We managed to sneak in to Culebra without getting caught by the Fajardo Marine Police (read this article for details on our run in with Barney Fife) and discovered, to our relief, that the local police and residents were fine with us being there as long as we followed the rules related to the Covid-19…
With Puerto Rico shut down as a result of Covid-19, we knew we needed to get out of San Juan. First, it was the epicenter of Covid on the island. Second, the marina was very expensive and we didn’t have budget to stay there indefinitely. Finally, the marina manager needed us to leave as he…
With the decision made to return to the US and a good weather forecast for the next 7 days, we made preparations to leave Culebra on March 30, 2020. We would make a direct passage to Florida, with a short stop on the main island of Puerto Rico to get water (both our watermakers were…
I didn’t really want to stop in San Juan. I thought it would be just another big city: dirty, touristy, and overpriced. My feelings aside, it made sense to stop in San Juan to re-provision before continuing on south. So we stopped. I was wrong! Michelle and I loved San Juan. We thought we might…
After a very short month in the Ragged Islands, we were ready to continue on to Puerto Rico. March weather patterns can make it difficult to make the 690 mile trip, but there are a number of places along the way that a cruiser can duck in to get out of rough weather, including several…
The Ragged Islands are located in the Southern Bahamas, southwest of Long Island and North of Cuba. It is a group of islands that are far enough out of the way and difficult enough to get to that they are rarely visited by cruisers. There is a small town called Duncantown, located on the southernmost…
We were were anxious to get away from Florida, but not because we don’t like Florida. We were rushing to push off because we have noticed that it is too easy to get stuck at the dock, fixing “JUST ONE LAST THING!” It is especially dangerous if you’re having a vendor do work for you….
We’ve been through this before. You buy a boat (new or used – it doesn’t matter) and you spend the first two to twelve months (sometimes longer!) fixing broken gadgets, adding new thingies, and making it a comfortable space for you to be in. In 30+ years of owning multiple boats, I’ve never been able…
We finally pushed off from Florida on January 29 with plans to cross the Gulf Stream and continue across the bank to New Providence. Our plan was to pull in to Nassau so that we could clear in to the Bahamas and then continue on to the Exumas. As we approached New Providence, we decided…
The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity. I could write a book, but instead, I’ll provide a very quick summary: August 2019: Accepted a contract for the sale of our 47 foot Nordhavn, which we had cruised to Texas for the summer. September 2019: After looking at boats in Seattle and Alaska,…
