La Parguera and Boqueron< Puerto Rico

April 24 Still waiting in Puerto Rico for delivery of Tim's boat part, which did not arrive as promised. Now there's a surprise! Fellow cruisers will be all to familiar with this scenario. Unfortunately we sacriced a great weather window, like the song says "Que sera". Now we wait for the arrival of the part and another suitable crossing window, meantime, we are off to spend Easter Sunday at the Cabo Rojo beach (south western tip of Puerto Rico) if we can shoe horn the boats into the bay. Lots of local boat traffic over the holiday weekend. All being well, (the postal Gods deliver Tim"s new anchor windlass today, and weather Gods co-operate) will depart Boqueron for Puerto Real, just a couple of miles west, where both boats will refuel and Tim will get his part. Then, it will be an evening departure to cross the Mona Passage en-route to Luperon. Cruising time will be 30 hours plus, arriving in Luperon, DR in daylight sometime Monday morning. We will be out of phone and email range durin g that period, so will wish everyone a Happy Easter. If plans do not gel, we will be waiting for Tim's windlass and the next suitable weather window to cross to Dominican Republic.
Fueled yesterday in Puerto Real and drowned our sorrows with a great fresh caught fish dinner at the restaurant next door to marina. One of the best meals in Puerto Rico.

April 23
The guys have gone to Mayaguez by taxi to obtain an out bound clearance from Customs. While not required for US flagged vessels, it has be strongly suggested by US Customs official in Ponce, so that there will be no chance of not complying with DR requirements and being subject to possible fines, wink wink, nudge nudge......if you know what I mean!

Entering Ponce harbour, we were welcomed with a large dolphin swimming effortlessly and with such grace beneath our bow. The water was so clear, we were able to watch his/her evey move.

After a brief stop in Ponce for interviews with Customs for the Small Vessel Program registration, we were off to La Parguera for a couple of days. Ponce Customs building is across the street from the Coast Guard building, which sits on the waterfront. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We had been warned by two Customs officers not to leave a dingy unattended there. We left Jan aboard the boats and the rest of us dinghied ashore. Tim stayed with the dink while we visited Customs. The building is barred,  locked on all four sides with cameras everywhere. Eventually we found a door buzzer and the guard granted us entry.
Once inside, we were greeted by the Customs officer, who took our documentaion for verification, while we waited outside in the foyer. We never left the foyer, where the security guard sits, and I knew it was a tough area when all the institutional plastic chairs in the foyer were locked together and chained to the wall, even though we were in a locked building with security guard monitoring the door and cameras. Business complete, we high tailed it back to the boats and weighed anchor for La Parguera.

Upon arrival in La Parguera, the trade winds had picked up, causing white caps inside the protective reef. We sought protection amidst the mangroves and dropped anchor inside Cayo Bayo, closer to shore than our previous visit. Nothing had changed, except a little more construction was underway, a good sign in this struggling economy.

We spent New Years Eve in La Parguera and now we would spend part of Easter weekend here. We were once again greeted by the colorful, cute waterfront homes decorating the canals as we dinghied ashore through the mangroves.

The town was much more vibrant and alive than our last visit, but Easter weekend is fast approaching, and  dispose of trash and do some minor provisioning found this quaint little town much more alive than our last visit. We stopped at Yolanda's Restaurant for happy hour beers and empanadas. The owners and waitress Lisa rememb ered us from our New Year stay and were genuinely pleased to have us return. It was a good feeling to be remembered and appreciated, made for a sense of belonging in this friendly town.

La Parguera from our anchorage





Once again, the police blimp, or "Eye in the Sky" was soaring above us, and we were able to witness it being lowered and raised from our boat. Not sure if it was comforting or not to know that "Big Brother" was watching.

The locals told us that Easter weekend would be very busy, that was evident from all the boats claiming their favorite anchorage spot out around Cayos Caricoles, just a mile or so from shore.  Boat traffic continued to build, and we were sure that by Saturday, one would be able to step boat to boat to reach the islands without touching water.




We got a first hand view as we departed through the channel, bound for Boqueron. Looks like a busy weekend brewing, even in this charming, sleepy little town.