good choice and was, other than a very small mom and pop store, the only other place within walking distance.  Not sure what passes here for “Super” but the “Superette” was not much more than an overgrown convenience store.  They had little in the way of fresh produce and no fresh meat or fish and dairy products were extremely limited. I grabbed what I could to last for a day or so until we got to the mainland. Little did I know that a storm was approaching and we would be stranded aboard the boat for the next three days.

A cold front was passing through the area bringing with it sustained winds of 20-25 with gusts to 45 along with high seas and rip currents.  After a few recent passages that felt like the boat was a cork in a washing machine, a decision was made to sit still and wait out the storm. In looking around the anchorage it seemed like a communal decision, as not only were the boats around us staying put, there was a steady stream of new boats arriving.  The storm arrived Saturday evening with torrential rain showers and the wind kicked up blowing everyone around and heeling boats over when it came alongside them.  The brunt of the storm was supposed to pass through Saturday night into Sunday with lessening of winds and waves occurring Monday into Tuesday. 

The ‘groceries’ I had purchased quickly dwindled so it took some creative cooking during the next few days while the storm raged.  Luckily I always keep a good supply of canned goods on board allowing me to throw together some basic meals.  It was too windy and rainy to take the dinghy ashore as trying to fight the wind in an inflatable boat is difficult in the best conditions and almost impossible in rough water.

Of course, there is no TV or internet on the boat, so thank goodness I had acquired new books to read and I spent much of the storm dry and comfortable below deck curled up with familiar authors.  Although, after three days of being stuck on the boat I did get a bit claustrophobic and wished for a nice Cuba Libre or other libation at the downtown bar which I could enjoy while NOT rocking and rolling on a stormy sea. The storm abated Monday but the wind kept up through Tuesday and finally by Wednesday we were able to leave Culebra and head to mainland PR where we were to meet up with some friends.  Luckily most cruisers have no schedule and the delay allowed our friends a chance to free themselves up to spend some time aboard with us.

The cruising life offers much enjoyment but there are always times where the unexpected occurs; good books, canned food and the ability to let things roll off help get through these times.

Fair winds to you!