I am waaaaaaay behind...

Time to catch up...

I spent a few days at Marina Pescadaria in Puerto Real, Puerto Rico.  The owner of the marina, Jose, is very friendly.  Next to the marina office is a small convenience store owned and run by Fernando Mantilla.  He drove me to customs to check back in to the US.  He grew up in the Salinas area and has been sailing his whole life.  He has raced throughout the Caribbean, we hit it off right away, except he smokes like a chimney.  I ended up hiring him and his friend Manuel Portela to move my boat from Puerto Real to Fajardo while I flew home to Austin.

Yes, I am planning on moving to Austin, my girlfriend Deb lives there in an awesome house on top of Cat Mountain.  I loaded up as much stuff as I could carry and flew in to Austin on the 7th of April.  I got settled in the new house, actually had to buy a dresser for my clothes.  It kinda feels like I am going in the opposite direction from where I want to be but Deb is not ready to move the the Caribbean yet, close but not yet.

On the 25th Deb and I flew to San Juan Puerto Rico, she has business down there, both for her "real" job and for the food brokerage she is starting in the Caribbean.  We spent 4 days between San Juan and Fajardo.  Fernando and Manuel left the boat in great shape.  We left Marina Del Rey on Saturday the 30th and sailed to Culebra.  It was a rough trip, motor sailed the whole way, emphasis on motor.  Straight in to the wind(15-20 knots) and waves and current.  If we didn't need to be in St. Thomas on Monday we would not have left, plus Deb only has so much vacation time.  Sunday's sail from Culebra to Hull Bay in St. Thomas was much the same as the day before.  We were greeted by two of Deb's friends on paddle boards as we cam in to the anchorage.  They have lived here 15 plus years and showed us the best place to anchor.  There were 2 other boats in this small bay but we still have plenty of room.  The downside is that we are getting a cross swell here, it make sleeping and everything else more difficult.  We may move to the next bay over(Megan's Bay) later today.  Deb had to pick up her business partner at the airport this morning, he flew in from PR, she will be working most of the day, so I am just goofing off.  Might go for a run and the bottom of the boat needs a good scrubbing, at least on the waterline.

We are under a flood watch until tomorrow morning, it was sunny this morning but the clouds are starting to roll in.

Hopefully I can get Deb to do some guest posts, I am sure she will be better and doing them more frequently than me