Back at Culebra

Our stay at Magen’s Bay was very nice – even though it was quite rolly overnight (not a crankorage but on its way to becoming one!!). Unfortunately after our first night on anchor, my back started acting up (anyone who has had back problems knows that’s not great). I think the nighttime rolls led to me not sleeping well (and in awkward positions so I wouldn’t roll out of bed!) and then my back muscles just said enough is enough – we’re tired and are going to hurt! So Dec. 13th was a pretty low key day for me. Mark was busy – he went around the boat in the dinghy cleaning spots on the hull and he made chili (which I was going to make) for dinner. We did manage to get over to the beach and had a good walk (that certainly helped loosen those back muscles).

We were on the move before 9am this morning (Dec. 14th – happy birthday to my brother Matthew!! 🎉), heading the roughly 24nm to Culebra. My back was okay but still stiff and a bit sore. We pulled up anchor and headed out of the bay and I was very thankful for the wide, deep bay because without the plotter, we are navigating by sight (and with the help of my iPad). It sounds easy – just look where you want to go (how hard can that be), but there are things under the water you can’t see and it’s often difficult to judge distance. You have to look for the light differences – something farther away usually is more muted in colour. Anyhow, we made it out of the bay with no trouble .

It was a good wind day (actually there was a small craft advisory for Puerto Rico to the USVIs – gusty wind to 30 knots and 6ft – 8 ft waves) and we were able to start sailing while still in Magen’s Bay. The hills of St. Thomas did play a bit with wind speed so we had a slow start until we were far enough away from the Island for it to have an impact. Using aquamaps on my IPad, it was easy to navigate the north, west side of St. Thomas and then straight across the Virgin Passage to the main harbour of Culebra. We only saw one other sailboat out today. We didn’t have the gusty wind or the big waves that we were warned about. It was a bit rough at points because the wave (and wind) direction was on our port aft quarter (and sometimes on the beam – 90° to the boat). It was a pretty good sail and we made good time – got into the bay before 2 pm.

The entrance into Ensenada Honda, Culebra is fairly narrow but well marked. We took our sails down (jib and jigger) just before we got to the narrow part and, with our wind meter set to show depth, we easily navigated into the bay. We were just starting to turn up towards the town anchorage when we heard a radio call from some ship – it was leaving Culebra heading to Isle de Vieques (a PR island just south west of Culebra). Sure enough a small cruise ship was heading directly at us! We were both very happy that the ship didn’t depart about 15 minutes earlier. We would have met it right at the narrow spot and that would have been interesting!

We’re now anchored near the town of Culebra and we’ll be here until Wednesday (Dec. 17th) when we’ll hopefully sail the 20 nm to Peurto Del Rey. Time to relax and get my back feeling better!!