April 25th Sadly Tony and Janet’s last morning. We took them in the duck into one of the docks and it was about a 3 minute walk to the terminal. You could not get an easier airport drop off. We said our farewells and headed back to Southern Star. We pulled anchor straight away and headed out. We were planning to go to Sopers Hole, on the Western end of Tortola, but Robbie checked it out and it looked easier to go into Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke and clear out there.
What a smart idea that was, we arrived at 1.00pm and in under half an hour we picked up a mooring, launched the duck, went into customs, completed the clear out which cost $5 for the boat and we were back on Southern Star with the engine started within 30 minutes!
We arrived into Culebra at 6.40pm, thank goodness it was still light and we made our way through the reef which was buoyed, and into the anchorage area. There are moorings there and there were two free but they were right up behind the reef and when we got to a depth of 1.9 metres, we stopped, our draft is 1.8! We made our way to the back of the moored boats and dropped our anchor in 5 metres of water.
There was not a breath of wind, it was so calm you would not have known you were on a boat. We had the best night’s sleep.
We found the customs office, the door was locked and you had to knock to enter. They push a button and the door opens. Then, the reprimand began! He was not happy that we had arrived last night and did not come and clear in, or phone them. We apologised and explained it was late when we arrived and we did not think they would be open. You should have rung he said and we would have told you what to do. He was not at all happy with us and was very stern. We had to complete 2 forms and after about half an hour, and a $19 fee for the cruising permit he completed our check in.
He was very helpful towards the end and explained what we have to do when entering Puerto Rico. Culebra is part of the USA and so is Puerto Rico, but it is split up into 4 areas. Fajardo is included in Culebra area, so we do not have to clear into Fajardo when we arrive. We will need to clear out when we leave.
We went back to Southern Star and had a coffee and some fruit. We were both really tired, from walking in the heat and had a Nana nap! We woke up to the sound of Kristie and Brad calling us on Facebook, and chatted with them for over an hour. They are loving their USA tour and have hired a car and are going into the mountains for a few days. They are very excited to be flying to join us on the 4th May in Turks and Caicos Islands.
We mucked around doing boat jobs and then it was time for me to cut Robbie’s hair again! I was very excited to do this, especially after my lessons from Marie in Antigua! Hmmmm, Robbie not so excited!! We set up in a deck chair in the cockpit and away I went. All was going well and next minute a couple in a very nice fibreglass centre consul came by and said Hi. It was Peter and Fay from the Nordhavn 68 Fotini III. We chatted for a few minutes and they asked us over for a drink.
I finished up the haircut, not so bad! Probably not as good as the Antigua job with Marie’s supervision, but close enough. We had quick showers and made our way over to Fotini.
April 27th We departed Culebra just after 8am for the 20 mile passage to Fajardo, Puerto Rico. It was uneventful, we didnt see any other boats and we arrived into the marina – Puerto Del Rey Marina, around mid day. Its a huge marina but very professional. We had a quick sandwhich and then started to walk to complete the check in. Half way there one of the marina guys picked us up in a golf buggy and took us and our rubbish to the office.
It took a while to complete the check in process and they required a lot of paperwork from us which we havent had to do for a long time. Once we were sorted I went to the Thrifty Car rental office located just in the carpark and booked a rental car for tomorrow for 2 days, $51 per day. Robbie went and had a look in the chandlery.
We caught another golf buggy back to Southern Star and then the boat exterior cleaning process began. We didnt finish until around 6.15pm and we are both exhausted.
Fillet steak and stir fry veges for dinner and I think we will be in bed before too long!