Donna returned to St. Thomas as scheduled on April 12 and we found time to pick up some groceries before departing the USVI. On the way out of St. Thomas on April 14 we stopped to take on diesel fuel for the first time since departing Norfolk last November. To fill the tanks we needed 109 gallons, a little over half our fuel capacity. Only 109 gallons for 5 months of cruising! It was tempting to try to make it all the way back to the US before buying fuel, but with spring's lighter winds and the continuing price inflation, we decided to be prudent....

  Leaving St. Thomas we headed due west to the "Spanish" Virgin Islands - the group of islands also known as the Passage Islands located between St. Thomas and Puerto Rico. They are part of the PR territory and include Vieques and Culebra - the two largest islands and the only populated ones in the group. Compared to St. Thomas - only 15 miles to the east - these islands are significantly less developed. We visited several anchorages around Culebra and Vieques and enjoyed the serenity of remoteness that existed in most spots.

Arriving first at Culebra the afternoon of the 14th, we anchored at Ensenada Honda briefly to visit the tourist office, and then moved a short distance to Ensenada Dakity for two nights. While there Dave went up the mast again and installed a second masthead crane sheave he acquired in St. Thomas for the mainsail halyard that should resolve the chafe problem long enough for us to get back to Virginia. We left the spare halyard installed to test out the new sheave before switching back to the primary halyard. More troubleshooting on the tricolor navigation light was unsuccessful.  

On the 16th we circumnavigated Culebra clockwise to view its many bays and record on our charts the number of moorings provided free of charge at each location. We moored at Isla Culebrita, a small island just northeast of Culebra, following our circumnavigation, did some snorkeling, and sailed south to Vieques on the following day.  

Vieques was once a major bombing/artillery range of the US Navy and is uninhabited on the eastern half. There are posted warnings of unexploded ordnance along the shore and in the bays, but the remoteness of this island is a big attraction for cruising yachts - including us. We honored the "No Pase" signs on the beach, but we did see ample examples of military weapons and debris while snorkeling. A bit scary, actually.... The US Navy presence is now greatly reduced at Vieques, but in some ways has been replaced by the affectionately known "Puerto Rican Navy" - great numbers of recreational power boats from nearby Puerto Rico that spend weekends at these "out islands".

At Vieques we enjoyed anchorages at Ensenada Honda and Bahia Salina del Sur on the southern coast, and the absolutely lovely Bahia Icacos on the northern shore which we were fortunate to visit because the extremely light winds allowed us to anchor on this side of the island. While at Bahia Icacos, the light conditions also allowed Dave to ascend the mast once again to swap the spare and primary mainsail halyards as the new masthead crane sheave was working well.     

On April 22nd we motored in glass calm conditions back north toward Culebra and moored at Cayo Luis Pena, a small island on the south side of Culebra, for two nights. While there Dave went up the mast one more time with a new idea to fix the tricolor light and was successful! Now we could make our upcoming night passages without using the deck level navigation lights which use more power and can be annoying to nighttime eyesight. Maybe this means no more trips to the top of the mast...  

At Cayo Luis Pena we met new friends LaRue and Susan on S/V Southern Cross and visited each others' boats for early evening relaxation (aka Happy Hour). We had to do it two days in a row to get it right….