ABC Islands to Puerto Rico

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Jimmy and I are in Puerto Rico now and plan to spend Christmas on the boat this year. Since the last blog entry we have put a few miles under our belts. We left Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela in late October and headed out of the country via the offshore Venzuelan islands of Los Roques and Los Aves. We spent a couple of days in each island group before sailing to Bonaire.

Bonaire is part of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao). This was our second visit to Bonaire. Jimmy and I were in Bonaire about 10 years on a scuba diving vacation. Bonaire is known for its pristine coral reefs and is popular among scuba divers. Jimmy made several dives while we were there and I snorkeled. I seldom dive anymore and prefer to stay on top of the water instead of below. Bonaire has moorings at several dive sites. We loaded the boat up with our friends and took it out several times to these sites. Some of us snorkeled while others went diving. We had a great time in Bonaire.

We left for Curacao on election day in November and ended up spending about a month there. Our friend Gayle came to visit while we were there. Gayle has his own sailboat that he keeps in Florida and is quite an accomplished sailor. I left Jimmy and Gayle to their own devices and went to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with my son, daughter in law, mother, and sister. Jimmy and Gayle sailed the boat to Aruba and then back to Curacao while I was gone. A couple of days after I got back to Curacao we sailed the boat to Bonaire and then a couple of days after that we sailed it to Puerto Rico.

It took us 65 hours to get to Puerto Rico which was less than we had expected. Gayle sailed with us so that made the night watches shorter for each one of us which was nice. About 30 miles south of Puerto Rico the US Coast Guard put their big spotlight on us and asked us several questions over the VHF radio. I guess you don't sneak up on the south coast of Puerto Rico at night without the Coast Guard seeing you, especially when you are coming from the direction of South America. I like having the US Coast Guard around. They are extremely professional and I always feel a little safer when I'm in US waters because of them.

We're in Salinas, Puerto Rico now which is on the south coast. We have friends coming to visit us in about a week so we plan to sail to the Spanish Virgin Islands (Vieques and Culebra) and also to St. Croix while they are here.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday. Until next time.....

Donna

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Photos

Pink flamingos
We saw the flamingos in the salt ponds of Curacao.