You may be thinking – what the heck? You’re last post says you’re in the Abacos. Obviously to say I’m a bit behind on the blog would be the understatement of the year. However, most of hurricane season (August-November) was filled with work (our regular, day-time jobs), lots of travel by plane (only some for fun), and more boat projects than I care to think about. The important thing is – we’re in the Eastern Caribbean now! We arranged for someone else to get our boat down to Puerto Rico during December while we were both swamped with work. We then flew down to meet our boat, and continue the adventures from Puerto Rico. That whole process is a very, very long story – maybe one day I’ll have time to share. For now, I hope you’ll follow along with our new adventures and explorations.
Repairs, repairs, repairs
Do repairs on a boat ever end? I know the answer is no, but I at least thought they’d slow down. We worked so, so hard in Fort Lauderdale to have all major items ready to go. We really thought that this season would be slightly easier now that we know the boat intimately, and put in so much repair/maintenance work last season. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
For reference, here are some of the major projects JUST completed in Fort Lauderdale:
- Complete rebuild of water maker – seriously, it’s a whole new system
- You might recall, the water maker was my arch nemesis last season. Not anymore.
- This is the one thing we hired a professional to do; everything else was through our own blood, sweat, and tears. I still cried many tears during this rebuild process, nonetheless.
- Full service of both diesel inboard engines (oil change, fuel filter(s), clean heat exhaust, impellers, etc.)
- Full service of dinghy outboard engine
- Full service of generator
- Testing of all batteries
- Installation of new alternator on starboard engine
- Installation of two new hot water heaters
- Update of AIS equipment to actually reflect our name “Sea Monster” – probably should have done this sooner
- Re-bedded leaky deck fittings
- Replaced leaky raw water strainer
- Installed new cosmetic items including toilet paper holders, toilet seat, and softmate holders in the cockpit
- A hundred other things related to boat documentation, route planning, provisioning, getting Monster’s paperwork, new insurance, and much more.
This may not sound like THAT much to do over hurricane season, but considering we did pretty much all of it ourselves (and we’re learning as we go), we were both working full time, and we were traveling almost every week between our two jobs – it was a lot.
Writing about repairs and boat projects is almost as fun to me as actually completing said projects, so I’ll try to keep this concise. Here are some of the items we’re dealing with upon arrival to Puerto Rico:
- Main sail has a 3-foot rip in it that needs repaired
- This is so much work, because just taking the sail down is work. Trying to carry and load it into the car is work. Unloading it at the sail shop is difficult. Repeating all these steps to get it back on the mast is even more difficult.
- Also determined that there are more stitching/patches required upon further review – sigh. At least someone else does the sewing part.
- Head sail has the canvas protective strip coming off; needs re-sewn
- This costs money (doesn’t everything), but at least taking the head sail down and putting it back up isn’t too hard!
- The starboard prop caught a fishing net and allowed salt water into the sail drive fluid. I think of this sort of in-between an oil and transmission fluid. The key point being – water is very bad.
- At this point, we don’t know if the sail drive seal has been ruined or if just the force allowed some water in one time. If the former, it requires an expensive haul out and repair. If the latter, just a half dozen or more oil changes should fix the problem.
- We start by assuming the latter and testing our theory (which appears correct – thank goodness!)
- The generator (our brand new generator) won’t start. Some helpful troubleshooting with the manufacturer reveals that water entered the engine back flowing into the wet exhaust hose. In layman’s terms – there’s water where there shouldn’t be and that’s very, very bad.
- With directed help over the phone, we are able to remove the glow plug and expel the excess water though that spot. Ultimately, we get the generator up and running again after a stressful few hours.
- And then it breaks again.
- After some more Google searches, a call to my dad, and ultimately another plead with the manufacturer support team, we identify the (new) problem. As luck would have it, we have a spare oil pressure switch onboard – just need to swap it out.
- Even better, the problem magically fixes itself the next day. We literally call them “magic fixes” around here, and they are my FAVORITE. Yes, of course this often indicates something is starting to go wrong, but we have way more time to figure out what and order necessary parts. Now, we know what to do if it happens again – after of course hoping for another magic fix!
- Our dinghy clearly has a leak. It now requires an air touch-up every day. In the scheme of boating, this is a pretty minor issue – we’ll just carry the air pump around for a while. I mean we definitely need to fix this, but might not get to it right away.
- There are a dozen other small things that need done, but nothing important enough to chat about. Oh, except for how desperately we need a bottom cleaning. I cringe each time I see the green algae flowing off the scum line. Not enough to swim in marina water though. Problems for another day.
Birthday trip to the bio bay
Our goal all along was to be settled back on the boat in time to do something fun for my birthday on January 5th. We almost make it. We don’t arrive back on the boat until January 4th, and there is so much to get started on for repairs and cleaning (as mentioned above). So we spend most of my birthday doing less fun tasks, but then the day after we set sail! – or rather motor, since both our sails are in the shop for repair.
It’s a bumpy 30 miles over to the Spanish Virgin Island of Vieques, as we are bashing against the wind and waves. Our spirits are lifted when a couple dolphins pay us a short visit, though! It’s been so many months since we’ve seen dolphins! Shortly after the dolphins take off, we hear the fishing pole start to reel. We’ve got a bite! I slow down the boat and Matt rushes over to reel in our first catch of the new season. We’re a bit disappointed as we notice that it’s a barracuda. We thought that being in approximately 200 feet of water would put us out past where the barracuda like to congregate, but I guess not. We had a couple encounters catching barracuda last year in the Abacos – and let’s just say the fish won. We lost pliers and towels trying to take the feisty fish with unnecessary large teeth off the hook. That was last year though. We’re wiser and better equipped this year. Matt grabs his new fishing gloves and has the barracuda off in a flat 5 seconds – nice! Since it went so fast, I suggest getting a photo with his catch. Apparently the barracuda is camera shy, because it leaps out of Matt’s hands and proceeds to flop its way down the steps and back home. Oh, well.
A bit before dusk, we pull up to our intended anchorage for the night. This puts us a short dinghy ride away from the bio-luminescent bay, which is the whole reason we’re here. The anchorage has mixed reviews, but the general consensus is that it’ll be a bit rolly. No problem – I’ve been mentally preparing myself for 2 days; I can handle it. Upon arrival, it doesn’t seem that bad. We’re protected from the wind direction, and the swell is being mostly broken up by a shallow reef on the back-side of the anchorage. Things are looking good. I put a bottle of sparkling wine in the freezer to celebrate after dinner!
Once the darkness settles in, we launch the dinghy and head over towards the bio bay. We know we’re in the right spot because we see a few dozen kayakers on tours. What we can’t figure it is where are all the sparkly, glowing, bio-luminescence?! I’ve seen them before during a night dive in Mexico, so I largely know what to expect but we sure as heck can’t seem to find any. At this point, we are rowing the dinghy because you’re not supposed to use motors inside the bay. This would be fine, except that rowing a dinghy with a heavy motor still attached is a lot of work.
Tangent: Bio-luminescence is defined as “the production and emission of light by a living organism.” Generally we think of this related to small marine invertebrates, although according to Google, fire flies (or lightning bugs) are part of this same phenomenon. If you’ve never seen bio-luminescence in the water before, it looks like specks of blue and green glitter glowing in the dark. Generally they only sparkle when being disturbed, such as moving your hand through the water.
I’m getting pretty frustrated – luckily Matt is (sort-of) keeping a positive attitude. He asks one of the tour guides if there’s a certain area we need to go to spot them. The guide informs us that we’re in the right spot, it’s just that the moon is too bright. Seriously?! It’s less than half a moon and cloudy – I thought that would be good enough. It’s not. Apparently, you need basically a brand new moon to be dark enough to see. We lean over the very front of the dinghy where it casts a shadow on the water dark enough that you can actually spot the bio-luminescence. Okay, fine – I’m still not very impressed. This was said to be one of 5 bays in the world where this occurs. We recognize that “bay” is the key word here as there are bio-luminescence many more places in the world, but even this seems to be incorrect. We find a bay in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands that has bio-luminescence including jellyfish that glow green (that wasn’t included in said 5 bays). Anyways, I digress. More to come on our glowing jellyfish in St. Croix on a future post!
We head back to our mother-ship to make my favorite meal of frozen pizza and pop some bubbly. Unfortunately, that swell that I said was being broken up by the reef is no longer being broken up. Seriously, it’s the like the reef shrunk. We are rocking and rolling a little too much for comfort. It’s dark though, and we don’t know the area so we don’t feel comfortable moving to a new anchorage at this point. We put the bubbly back away for now – we’ll try for birthday celebrations again tomorrow. For tonight, we put on some tv and settle in for a night sleeping on the couch where it’s a bit less rolly than down below.
Devastation follows us
Once morning arrives, we start motoring our way back to the marina on mainland Puerto Rico. We need to complete our repairs and hide out while a serious of storms and crazy wind/swell come our way. Upon arriving back at the dock, we are informed that the power is currently out due to the earthquakes. A series of magnitude 5-6+ earthquakes have just hit the southern side of the island, and the aftershocks are continuing.
Apparently, Puerto Rico is not unaccustomed to earthquakes, but they have been especially bad the past few weeks (and are expected to continue). The southeast part of the island we’re docked at was unable to feel the earthquakes, although they could be felt all the way north to San Juan. The destruction was limited to a relatively small portion of the island, but was devastating all the same. Since December 2019, there have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or greater in Puerto Rico – that’s insane!
We feel for those who lost their homes, and one individual who even lost his life. We’re certainly grateful that where we’re located has been largely unaffected other than loss of power for a day. It’s starting to feel like devastation follows us. We were learning to sail in the BVIs just a couple weeks before Irma hit, diving our way through the water of the Abacos shortly before Dorian hit, and now this. Obviously, it’s just a coincidence and a stark reminder of how much global warming is affecting our planet. Once in a lifetime storms are no longer occurring only once in our lifetime.
Exploring Old San Juan
Since we are stuck on the dock for a while, we decide to take advantage of some land exploration. Thank goodness for our rental car, or else I think we’d be going crazy only doing boat projects. We take the afternoon to go explore Old San Juan – most commonly applauded in photographs and paintings for it’s vibrant buildings and charm.
After finding a small (very small) parking garage to put our (thankfully very small!) car, we set out exploring on foot with Monster leading the way. Our first destination is El Morro, a fort built by the Spanish to protect the bay of San Juan. Several tried to conquer the fort unsuccessfully during the 17th and 18th centuries, but then in 1898 America with newer technology penetrated the fortress and took over. It then served as an active US military base during the two World Wars. It is a national historic site today. Unfortunately, not one that allows dogs – so we took it all in from the outside.
Next we decide to take a stroll along Calle Sol – named because it is constantly exposed to the sun. Ironically, it is in the shade as we walk along. This is supposed to be a less touristy street but still bustling with coffee shops and restaurants. My information must be out dated, because we don’t spot much – the buildings are still quaint and colorful though. Moving on – we head over to Fort San Cristobal. It is said to be the largest and most well-preserved Spanish fort in the Americas. Originally built to protect San Juan from land attacks, it covers 27 acres. Once again, signs say Monster isn’t welcome, so we walk around the outside.
In addition to the forts we see plenty of the famous colorful buildings with flowers budding on balconies, a fair number of historic churches, and the more modern cruise ship terminal. We seek out a cute spot to grab a drink and just enjoy the atmosphere. Feeling pretty successful, we snuggle up on a rooftop terrace (Monster too!) with a couple glasses of sangria. Matt convinces me to try ceviche (yes that has raw fish!) for the first time, and you know what – it isn’t terrible. Sure, I mostly load up my chip with lots of onion and veggies, but I see small pieces of fish too. Monster of course loves the ceviche – she’s into all the fishy, sushi things Matt eats.
Next, we decide to head to another restaurant that has more my type of food – hello, pizza! In an attempt to not be ridiculously predictable, we order one of the house specialties which has not only pepperoni but also onion, jalapenos, and boiled egg. It was pretty darn good! A bit odd, but good.
Chasing waterfalls
Puerto Rico is home to the only tropical rain forest included as a US National Forest – of course, we have to check it out. It’s fairly small – for a National Forest – so we figure we can probably explore it in less than a day. Taking our car, we drive towards the top of the mountainous forest enjoying the lush greenery as we go. Only 15 kilometers to the top, and it’s raining when we arrive. It is a rainforest after all. Given the current rain and the crazy amount of rain the past few days, we decide to skip the longer trails, which are certain to be a muddy slip and slide at this point.
We drive back down to an area that has a few short trails, one of which leads to a small water fall with a wading pool in front. Monster is loving our activities today, until it starts raining on us again. For a dog who loves her splash pool and flopping into puddles, she sure hates the rain. We try to take in all the sites we can while not getting ourselves covered in mud. There’s a small tower we climb up to gain some gorgeous scenic views, and an even more impressive water fall sitting right along the side of the road. No hiking required! This is La Coca falls, which is probably the second most famous waterfall in the forest. The first being La Mina falls. Unfortunately, the trail to La Mina falls is still closed after some destruction from hurricane Maria. Hopefully it’ll be re-open by the time of our next visit.
After making our way back down through the rainforest, we head over towards the canvas shop to pick up our repaired sails. Now we just have to get them back on – easier said than done. First, though, we decide it’s about time to enjoy a few lazy minutes at the gorgeous pool overlooking the sea at our marina. It’s complete with a small waterfall of its own – so lovely.
Always waiting on weather
Two days and lots of frustration later, both our sails are back up. The head sail is actually really easy, only made a bit more difficult because of the high winds. The main sail is a bit more of a challenge – mostly because we have no real idea what we’re doing, and also because it’s too windy to raise the sail up the mast. It may not have been pretty, but we did it! Now, we wait. And do more boat projects. We also keep re-adjusting our lines to try and reduce the violent jerking motion that keeps tugging our boat. Something about the combination of the wind and surge here is just not being our friend. The concrete docks also keep eating through our lines – that was sure a surprise the first morning to come out and find a dock line eaten half way through. Yikes. We keep readjusting our chafe gear, and make sure to use our old lines (we just bought a whole set of new, matching black ones).
The wind and waves continue being relentless – gusts over 30 knots and waves over 10 ft are a bit beyond what we consider “sporty” sailing. We have to extend our marina stay a few more days as we wait for our opening. Luckily, they are running a BOGO special, which effectively means our entire stay has been half off! There is another Leopard catamaran at the dock with us waiting out the same weather, and we enjoy swapping stories and getting ideas of the next places to visit. Overall, if we have to be stuck somewhere, this is a pretty good place to be stuck.
Lost in the hills
The weather opening we’re looking for is finally on the horizon! We arrange to return the rental car a day before setting sail (or more likely, motor). The rental car has to be returned to the San Juan airport area – the rates were just sooo much cheaper there. No problem, though – we drive to the car return and then call an Uber. Not too long into the drive, we realize he’s taking a different route than we usually do. That’s okay – more countryside to explore. Road construction creates a one-way road which slows us down 30 minutes. I guess we aren’t in a hurry, though. We try to enjoy the scenic drive.
It takes a turn for a bit more “scenic” than we bargain for though as we start bouncing around a dirt road, climbing up a pretty steep mountainside. We can see the Uber map directions though, and it says we are going the correct route. The abandoned car with everything include the seats missing probably should have been a warning to turn around. We kept trusting the maps and our driver though. Eventually, we are at a dead end – literally a dead end into the forest.
We turn around and try using Google maps this time. After retracing our path on the dirt road and by the ominous abandoned car, we eventually make it back to a paved road. An hour later than expected, we are safely back at our boat. At least it’s never boring.
Next, we will head south (and east) towards new islands!
