We are alive and well! We’ve just been having so much fun and have either been too tired or out too late with friends to get our blog put together. Where to begin…Culebra is an amazing island.
Flamenco Beach turned out to be not just beautiful but incredibly fun with fantastic waves (just right for kick-board surfing – what you use when your parents won’t let you get and keep boogie boards on board!!). The kids (all three of them) had a blast as we haven’t had waves on any other beaches so far. Our best recollection is that we went to Flamenco 8 of the 13 days we were in Culebra (think we are still cleaning the incredibly fine and soft sand out of Pegasus). We also spent two nights anchored behind a reef in Dakity (a really neat experience) and the next two nights in Culebrita.
The beach on Culebrita was just as, if not more, beautiful than Flamenco, but there were no waves (although a small northerly swell made for two rolly nights). Culebrita is uninhabited (by humans anyway as we did see quite a few goats) and has its own bubbly pool and an old lighthouse that is the last remaining Spanish era structure in the Culebra archipelago. We hiked to the lighthouse and enjoyed the views and architecture.
Austin, Cameron, and Alison climbed to the top of the current working lighthouse structure to get some even better views!!!! We liked the bubbly pool but it was a bit more challenging than the one on Jost Van Dyke as all of the surrounding rock was sharp volcanic rock. We also had a bee swarm on Pegasus while in Culebrita which left us all a little jumpy!
We returned to the main anchorage off of Dewey on March 13th after our few days away and the next morning we awoke to the sight of s/v Bear anchored on our port side. We met Jeff and Margaret while in St. John.
We had dinner with them that night at Zaco’s Tacos and truly enjoyed both our meal and their company. The next day they came over to the boat and asked if we knew how to play the dominos game Mexican Train – while we weren’t that familiar with the game we said we be happy to learn and had a lovely evening aboard Bear chatting, laughing and playing a new game. We only completed ½ of the game so have a standing date with them at some point in the future to finish. Fortune would have it that Jeff and Margaret met the folks from s/v Taika and on Saturday as the Taika and Pegasus dinghies passed they stopped to say, “We have kids too!” That afternoon we stopped by their boat and got to meet Jay, Heather, Anouk and Lulu (and their dog Captain). Our plan to have dinner with them at Zaco’s Tacos was foiled by the fact that the restaurant was closed on the weekend but we enjoyed a fun meal at Dinghy’s. Did we mention the giant Tarpon that hang out at the water’s edge at Dinghy’s and like French Fries (and anything else you throw in the water)?
We were planning to leave the next day (which was Sunday) but we were having so much fun we decided to stay another day and snorkel on the west side of the island with more stingrays then we’ve seen before (can you spot the stingray in this picture). So we were planning to leave on Monday but, well, Zaco’s Tacos was calling and we were trying to meet up with the Taika family again so it was decided that there was no harm in staying one more day. We happened to meet up with the Taika family (and their guests) during another trip to Flamenco and lots of fun was had kickboard surfing and body surfing. That night we invited Jeff and Margaret to join us again at Zaco’s Tacos and had another wonderful meal. The next day we did in fact leave Culebra and went to Ensenada Honda on Vieques. Lots to say about the few days we spent there, and we will try to get out another post in the next day or two, but the best thing was that both Taika and Bear were there with us and we had so much fun!
Fish Tacos: (Cameron) The fish taco at Zaco’s was an original classic with perfectly cooked fried fish and an amazing garnish of lettuce and herbs. The topping sauce was nice but did not add to the flavor. Overall very enjoyable but not over the top. 9/10
Big Dad’s corner:
Rum and Cheese burgers – First off reviewing the cheese burgers in the Caribbean was a stupid idea. They are generally just not that good - at all. Should have done Rum and fish something… Rum wise here in Puerto Rico the rum Don Q has been a nice surprise: the DQ Gold is perfect with club soda and lime. Almost as refreshing as my favorite MG Eclipse.
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