Salinas to Esperanza, Vieques Island

Wow, what a gorgeous, lush island. Paradise at last, we made it!
We are arrived at Vieques Island, the largest island in the Spanish Virgins, in fact I believe it is the largest island in all of the Virgins. Esperanza is a delightful, charming beach town, complete with waterfront boardwalk and magnificent views.

We are currently anchored in Sun Bay, just East of Esperanza. The beach stretches for at least a mile, with the mountains forming a picturesque back drop. 

In addition to enjoying a refreshing swim in the clear waters of the bay, we took a dinghy ride into Esperanza to explore. 

We had a delicious, fresh lunch at Duffy's open air restaurant on the boardwalk, overlooking the water. After lunch we stopped at the local history museum, nextdoor to Duffy's, and then on to visit some of the quaint, unique waterfont storeson the boardwalk.

We enjoyed our visit to Esperanza, found both the locals and visitors welcoming and willing to share local knowledge. 

In addition to restaurants and boutique shops, there are two small but reasonably stocked grocery stores in town (Lydia's and The Green Store), providing basic groceries, fresh bread, limited produce and alcoholic beverages.

We departed Puerto Patillas at 4am  so as to capitalize on the calm winds. Swell was 4-6 feet with a six to eight second period, which made for a choppy, but doable four hour crossing to Vieques.
Just as the sun peaked out above the horizon, the mountains of Vieques  were sighted in the distance.

Puerto Patillas
Following a lumpy ride from the Bahia de Infierno anchorage, we decided to reward ourselves with breakfast upon arrival. We dinghied ashore and inquired of a local woman, where we might find desayuno (breakfast). She did not speak English, but motioned for us to follow her. She took us to a neighbor's house who did speak English. We were told that there was nothing open within walking distance, but without hesitation, said she would run us to Burger King. We learned her name was Lilly, and she was born and raised in New York, and returned to Puerto Rico four years ago to raise her daughter. We have found the Puerto Ricans to be warm, generous and helpful people, willin gto lend a hand to strangers, expecting nothing in return. Our friend Lilly was no exception, and should you find yourself in Puerto Patillas someday, she will drop everything to be of assistance. Thanks for your help and friendship Lilly.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing aboard and watching two large manatees swim throughout the bay, regularly lifting their large paddle shaped tails right out of the water, and occassionally raising their hairy nose above water. They seemed very content to swim amongst the three boats at anchor and provide our afternoon entertainment.

Boca del Infierno
A quiet couple of weather days were spent tucked in here in this well protected anchorage amongst the mangroves. Anchored inside the reef, we had a great view of the sea conditions outside.
Susann celebrated her 60th birthday here with steak and cake aboard Lamb Chop, with friends Tim and Jan. Other than over indulging in some good bottles of wine, it was a quiet day. Our daily boat wine is the budget variety and certainly does not have the kick of the higher end, higher octane selections. Note to self, watch out for that high octane stuff.

Salinas
With a first light departure from Ponce our planned destination was Isla Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island). Although just a six mile journey, the wind was howling from the North East with strong sea swell from the East, once again,  not suitable for a comfortable overnight anchorage. Plans were changed, with Salinas as our destination.Given the sea conditions, we hugged the coast line for the most comfortable ride.

Salinas is famous amongst Puerto Ricans for it's cock fights, which are legal here in Puerto Rico. Since this was not an item on our bucket list, we simply observed the cocks in their cages in many of the yards as we walked throughout town. These cocks are prized, and not to be confused with those that wander the streets, along with the stray dogs and cats.
The village is an array of narrow streets dotted with colorful homes and many small restaurants and local watering holes.
Directly outside of the marina gate are several small restaurants,including Drake's offering everything from seafood, empanadillas, burgers. Drakes also offers cruisers wi-fi. Next door is a small canvas and sail shop. The bakery, just up the street has fresh baked bread daily along with pastries and essential groceries. They serve coffee, breakfast and deli sandwiches. The bay and waterfront are dotted with many restaurants which all seemed busy on weekends.

The anchorage in Salinas is well sheltered, in fact it is one of the most protected in all of Puerto Rico. The bay is large with many boats at anchor.

The marina and village are a short dinghy ride, and the town of Salinas is about 1.5 miles away.
The marina offers a free dinghy dock and has a neat bar/snack bar and restaurant on site. We rented a car from Sidney, who runs the local body shop. He will deliver the car to the marina and at $30 per day, it is a good deal. If you pay cash, there is no paperwork at all. Check with the marina office for Sidney's contact information.
Salinas was a re-provisioning stop for us, and the car was greatly appreciated when we went freezer shopping to replace Lamb Chop’s deep freeze. With a five cubic foot unit hanging out of the trunk and spider webbed to the car, we were told that we looked like locals. Thankfully, we were able to get it in the trunk and did not have to travel down the highway with it tied to the roof.

Wal-Mart, in the neighboring town of Santa Isabel is not worth the effort. After visiting the local Selectos Supermercado in Salinas, we found the meats better quality and price at Selectos, and would recommend it over a trip to Wal-Mart.

The following day, we went sightseeing into the Cordillera Mountains, which run through the center of the island. Although we had a map and GPS, we managed to get lost on several occasions. We later discovered that part of our problem was that there are more than one road with the same number, travelling to totally different destinations. After our first hour of travel, we took a wrong turn in Cayey and ended up back in Salinas, where we started. Once we found our way up into the mountains, the scenery was spectacular. Travel is somewhat hairy on these narrow windy roads with locals and countless motorcycles speeding around every bend.
We passed through several neat towns, all with a plaza in the center of town.

One such town was Aibonito. We stopped to stretch our legs and check things out. It was Sunday, about 11am. In the midst of the plaza was the catholic church, with standing room only. There were people standing outside the door. We could here the service from the square, and could see and hear the Methodist church conducting a simultaneous service.

We walked around the town, but most everything was closed. We did find an interesting 99cents store, jammed with everything imaginable.

Back into the car.We had read about Casa Bavaria, a German restaurant up in the mountains, on hwy 155, somewhere between Orocovis and Morovis. The thought of schnitzle and spaetzle was beckoning. Mission accomplished just outside of Morovis. The parking lot was packed at 2;30pm with cars, buses, jeeps and motorcycles. The restaurant/bar is a two storey building with many seating areas for the couple of hundred patrons. The upstairs seating area overlooked the valley, way in the distance.

 The setting and views were very reminiscent of our travels in the Black Forest in Germany.

The food was worth the trip, and if it wasn't so warm and a two hour trip back, we would have purchased some dessert to go from the pastry shop. They also sell their home made bratwurst to go, 3lbs for $12.

Travelling back on hwy 149, we passed several waterfalls cascading down from the mountain tops.

At one of these waterfalls, at least 70 motorcycles had stopped, and along with parked cars, the road was almost impassable. Some of the folks were on the road admiring the falls, some were swimming in the cold pool beneath the falls, while others were heading to the roadside bar. All seemed oblivious to passing traffic. We would like to have stopped for a photo op, but there was already lots of kaos and confusion so we decided not to add to it.

We arrived back in Salinas, sweary, especially Alan who had been driving all the winding road, still full from our great German repas.

The following two days were spent in the Salinas anchorage, awaiting favorable travel conditions.