It’s official. We left Sapphire Beach Marina as planned on April 15. We got our second dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine on April 9 and, thereafter, spent the next 6 days finalizing our sail plan, provisioning, pre-paring some meals and generally getting S/V Che Figata ready for the journey to New England where we will spend the summer. We know that family and friends are very interested in our well-being while we are in transit so we are pasting our itinerary through our arrival in the Turks & Caicos below. After that we will spend about 10 days in Turks, meeting up with some friends from St. Louis, and then we are off to the Bahamas where we hope to spend a few weeks before arriving in Connecticut on or about June 5. We don’t have the post Turks itinerary finalized yet but when we do we will publish it. In the meantime, for those interested in following along, we are posting (as connectivity allows) brief daily updates on Instagram (@sailingchefigata).
So far, knock on holly and teak, our trip towards New England has gone as planned. We started out with a stop on Culebra which is part of the Spanish Virgin Islands (officially considered part of Puerto Rico) and enjoyed our first night, all alone, right off the coast of the island. Though we know it is big ocean, we continue to be astounded how few boats we see as we move from point A to point B and how we can be anchored in the Caribbean without another boat in sight. To be honest, for one of us (we will keep you guessing whether it’s the NYC girl or the kid from a town of 500 in Northern Michigan), it will take some getting used to. As spectacular as it is to hear only the sound of the wind and surf and capture a sense of awe that you are stepping back in time, there is some vulnerability you feel when you are on your own anchored in a remote location. But, of course, that is precisely the point of traveling by sailboat — to visit untouched places that are not easily accessible any other way.
Given the natural beauty of Culebra we decided to ease into our sail back North slowly and spend day 2 in the area, picking up our anchor and heading over to Caya Louis Pena just a stone’s throw (or maybe a fish toss) from the mainland of Culebra. There we found a lovely protected bay with a quintessential palm tree lined sandy beach. Though still secluded, we did have two “neighbors” (one catamaran and one super yacht that was a late afternoon arrival) sharing the anchorage with us. One of us slept much better having a little company.
And that brings us to day 3! On day 3 we headed to Vieques and we were once again reminded whey we like to sail. With favorable winds (right direction and speed) we flew to Vieques at 8+ knots. While that may not sound fast, when you are heeled over and have the wind in your face you feel like you are traveling at a much greater speed. As we tried to come up with analogies to explain to non sailors as what it feels like, the concept of a magic carpet kept coming to mind. Of course, we then had to Google magic carpet to see whether this was truly an original thought. We were not surprised to see that it is a very common comparison. So much so that there are many sailboats named Magic Carpet. If you are looking for a good sailboat name we would cross that one off the list. It’s been taken many times.
As we type this we are at the end of day 4 and anchored off the coast of Isla Caja de Muertos, which is an uninhabited island off the coast of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, today was not a day that reminds us why we like to sail. The wind was light and dead behind us the whole day so we motor sailed and then motored (without the sails) along the Southern coast of Puerto Rico for about 9 hours straight. A Southeast swell kept us bobbing and rolling all day—particularly when we took the sails down as the wind moved further east. Our big excitement was spotting and avoiding the small buoys that seemed to be indiscriminately placed along our sail path. Some flying fish also provided much needed entertainment.
We were rewarded for our perseverance with as truly lovely anchorage. As mentioned, we dropped our anchor off the coast of an uninhabited island. We are currently all alone, looking across the ocean at the lights from mainland Puerto Rico and listening to the sound of the surf. The highlight of Caja de Muertos is its lighthouse. (Pictures posted on Instagram). Built in 1887 by Colonial Spain, the lighthouse stands at the highest point on the island and is unique and unusual for its “Lorraine Cross” double-arm “T” shape. Though the lighthouse was automated in 1945 and, therefore, is now boarded up, to support its operation back in the day when it was all manual, it was built with two keeper’s apartments, each consisting of a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room, and a bathroom. A spiral stairway leads up the cylindrical tower that housed the lantern room. Given the external splendor of this lighthouse we can only imagine what the interior might look like. Too bad they don’t rent out rooms!
Tomorrow (4/19) which is when we will likely post this we are off to Boqueron, PR and from there we do our first overnight sail to the Dominican Republic. Likely, we will post our next blog entry from there.
As promised above, here’s the itinerary — as it exists thus far:
April 15: Leave Sapphire arrive Spanish Virgin Islands (Culebra) – anchor
April 16: Spend day on Culebra (Caya Louis Pena)
April 17: Depart Culebra for Vieques – anchor
April 18: Depart Vieques for Isla Caja De Muertos, PR – Anchor
April 19: Depart Isla Caja De Muertos for Boqueron – Anchor
April 20: Depart Boqueron PR for Samana, Dominican Republic (~26 hrs to DR; 160 nautical mile) – Overnight passage. No anchor or marina
April 21: Arrive Dominican Republic – Puerto Bahia Marina (Samana)
April 22: Puerto Bahia Marina
April 23: Puerto Bahia Marina or National Park
April 24: Depart Puerto Bahia Marina for Bahia De San Lorenzo – Anchor
April 25: Depart Bahia De San Lorenzo for Puerto Plata (~21 hrs to Puerto Plata; 126 nautical miles) – Overnight passage. No anchor or marina
April 26: Arrive Puerto Plata – Ocean World Marina
April 27: Stay Puerto Plata; Covid test day (required to enter Turks & Caicos)
April 28: EXTRA DAY! (Built in just because)
April 29: Depart DR (Puerto Plata) for Turks & Caicos (~26 hrs to T&C – 158 nautical miles) – overnight passage; no anchor or marina
April 30: Arrive Providenciales – Blue Haven Marina
May 1: Blue Haven Marina
May 2: Blue Haven Marina
May 3: Depart Blue Haven Marina for Northwest Point
May 4: Depart Northwest Point for Grace Bay
May 5: Depart Grace Bay for Fort George
May 6: Day at Fort George
May 7: Extra day for whatever!
May 8: Arrive back to Blue Haven Marina
May 9: Stay at Blue Haven Marina
May 10: Depart Marina for Mayaguana Island (~58 nautical miles)
Until we post again . . . .
1 Comment
Kathryn · April 21, 2021 at 9:15 pm
Marvelous!
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