April 23, 2022
After our 10 day stay, we left Salinas at 5:45 a.m. on Friday, April 22. We needed to leave early to beat the sea breeze that begins around 9:00 a.m. Our goal was Patillas, a small fishing village approximately 22 miles away. We arrived at 11:00 a.m. after a rainy, squally passage. The winds and seas were manageable, but we were very glad to be “anchor down” in Patillas; our last anchorage on the south coast of Puerto Rico. Next up was crossing the Vieques Sound to the island of Vieques, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands and also a part of Puerto Rico.
We left the interesting anchorage of Esperanza to head down island toward the eastern end. On April 28, we anchored in the secluded anchorage of Bahia de la Chiva. For most of our three days there we were the only boat. We walked the beach and were greeted by the many picnickers along the shores. We did a little snorkeling as well as hooked up our Brownie “hooka” and cleaned the bottom of Slow Dancer. It had been a while since it was done and it showed! Lots of barnacles.
On May 1, we celebrated Ken’s birthday by sailing across the Vieques channel and into the town of Dewey’s anchorage before ten.
