by Judy Handley | Mar 13, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 72—Gozalandia (Las Cataratas) Waterfalls
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Weather: Most Sunny; High 85, Low 70 degrees F
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco in Rincon, PR
In last night’s log I stated that now that I am in Puerto Rico, I would be posting my logs using my AT&T phone hotspot. But that did not end up to be the case. I have a signal here at Justin’s, but for some reason, I cannot get online. My phone says I am connected, but I am not. So sending logs will be a spotty affair. If Justin is around with his phone, I can use his hotspot, but otherwise I have to wait until I go into town. But that is a small inconvenience in comparison to what I would be going through at home with the latest storm. I didn’t know about it until today when I started receiving messages from Eversource (electric service) giving me numbers to call if I had wind or snow damage. I thought the storm this weekend was the last of the winter storms, but I was most definitely wrong about that. I got a text from Heather telling me that Falmouth got walloped with this winter storm. There was no school today and none tomorrow and that the top of one of the pine trees in the front yard fell down, as well as other large branches.
The Keefe’s next door have a tree that fell on their house. And the other next door neighbor also has a tree down. So, I am supposing the combination of wind and heavy snow was the cause of the damage. I feel guilty being here in sunny Puerto Rico with daytime temperatures in the 80’s F. So I’ll gladly deal with the internet and no water issues here as a trade-off.
Sam, Dawn, Ziggy, Coco, and I headed to the Gozalandia Waterfalls this morning.
Justin got up at 5:30 am to head to Mayaguez to get an air conditioner for the office he is renting starting today. He had that installed, had arranged for someone to put a new tire on the van with the flat tire, and was back home by 7:30. Then Jo took him to work and then dealt with the flat tire issue. So she didn’t get to come with us to the waterfalls. It takes about an hour to get to waterfalls, but it took us a little longer as we stopped at The Fresh Mart to get sandwiches made for our lunch. Usually they have gluten-free bread for the sandwiches, but today they did not. But I found a package of frozen gluten-free English muffins in the freezer and they used those to make the sandwiches for Ziggy, Coco, and myself. I choose not to eat gluten products, but Ziggy and Coco really can’t. Once we reached the waterfalls, we ate our picnic lunch and then did the hike up the mountain to the highest fall. Ziggy loves climbing high and jumping into the water, so today without his mom or dad, Sam did a great job of doing everything with him. They dove off cliffs, dove off rope swings, and swam into the underwater cave together while Dawn and I hung out with Coco and Piper.
Ziggy did lure me into the water to swim over to the falls and back and Coco and I found sunny spots and sat on the rocks.
We were not nearly as adventuresome as the guys, but we all enjoyed the day.
After numerous rope swing jumps, we walked back down the trail to the lower falls. Here there is a rope to help you climb to the lower ledge, an underwater cave to explore, and a big climb to the top ledge if you want to jump in from there.
Sam took that challenge, but even Ziggy agrees he is not quite ready for that. Sam was doing the driving today and he got Ziggy, Coco, and I home by 3:30. Then he and Dawn drove the rental car back to Mayaguez and got an Uber ride back to Boqueron. They are planning to leave Boqueron at 3:30 am to sail around the southwest point of Puerto Rico before the winds pipe up. On Thursday, all of us here are planning on driving down to meet up with them for a day of snorkeling and water adventures. Then they will continue their trek eastward along the southern coast.
I hoping to spend tomorrow morning with Ziggy and Coco writing about some of the adventures we have had this week. Then tomorrow afternoon while they have a school activity and Jo has a teaching session here at Finca Maravilla, I am going to head into town to the café with internet and catch up on what is happening in the world. And I’m hoping to be able to post some photos.
by Judy Handley | Mar 12, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 71—Rincon Beach Tour
Date: Monday, March 12, 2018
Weather: Delightful; High 82, Low 74 degrees F
Location: At Home with Justin and Jo in Rincon, Puerto Rico
Sure wish I could be posting photos for you to see, and maybe at some point I will find a place with internet to do that. But for now you have to contented with my written pictures. I am using my phone to send logs now that I am in Puerto Rico with a US phone system, but I don’t have enough data to send pictures.
Today was another sunny day in Puerto Rico filled with fun. Sam, Dawn, Piper, Ashley, and I went ashore this morning and got our ride to Mayaguez with Eddie. Eddie was a bit shocked to see that we had a dog with us, but he adjusted quickly. We drove to Mayaguez and the rental car at Hertz was ready for us when we arrived. We were then off for Rincon. Our first stop was at a laundromat. While the clothes were washing, I walked next door to the supermarket and bought food for lunch. Sam went in the opposite direction to a bakery and came back with coffee that tasted sooooo good. Then we were off to Justin and Jo’s. Coco was not home today as it was her first day of school since Maria. She is only going on Mondays but the report at the end of the day today was glowing. Ziggy and Coco are being home schooled, so Ziggy was at home and he gave us a tour of Finca Maravilla. It is different after the hurricane, but the green is back and life here is good. There is no water at the moment, but the solar is working great
and the grid is back on, so there is power. There is no internet and no indication when or if there will be. Jo prepared a great lunch and then Sam, Dawn, Piper, Ziggy, and I took off for a tour of Rincon beaches. We didn’t hit every beach in Rincon, but we came mighty close visiting Sandy Beach,
Domes Beach, the Punta Higuera Lighthouse and Maria Beach, Steps Beach, and the beach in downtown Rincon.
Domes Beach is named for the nuclear power plant that was built, run, and decommissioned, all in the mid- to late 1960’s.
The waves here and around the point at Maria Beach are favorites for the hordes of surfers who visit Rincon. Today they were getting ready for the 2018 Corona Pro Surf Contest to be held here over the weekend.
We walked along the beach and up the hill to the Punta Higuera Lighthouse and then traveled on to Steps Beach.
Just as Domes Beach is named for a physical structure, so is Steps. I’m not sure when the steps landed here on the beach, but they are great for photo opportunities.
And one of Ziggy’s favorite climbing trees is at Steps, so he and Sam enjoyed the climb.
We ended our tour on the beach downtown.
We went there so we could take freshwater showers at the end of the day. Thankfully there is water downtown, just not up in the hills where Justin lives.
Sam and Dawn decided to spend the night in Rincon so we can continue our tour tomorrow, so we spent some time finding them a place to stay that would allow Piper to stay with them. This ended up to be a place close to Justin’s new office space he is renting in Rincon to avoid the drive to Mayaguez every day. So after securing their room for the night, we picked Justin up and headed to the Pool Bar. This is an open air sushi bar with a swimming pool and an opportunity to meet the little coqui endemic to Puerto Rico.
Jo and Coco joined us and we had a great evening. I headed home with Justin and family while Sam, Dawn, and Piper took the rental car to their hotel for the night. Tomorrow we will head into the mountains to the waterfalls. Justin has to work, but Ziggy and Coco, and maybe Jo, will join us. The plan is that at the end of the day, Sam and Dawn will return to the boat in Boqueron so they can sail around the southern coast of Puerto Rico in the very early hours of Wednesday morning. I will stay here at Finca Maravilla and on Thursday we are hoping to drive to La Paguera on the southern coast for an afternoon of fun on Windbird. To be continued.
by Judy Handley | Mar 11, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 70—Mayaguez to Boqueron, PR
Date: Sunday, March 11, 2018
Weather: Sunny, Hot, and, WINDY; High 86, Low 74 degrees F
Latitude: 18.02097
Longitude: -67.17624
Location: At Anchor off Boqueron, Puerto Rico
We had a wonderful, wild sail from Mayaguez south to Boqueron this morning. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco drove down to sail with us. Sam went in to pick them up in the dinghy, but Miss Coco had backed out of yesterday’s promise to ride in the dinghy to Windbird. So, Justin stripped down to his underwear and invited Coco to swim out to the boat with him. She took the challenge, but after a short swim she decided that riding in the dinghy was a better option. So Coco and Justin hitched a ride with Sam who delivered them, with Jo and Ziggy, to the boat. We then headed south to Boquerón. The advice for sailing in this area of the world is to get started before dawn and arrive at your destination by 8 am. We started our trek at 8 am, when things were still calm, but as the sun warmed the land, the winds quickly picked up and we had quite a windy sail. The head winds built from 4 to 8 to 12 to 15 to 18 to 22 to 25 to 28 and finally to 30 knots. This was not predicted, so we were sailing with a full main and headsail. We first reefed the headsail, then furled it. But Sam left the mainsail up full. There were times when Coco would pop up from the main cabin telling us things were “slanted down there.” It wasn’t a complaint as she was having a great time, but just a comment on things. At one point, the adults in the cockpit were talking about going to lunch once we arrived in Boqueron, but Jo pointed out that Coco really wanted to have tuna salad onboard Windbird just like Ziggy did the day before. Obviously Coco was down below listening to everything we were saying, so once again she popped her head up to ask, “Did I hear someone say ‘tuna’?” That child doesn’t miss a thing. And I was really proud of both Ziggy and Coco as they never panicked no matter how “slanted” things got. Thankfully the seas were fairly calm and they were able to spend some of the time just sitting on the foredeck with either mommy or daddy and enjoying the ride. Their was a bit of spray, but not enough to dampen a good time. When we turned to go into the anchorage at Boqueron, we were headed directly into 25 knots of wind, so we furled the main and motored slowly in against the wind. We anchored near a friend of Sam and Dawn’s, a boat named Le Mischief, captained by an Aussie named Steve. They came over to say hello and then we headed to shore to get lunch and find a ride for Justin and crew back to Mayaguez to where they left their van. In the meantime, another cruising friend of Sam and Dawn’s sent a text. It was Leslie from Texas Two Step. The boat is in the Bahamas, but she flew to PR in a helicopter with her husband who is doing power line work. Aguadilla, which is not close to Boqueron, has been their homebase in Puerto Rico. But she was free for the afternoon and decided to drive down to say hello. Since we had struck out on getting a taxi back to Mayaguez, she offered to take Justin and family back to Mayaguez on her way back to Aguadilla. However, she was not leaving right away, so Justin and Jo were going to have to wait. They were okay with that even though Ziggy and Coco were getting tired, but about the time we thought we had things settled, a man named Eddie showed up at the restaurant where we were having lunch and asked Justin is he needed a ride somewhere. Not sure how that happened, but it was perfect. And then Sam and I asked Eddie if he would take us to a car rental in Mayaguez in the morning. He was glad to oblige, so our travel issues were solved as well. It was like magic. So Justin, Jo, and kids left with Eddie and Sam, Dawn, Leslie, and I continued to sit in the restaurant to visit. After Leslie left, Sam, Dawn, and I enjoyed the lively waterfront scene in Boqueron. The bars were full and people overflowing into the streets. Music was playing everywhere, so we joined the party by having a couple of drinks before heading back to Windbird. When we did finally get in the dinghy to go home, we decided to go visit with the folks on Le Mischief, Steve’s wife is back in mainland US visiting with family and he has had two young crew members onboard helping him out. We found out in our conversations, that one of them, Ashley, was headed to Hertz in Mayaguez tomorrow morning. That is the same place where we had made a reservation for a rental car. She had no idea how she was going to get there, so we invited her to join us at 8 am for a ride with Eddie. We talked and talked and finally around 9 pm we headed back to Windbird. When we got there, we realized we hadn’t had dinner, so we decided on a quick-to-fix salami, pepperoni, and cheese plate and continued to talk on into the night. Doesn’t take long for an old cruiser to fall back into the cruising life style.
by Judy Handley | Mar 9, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 68—Sailing the Mona Passage
Date: Friday, March 9, 2018
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Warm; High 82, Low 72 degrees F
Latitude: 19.16856
Longitude: -69.28098
Location: Headed to the West Coast of Puerto Rico
The passage is a bit rough as we are sailing into stronger head winds than predicted, but not too bad and certainly not dangerous. Dawn is little seasick, but other than that, all is well. At 5 pm, Dawn and Sam were napping while I was on watch and I saw a whale blow off to port and then I saw whale’s tail. It was quite a distance away and as I was watching, a humpback jumped straight up out of the water and arched as it dove back in. I woke up Sam and Dawn and they got to see two more breaches. Just beautiful. We will reached the point in Rincon about midnight and head south to Mayaguez. Should be there and anchored before 3 am if the current conditions continue.
by Judy Handley | Mar 7, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 66—Touring Old Town Santo Domingo
Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 87, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home on Windbird in Puerto Bahia, Samana, Dominican Republic
What a beautiful day! Sam, Dawn, Piper Dog, and I spent the morning and early afternoon touring Santo Domingo’s Zona Colonial.
This is the part of Santo Domingo that was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, making it the oldest continuously populated European settlement in the Americas. The beautifully restored buildings are all within walking distance. From the oldest military fortress in the Americas, Fortaleza Ozama,
to the first cathedral built in the Americas,
and all of the buildings in between, we thoroughly enjoyed our self-guided walking tour. After a late lunch and a bit of food shopping in an Old Town supermarket, we headed to Windbird on the north coast of the Dominican Republic which is a 102-mile trip up and over the mountains. It was almost 5:30 pm when we reached the marina and hauled groceries and suitcases to Windbird.
She looks great due to Sam and Dawn’s loving care. And the marina here is gorgeous with all the amenities one could ask for, but the weather report is telling us that we need to move on to Puerto Rico starting tomorrow evening. At this point, we plan to leave here at 8 pm and arrive in Mayaguez early Saturday morning. There is a big swell out there coming from the north, but it should settle a bit starting tomorrow night before building again early next week. So, the decision was made to go now. I will post a log tomorrow before we leave here taking you on a photo tour of the marina, but then you won’t hear from me again until Saturday. But no worries. No news is good news!
by Judy Handley | Mar 6, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 65—Smooth Trip to The Dominican Republic
Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Weather: Warm!
Location: At Home in Hotel Zapata, Boca Chica, Dominican Republic
Note: This log was written on Tuesday night but not sent until Wednesday evening as I had no internet while staying in Santo Domingo.
It was a long day, but each leg of the trip went smoothly. The flight from Boston to New York City took about an hour and the flying time from New York City to Santo Domingo was just over three hours. But it is all of the waiting in between flights, catching a bus to Boston and waiting for the initial flight, and checking into a foreign country that took so much time. I got up at 4:30 am and arrived here exactly 12 hours later. And I even got to watch Oscar winning movie, The Shape of Water, on the way. But when I arrived in Santo Domingo, I hit my first hitch of the trip. I got in line to check in through Immigration and that necessitated buying something called a travel card for $10. It was then that I discovered that the $500 that I thought was in my backpack just wasn’t there. I have no idea what I did with it in the rush of packing, but having to get out of line and get money took double time for checking in. Sam and Dawn were delayed in arriving, so it all worked out. They delivered me to Hotel Zapata in Boca Chica
and an hour later we were out walking on the beach.
We had dinner in an open air beach front restaurant and caught up on what has been happening in each other’s lives. Tomorrow we will spend the day touring Santo Domingo and then drive the two and a half hours to Windbird in Samana. On Thursday morning Sam will listen to the weather and make the decision on a departure date from here to Puerto Rico. If this morning’s report holds, we could leave here Thursday afternoon and arrive in Puerto Rico late on Friday. The nor’easter we had late last week has sent huge waves all the way down here, but they are far apart making the passage a possibility. We’ll weigh that against next week’s possibly window and make a decision.
