We headed west from St Thomas mid February to Culebra and then on to the Mainland of Puerto Rico. Along with Vieques these are considered the Spanish Virgins. The islands are lush and tropical compared to the American and British Virgin islands. And, they definitely are a part of the US. People easily slip from Spanish to perfect English at the bat of an eye. They are warm and welcoming. We agreed we are going to enjoy our time here.

Provisioning in Puerto Rico was even better than in the States. The country is lush and green and fruits and vegetables were plentiful. All the American standard stores including Sam's and Costco were available.

Our first stop was the town of Dewey on Culebra. After checking into Customs by phone we ventured out for a pleasant evening and wandered the town. We caught up with Captain Jack and Captain Pat who run a snorkel adventure and other locals at "The dingy Dock Restaurant" later we ordered a pizza and watched the sun go down from the ferry dock steps. We were even treated to a green flash.

After running errands and provisioning on the mainland of Puerto Rico we drove up the narrow winding road up El Yunke to see the rainforest and to get a look at the waterfalls on  the Rio Blanco. Along the way we stopped for a delightful Spanish lunch that our new best friend Mary cooked for us at Mountain View.

Puerto Rico Continued:

We returned with our Charter Guests to Puerto Del Rey and drove them to the airport in San Juan. Since we enjoyed our drive into the rainforest, when we first arrived we decided to do some more exploring. We took a drive up the winding road on the north east side of El Yunke up past waterfalls and rivulets high into the clouds and rain and out into the sunshine again. It was heaven on earth.

The rainforest is part of our National Park System. There is a wonderful visitors center where we learned so much.

The following day we set sail for Isabel Segundo on the island of Vieques. It would be our last stop before returning to the St. Thomas and St. John.