Lyn's Log, 16th January 2007
Puerto Rico

Ponce, Puerto Rico.
N17º58', W66º37'
11,938 miles.

We arrived at Puerto Rico mainland at Villa Marina and caught a ‘Publico’ minivan to the nearby shopping centre with a Wal-Mart, for everything including food, and a West Marine. West Marine had a couple of things we wanted and several we thought we would leave till we reached the States. We got a replacement camera in Wal-Mart as the lens shutter had suddenly become faulty on the old one. And we bought some aroma soaps and Bic lighters as we had been advised they were good for trading with the Cubans. As we have been unable to buy any more Euros, we may have to try buying things without cash. A surprisingly good find in Wal-Mart was a replacement battery for our failed leaky one. It cost 67 US dollars! We expect to pay anything from 150 to 200 dollars. We managed to pick up a return Publico outside the shop. Just outside the marina was a sail repairer who kindly sewed a new plastic zip into my oilskin jacket. The jacket was a good one, bought in Brazil last April, but the metal ends of the zip had already corroded and broken a bit. There were some large, colourful iguanas around the marina, living under the pontoons, posing for photos.

Next we went five miles down the coast to the largest marina in Puerto Rico and, to our surprise, found it cheaper than Villa Marina. Here there was said to be wi-fi, but, as usual, it did not work very well and the power supply by the tables was not available during the day. But Andrew managed to connect to another unsecured site and eventually we concluded all our Internet business. This may be the last Internet connection until after Cuba. We stayed two nights here so that while Andrew cleaned up the battery bracket in the engine compartment where an old leaky battery had deposited so much white acid powder, I trudged off to the supermarket, supposedly a ten-minute walk. After a long hot walk a lady in a car pulled up and offered me a ride, which I gratefully accepted. I bought a dozen large tins of fruit juice and a few other items, loading them into four bags that I could manage with my trolley. The Customer Service desk phoned for a taxi for me and then I managed the long pontoons without much difficulty.

Early in the morning, as soon as the office was open and we could check out, we set off to an anchorage on the south coast which looked like the nearest sheltered place, tucked behind a small reef curving out in front of a small town. It was thirty five miles away and on the way, passed an island nicknamed ‘monkey island’. Rhesus monkeys had been released there in the 1920's and now the island is over-run with monkeys, and there is an experimental station. At first we did not see them as their colour was the same as the earth, but as we rowed in closer they were watching us in the trees and along the shoreline. We saw one or two larger monkeys and all sizes/ages of children. We obeyed the rules not to go ashore but took several photographs. We did not have the time to linger and pressed on goosewinging the sails and keeping up five knots.

As we finally anchored in the evening, what should we see just in front of the anchor chain but the head, and the curve of the back and tail of a manatee as he dived.

This anchorage proved not to be easy. It was after five in the evening and not good light to see reefs. Our guide had a detailed chartlet with lat. and long. grid lines showing exactly where the town was in relation to coast, the reefs and the patch of rocks. We followed the instructions very carefully and hit the rocks again. Luckily we were going very slowly at the time and got off fairly easily. On checking afterwards, we discovered that the chartlet put everything half a mile further to the west than was correct. So now we had gone aground twice by using the information in the guide book and will not be able to rely on it futher. It was following one of the charts in this guide bookwhen we went aground inside the reefs in Culebra. Stephen J. Pavlidis who wrote the guide to Puerto Rico states that his charts were so accurate that they were ‘utilized by SoftChart International and provide additional detail that supplements government-produced charts’. But we found several other errors. On one chartlet showing every tenth minute of longitude above 65 degrees, it is written as 66 degrees. Our next anchorage behind a row of reefs and small islands has the best entrance between the westernmost islands where there are buoys. Mr Pavlidis suggests that there is a good passage between the eastern end of islands. All we could see was a solid line of breaking water between the islands, with no sign of any gap. With the wind behind us it would have been disaster to have attempted it. Our detailed Admiralty chart showed at best just one narrow gap with 11ft of water, not a good entrance with 29ft. Sorry Mr Pavlidis, but we have no confidence in you.

Our last stop in Puerto Rico was in Ponce, where we could clear out of the country. We found our way into the yacht club Sunday afternoon, obtained a mooring and established that Customs would come in the morning. There was a peninsula. stretching along a reef towards the yacht club. This formed what is called in Spanish, a ‘Paseo’, a place where people meet and stroll. On the side facing the water it was boardwalk and down the middle were ten small buildings each with several snack-bars blaring out their own loud music. The place was crowded with many families and other people. It was full of children showing off their toys, electric cars and bicycles, toddlers on push-along vehicles, radio controlled cars, and people in wheelchairs. All the snack bars were doing a roaring trade. The music continued till around 11 p.m.

Monday morning we phoned Customs from the yacht club office. The officer soon arrived, established that the yacht was there, and told us we had to go the office in town for the paperwork, by which time his colleagues who did the work would be there. We took a taxi there, not too expensive, and after a while we had our clearance papers. But the Puerto Rico officials refused to clear us to go to Cuba. As we had to give a destination, we opted for the Dominican Republic. Then we took a taxi to the nearby supermarket for more supplies and dollars from the ATM, and back to the yacht.

Our plan had been to leave after lunch but several things then happened to change our plans. Firstly the winds were very strong, and indeed the midday forecast looked pessimistic for fair winds. Then another English yacht arrived. The two guys, charming gays both called Chris, had come from the States via the south coast of Haiti and Dominican Republic in their newly bought yacht "Grace", which they had been able to buy as a result of a successful property speculation in Dover! So we had plenty of common ground. They told us they had had an awful time against the rough seas and force 5/6 winds, but they gave us information which helped us plan ahead. We decided to make a stopover in the Dominican Republic and get proper clearance for Cuba.

We paid for a second night at the club and, finding no restaurant near, ate some of the luke warm snacks with the Chrises on the Paseo. This time there were very few people and only a couple of open stalls. The music was still very loud. Bright and early on the morning of the 16th we left in light winds.