Happy Holidays

Have not updated our blog since my brother Willi left...my apologies...writers' block I guess, and the convenience of Facebook are the reasons! We took an airplane trip to New Hampshire in June to visit Rick's dad Harvey, who celebrated his 95th birthday this year :) We then flew to Miami to spend some time with our kids there...then returned to our boat in time for hurricane watches.

We fared well during the hurricane season with not much storm activity affecting us here in Culebra, PR. 

We sailed quite a bit around Culebra area and to Vieques, and also took a nice 4day land retreat at Club Seabourne taking advantage of a special offer they had at the time :) Now it is already the end of December! Rick and I are enjoying the cooler temperatures associated with "winter time" in the Caribbean :) We are off sailing again on ORION, exploring Vieques and visiting with friends we have here...life is good!

I will be starting a Facebook blog for ORION soon...most probably will link this blog to it or vice versa...will see how it goes, as it is so easy to update from Facebook. Best thing is that you do not need to be a member of Facebook to get blog updates...if it is a public page (which is what I will create) it can be reached by anybody through a link...we will let you have details and the link :)

Rick and I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy and Healthy New Year 2015 when it arrives. 

Thank you for following our life on ORION...much love always...until soon again with increased enthusiasm for updating the blog ;)

More Vieques

We did quite a bit of sailing within the past few months...exploring Vieques is fun and we will sail there again. Vieques is a sister island of Puerto Rico with a variety of beaches that are absolutely stunning! Vieques was used as a training bombing range and closed off to the public for a long time. Here is an excerpt from wikipedia:

"Vieques is best known internationally as the site of a series of protests against the United States Navy's use of the island as a bombing range and testing ground, which led to the navy's departure in 2003. Today the former navy land is a national wildlife refuge, with numerous beaches that still retain the names given by the navy, including Red Beach, Blue Beach, Green Beach and others. The beaches are commonly listed among the top beaches in the Caribbean for their azure-colored waters and white sands."

Last time we explored Bahia Icacos on the north coast. This time we explored the south coast of Vieques...starting with Ensenada Honda, which is a huge mangrove area with canals...a great hurricane hole...surrounded by reefs! We loved it there...fabulous nature, total quietness enveloped only by birds singing and calling...we had the place to ourselves!

From Ensenada Honda we sailed to La Chiva or Blue Beach...another spot of extreme beauty surrounded by a reef...La Chiva is more equipped for beach-goers...it has small wooden huts nestled under the trees surrounding the white sand beach that seems to go on forever. La Chiva also has trash cans placed by the huts, which was a welcoming site for us, as we were able to dispose of our garbage! Snorkeling around the rocky areas at La Chiva was interesting...we saw quite a few fish and even a spotted eagle ray.

From La Chiva we sailed downwind to Esperanza where we met my friend Ann, who lives there. Ann and her husband Tom have a small charter business with their sailboat "Caribbean Lady". I knew Ann only from cyberspace where we became friends in one of the women sailor groups on Facebook! So now we are friends in the real world also :) We had a fun afternoon with Ann and will be visiting her again...next time we'll meet her husband Tom also! Rick and I rented a car for two days and drove all over the island, learning much in the process. Of note were the many horses that roamed around virtually everywhere...seemingly happy! We visited the more than 300 year old Great Kapok Tree that made us feel like dwarfs! We explored Isabel Segunda where the big ferries come in. We also were able to do our laundry there and visited a lady I had met earlier in Esperanza...she has a boutique in Isabel Segunda...I purchased some very nice tie-dye dresses from her :) During our stay in Esperanza we walked the malecon (board walk) quite a bit and tried out the different restaurants...we enjoyed the variety of choices so close together...some of the highlights were "El Quenepo", a fine dining upscale restaurant and "Duffys", a place where we kept coming back to because of excellent fish and chips and other dishes served in an atmosphere of casual dining, affordable prices, and super fast service with a view of the ocean and in our case "ORION" :)

We left Esperanza for Sun Bay which is the next bay to the east...anchored ORION and enjoyed walking along the white sand beach for hours! There are sea turtle nests right amongst beach-goers zoned off by yellow crime tape (works great)...beautiful clear water...and horses everywhere...quite an eclectic mix...

From Sun Bay we sailed upwind to La Chiva (Blue Beach) where we stayed a few days again before sailing back to Culebra...Puerto Rico has so much to offer...we love Culebra and Vieques and will spend more time exploring both islands...Culebra is our chosen "home" for now and we are grateful to be accepted here :)

 

Exploring Vieques on ORION...Bahia Icacos

Having established our temporary base in Culebra it is time to do a little cruising and explore the nearby areas. We sailed to Tamarindo Bay in Culebra on Saturday, June 8, 2013, stayed overnight, set sail again the next morning and made a spontaneous decision to sail to Vieques...just like that! The weather was perfect...10-15 knots wind with waves around 6 feet...we sailed for 3 1/2 hours under full sails (both main and jib) to Bahia Icacos on the north shore of Vieques! We plotted a course on the go...with the Navionics app on our ipad this can be done in no time at all...a simply amazing tool!

Bahia Icacos is stunningly beautiful...a horseshoe shaped bay surrounded by a white sand beach as far as the eyes can see! Hundreds of star fish can be viewed through the crystal clear water. We arrived on Sunday afternoon when 20 or more power boats were anchored along the shoreline...but they all left well before darkness on their way home to Fajardo, where most of them had come from. So we found ourselves alone on ORION, virtually in Paradise...this beach is made for walking hand in hand for miles and of course this is exactly what we did :) Vieques used to be a bombing range, so unfortunately there is plenty unexploded ordinance left in and out of the water! There are signs placed all over the edge of the beach warning not to venture inland beyond the imaginary line between postings...it is a shame, the clean-up process will most probably take decades, but that is how it is. On a positive side the area is now a wildlife sanctuary with hundreds of different species of birds calling it home :) We had no desire to walk inland...there is so much blissful beach area to explore...we had a great time away from everybody and everything...it almost felt like "The Blue Lagoon", hahahaha...just kidding ;)

We left Bahia Icacos a few days later with the unspoken promise of returning to explore more of Vieques...whilst maneuvering through the reef we noticed the engine overheating, so we shut it off and sailed the rest of the way...got soaked by a passing squall but were happy and enjoyed the journey...had to enter the main channel into Dewey under sail only and continued to sail right onto our mooring ball...phew...there is always a first time for everything and this was our first time having to approach our mooring ball without deploying the good old diesel...it worked out okay and we are pretty proud of ourselves...another notch in the belt of our learning curve :) Why was the diesel overheating? That's the story to tell next...stay tuned please!

 

From Vieques to Culebra

This morning we watched a beautiful sunrise over Vieques...there was no wind at all and we debated whether to wait for some or to go ahead and motor to Culebra. In the end we decided to motor, knowing that we could always raise the sails should the wind come up.

Well it is a good thing that we decided to get on the way under motor, because the wind did not come up at all...nada, zero, zilch wind!

We arrived in Culebra around mid day, having motored all the way from Vieques...the sea was like glass most of the time...kind of unusual, but we are not complaining, because it made for an easy relaxing ride...much better than having to fight our way against the wind :)

We have been to Culebra many times with our kids when we still had a power boat...and we always enjoyed our stays there...Culebra is a very special place to us...there are no big shops, no fast food chains...just pure and simple living on an island...heaven!

Over the years Rick and I always dreamed of one day going to Culebra on our own sailboat (!)...so now our dream has come true and we are extremely happy and grateful.

Our first anchorage in Culebra is by the DRNA dock, because our friends Bob and Judy (and their little dog Leo) on SV Adastra are anchored there, and they have invited us for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow afternoon...woohoo :)

This is SV Adastra, which is also a Morgan 41 but a Classic (ours is an Out Island)...we met Bob and Judy (and their little dog Leo) in Salinas a few weeks ago and became good friends...so here we are meeting again :)

The cruiser life is full of such pleasant surprises...it's a community out there and,we are all part of a big family...happy, I may add :)

wind generator and solar panel on ORION

By the way...our KISS wind generator and the solar panel are doing their jobs nicely...producing juice to run our fridge/freezer...so far we have not had to run the generator to top off the batteries (!)...wind and sun energy at its best and we have not even had much wind lately!

This is it for today! I am trying to update our blog more frequently during our new life as full time cruisers. We shall see how it goes once we are out of US waters, but wifi is available throughout the islands we have been told, so I will post updates whenever possible :)

Special greetings to Rick's Dad Harvey Klumb, who at 93 years young loves to follow our adventures through this blog...We love to have you onboard Dad :)

Greetings also to all our family and friends...you know who you are :) We are blessed to have you!

Wishing everybody a wonderful Thanksgiving...until soon again...

 

We are underway :)

My captain at his element

Hooray hooray...we are underway! At last we are moving on ORION :) Many thanks to our friends Richard and Mercedes, who will take care of that last piece of mail we are awaiting in Ponce thereby freeing us from having to wait around seemingly endlessly (!)...you guys are the very best :)

There will be a separate post on our friends soon :)

We left Ponce Harbor for Coffin Island, stayed there another night and all of a sudden we decided that it was time to really move on now! Just like that :)

I guess when it hits you it hits you...and my captain and I didn't waste any more time to think about it! We are fully provisioned and as ready as can be...and "the bug" has caught us at last...the being free sailing bug, hahaha.

Vieques and Culebra here we come!!!!

Coffin Island is beautiful and it will remain in our hearts forever...

We left Coffin Island and set sail for Boca Del Infierno by Salinas. Boca Del Infierno is a so called staging area for cruising boats...meaning that it is a perfect place to arrive late in the afternoon, stay the night tucked in behind the reef and then get on the way early the next morning...refreshed for the journey ahead :)

This is exactly what we did!

We left Boca Del Infierno (yes...refreshed) in the morning and set sail for Puerto Patillas...another staging area when sailing to Vieques or Culebra.

We arrived at Puerto Patillas late afternoon...

Puerto Patillas is a small fishing harbor and during the week it is very quiet there...only on weekends and holidays there are a few too many jet skies for our liking!

We arrived there late afternoon and spent the rockiest night ever (!)...Puerto Patillas is usually a calm anchorage, but not for us this time! Ah well...sometimes it's okay to rock'n'roll and there was nothing we could do about it, so we enjoyed,the night anyways...but honestly were glad to leave the next morning :)

Today, Tuesday, November 20, 2012 early in the morning we set sail from Puerto Patillas to Vieques where we arrived early afternoon :)

 

 

 

 

Green Beach, Vieques

We are now anchored off Green Beach, Vieques...a heavy thunderstorm just moved through, but our anchor is set good, so no worries...tomorrow we shall move on to our final destination (for now)...Culebra, one of the finest jewels in the Caribbean and home to some of our good cruiser friends, who are awaiting us :)...Life is good.