PUERTO RICO.......................................

We moved rapidly along the coast of PUERTO RICO, leaving very early each morning in darkness to go against the trade winds before they barrel in above twenty knots during the afternoon................ Spectacular mountain ranges on the port side.............with deep seas on the starboard side.............. The shore line at BOQUERON on the right. This is the land in which cactuses are on the hillsides............... Aand in particular this "Turk's Head cactus"............. By the 4th of July we have made it to the Spanish Virgins, a group of islands half-way between Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands........... Volcanic outcrops surrounded by shallow blue water..................... And on this day the island of CULEBRITA was invaded by a powerboat armada..............Hundreds of them, all out for a day in the sun. We chose to go to the top of the hillside and take in the view.............And there were twice as many boats after lunch............




In amogst the rocks we found the 'jacuzzi' pool and took full advantage of it.............And on the hillside you can see that the windward side of the cactuses get a real beating and look like cancerous growths..........Fantastic to finally have a sunny day with normal winds..............And then a second sailboat entered the bay, ..............No longer were we the sole sailboat amongst the multitude of powerboats and jet-skis........Wonderful people from San Juan who invited us over for a most delicious "Paella", filled with fish, king crab, clams, scollops and seasoning to die for.......... Then again Dwight Rodrigues is a master chef with a number of restaurants and 160 employees, who still managed to do the cooking on his one day off and entertained us royally.................That's the 'Super Chef' and his wife Marjorie below.......... Smell that PAELLA.........



Summer is here and flowers are in full bloom and we have sweat running down..................... Never mind...............



This is what the 'Queen of Florida' has to resort to in order to get her frehly washed hair to dry......................... Don't you feel sorry for her to be out her in the tropics, leading this life of hardship...............

Tomorrow we set sail early for the U.S. virgin Islands and St. Thomas to meet up with a beautiful family for whom I did a charter ten years ago............. Must have done a reasonable job because they wanted me to do it again............This time we have orgainsed Captain Glenn Miller of "TREEHOUSE" fame, to actually do the charter on a 44ft catamaran while we assist............... Best of both worlds and two dinghies for snorkelling.............. More later............... Meantime just sympathizse with Laurie.....................