Monday February 22: A Move and Another Anniversary!

One thing that's really nice about living on a boat is that it's so easy to move!

Don't like your spot? Looking for a better view/more dock space? Untie and move - 10 minutes from start to finish.

The opportunity to move came just before we left for Puerto Rico - so we did. We actually hadn't even thought about it. After all we've been in the same slip here at Banana Bay for the past 4 years. You know how comfortable a rut can be :-)

 But when Randy and Cindy (now our next door dockmates) suggested it, it was a no brainer. Better view. Access the dock from our port side door which is much larger the the one on the starboard side - and the added plus of the door being lower (so shorter step down to the dock). Biggest plus? The view!!

Instead of looking out towards the trees, we now look out over the bay. Another plus: larger dock area.

Win, win all around .... and it only took a week to remember to go out of the correct door :-)


Goings on? Not a lot. Projects have been pushed back. One of these days.

Steve did finish up a window project from before we left. The only window that leaked on the boat - above my computer of course!

The sliding window was replaced with an inner and outer solid window instead. Tested it this morning (oddly there hasn't been enough rain lately to even know if it still leaked) and all is good. Guess I can now replace the outlet that kind of got a little blackened when a few drops hit the computer plug!

The dinghy engine is also now ready just in case there is a windless day and dinghy fishing under the bridge is a possibility. The last thing that needed done was to change the engine oil.

All went well and the engine is running very well. Nice when something works the way it should.

Ongoing project for the master chef on board? Trying to duplicate the grilled fish we had in the Dominican Republic - the place where there was no menu but the fish was EXCELLENT.


So start with a nice snapper (yellowtail - caught at Publix :-)  ). Scale and slice at an angle vertically through to the rib bones.

Repeat on the other side. Rub with lime and oil.

Throw on the grill and cook. Seems easy enough, right?

Nope. Guess we should have watched the chef at the restaurant cook! Two issues: skin stuck to the grill and it was undercooked (due to the loss of the skin it was hard to even turn it over).

Second try with lessons learned: start with a smaller fish. Use a fish basket so it can be flipped easily and it won't stick to the grill.

Outcome? WAY better! But still lessons learned: don't cook it too long - fish gets dried out.

And it may be that Italian dressing will be the dressing of choice rather than the lime/oil combo.

We'll see .....

Fun and weird happens going on:

Fun watching Steve and neighbor Gary trying to figure out how to put Gigit's leash on. Randy and Cindy left Cricket and Gigit in our care for a day and Steve was taking them for a walk.

Not sure they ever did get it exactly right :-)







Weird: finding a fish dropped onto our deck by the osprey that flew right by Steve as he was grilling! Very sharp teeth on the needlefish. Good thing he used a rag to pick it up ...

I'm thinking the osprey was a lot more unhappy at having dropped his dinner than we were surprised to find it!


Fun: finding roses on the table on Valentine's Day!



Also fun: folks gathered on the point in front of our boat to watch the storm roll in from the north (you have to remember there is entertainment value in just about anything around here!!).

I just watched from the flybridge!





And always fun: the sunsets. In a couple of weeks the sun will be setting over the water - possible green flash sightings!!

Best part of today? It's the 31st anniversary of my kidney transplant! I'm thinking that in 4 more years, I will have had my brother Tom's kidney longer than he did .... seems like at that point there is no way I would have to give it back to him :-)

Thanks, Tom!!!

Wednesday: Time to go Home

 Monday we decided to just sign up with a snorkeling/kayaking tour that left from right in front of the hotel. Travel to the beach, snacks, great guides. Seemed like the way to go.

Apparently this is a prime spot for the green sea turtles to nest and the guides knew right where the turtles liked to hang out.

Basically you just sort of float along and watch the turtles sitting on the bottom munching away on the sea grass.

Every few minutes a turtle would come to the surface to breathe and then head back down to eat. Steve was trying to sneak up on this one but no dice!

I loved the sign on the bus that was hauling the group around (there were 14 of us). The other sign stated not to get on this bus if you were wet.

Mmmm .... so we were on our way to snorkel then get on the bus to go to the beach and then back on the bus to go back to downtown.

How exactly was that going to work? No problem - we entered the bus wet and sandy but no on yelled at us! The beach was the very popular Flaminco beach on the north end of the island.

On the north end are two old Sherman tanks left over from the days the US Navy used the area for weapons testing (this ended in 1975). Now they have become a unique feature of the beach!

So we spent an hour and a half laying around the beach (in the shade - nice palm trees!) after a lunch at one of the many food vendor places on the beach.

Steve of course walked from one end of the beach to the other - just checking to make sure we didn't miss anything ;-)

Tiring day - but we still sat outside to watch the sunset from the deck. Early to bed tonight for sure!!

Tuesday was our day to check out the rest of the island so we picked up a golf cart for the day. Love these things - especially in the nice weather we've had there.

First stop was a relatively quite beach - Playa Zoni - on the east side of the island. Very few people here because you almost need to have a car or golf cart to get here. It was better than Flaminco - at least we thought so. Really gorgeous. There is a very small dot on the left side of the beach that is Steve ....

The flowers along the road by one of the homes were amazing. They stretched the whole length of the property. Sadly I don't know what kind of flowers they are.

Rented snorkel equipment and checked out a couple of other beaches to see what we could see.

The water is in the low 80's so it was pretty pleasant swimming around. Unfortunately the water was very stirred up and murky from recent weather. A shame as we found a very nice reef right off of the beach on the west side of the island. Another good day ....

Entertaining/weird things: the statue on the end of the breakwall. This is a statue of Hector el protector! He was made by a local artist in 5 days using pallets from the local junk yard and is a permanent installation protecting the island from visitors with bad intentions towards the nature of the island. Up close, he's pretty fearful looking!

Sailboat stuck in the harbor: it was there when we came and it was there when we left.

I don't know how they were ever going to get off. In the picture left you can see the wash from the engine as they tried plowing forward. Every so often the three folks on board would dingy to the main dock and then return to the boat. Definitely entertaining but we felt sorry for them.

 When we flew over the harbor on our way out, it was pretty easy to see that the sailboat (lower center) was anchored over a shoal. Hopefully they at some point made it to the deeper dark blue water!

This was the inside of our little plane. Only 5 passengers on the way back.

We were in the back seat.

The small plane we flew in. It was ok.

Back to Ft. Lauderdale, pick up a car, drive three hours to Banana Bay. Long day.

The nice thing? We knew we were home when we walked down to the boat and all of the lights were on!! Just like Motel 6!!

Our boat neighbors were watching over Yesterday's Dream while we were away and turned the lights on - knowing it would be late when we made it back.

Too nice ;-)

Good trip - good to be back home!

Sunday February 7: Culebra

Casa Cubuy also operates a restaurant - strangely enough though it's a mile down the mountain. My guess is that it there mostly for the guests at the Casa as this is not a very populated area.

Dinner was good (grouper) and a glass of wine sitting and overlooking a rainforest is always good!!

Early to bed as we would again be up and out to make our flight to Culebra. It was about an hour and fifteen minutes back to San Juan.

And then the rainforest acted like a rain forest!

It rained off and on through the night. In my half awake state, the sound of the waterfall just down from the Casa continued to increase in volume throughout the night.

I needed a survival plan as I just knew the whole Casa was going to end up sliding down the mountainside! We were on the top floor so I thought at least we wouldn't be crushed by any floors above us :-)

By morning the roar of the waterfalls was even louder so Steve walked back down the path to check out the calm flowing stream from yesterday. What a difference! Just crazy .... and we indeed did NOT slide down the mountain :-)

Steve found a small snail who wanted to share our view this morning as we had coffee before breakfast. Very cute - I sadly almost squished him. Good thing he was saved by Steve!

Breakfast table was set (fewer guests last night), we ate and were off down the mountain to San Juan.



After a search for both the car return place and the check in gate for our flight to Culebra, we were finally set and ready to go. No security checks on this flight! I guess if you're only going to crash a commuter flight with 4 people on it, it's no big deal. We knew we were ok and the other couple traveling with us (from Wisconsin) seemed ok as well.

Steve was definitely a happy camper as he loves these little planes. I could definitely do without it but every once in a long while is ok.

Culebra is a beautiful island with many surrounding small - mostly rock - islands. The view coming in was really nice.

And we flew right over Flamenco Beach - said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean.

After a short 5 minute drive from the airport we checked into our last minute bargain hotel. It was right downtown and on the 3rd floor. What a view!

We overlooked the harbor and the ferry terminal. It was entertaining just watching the publicos (public buses that go to the beaches) line up - ready for the folks on the ferry. Very reminiscent of Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie.

As luck would have it, our hotel was above one of the local bars! And it was SuperBowl Sunday! It didn't start until 7:30 local time so we ordered some homemade lasagna from the Gypsy Cafe (they just bring your dinner right to the bar!) and enjoyed both the game and the dinner.

Hard to believe thing? We were in an OFFICAL BROWNS BACKER VIEWER LOCATION!! Apparently the owner is a big Brown's fan :-) Who would have guessed on this tiny island off of Puerto Rico we would actually find a Brown's bar!!

Funny Wendy's comment:  "Hard to believe, all right! The eternal optimists are everywhere =)"

Very funny .....

The sunset was hidden by the clouds but you get the idea of what it was like just sitting on the balcony.

What a great idea to stay a few more days ...

Saturday February 6: El Yunque - Rainforest

It was an early up and out again yesterday as the plan was to stop at El Yunque - the only rainforest in the US.

First was the visitor center (included a movie!). Once again our senior pass into the National Parks enabled us to enter free. Best $10 we ever spent!! There really ARE some advantages to being over 65 :-)

The center was very well done and blended in perfectly with the surroundings. Very open and informative. Had some nice interactive things for kids (or adults who acted like kids!). The roads up to and through the mountains were small and winding but Steve again did a great job driving.

Next stop on the way to the top was the observation tower. Quite the views from the top as you could see the ocean.

And you could also see how the cloud cover was heading towards where we were on the mountain.

Who would expect it to rain? The skies were clear with big puffy white clouds. But clearly something was building and headed our way.

As we continued up the mountain, the clouds continued to descend. Then the misty rain started. And then the downpour came - as Steve was in the middle of his walk to the most popular waterfall in the park.

He came back soaking wet! Good thing I didn't go - he said I'd have never made it - very small path - lots of slippery areas.

Yes - good decision! Besides I was sitting in the parking lot jockeying for a parking place for the first half hour he was gone. All worked out though. For more info on the rainforest, click here.

Next stop was our stay at Casa Cubuy - an ecolodge on the south side of the mountain - just outside the park boundaries.



We had stayed at this place 13 years ago with friends Paul and Miriam (from Cleveland). First drive back down the north side, around the east side and back up the south side to end up less than a mile from where we were at the end of the road on the north side! Convoluted for sure.

Steve is standing on the balcony outside our room - 3rd floor. Perfect.

A view from below the lodge looking up toward our room.

There were an incredible number of flowering plants. I can't remember the number of types of orchids that grow here but it was lots! The vase of flowers in the dining area was a great example of the variety of plants in the area.










A walk down to the waterfall which is below the lodge was in order. Of course Steve had already been down there and back as well as checking out the trail that led to a couple of other small waterfalls.
Beautiful area.

Coffee in the morning was a do it yourself and served at 8 am. So we started the day sitting on the veranda (2nd floor).

Breakfast was included - seating was at 9 am - on the dot! It was like a big family by the time breakfast was finished - especially when folks were staying for more than one day.

It's amazing how many of the people we met are from the northern US and Canada  :-) Of course they laugh when we say we're from Florida and it was too cold there so we came to Puerto Rico ...

We were staying tonight yet and then the plan was to fly back to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow (Sunday). But when we checked the weather in Marathon, the question was why? High's in the mid- to low 60's. Winds from the NW at 20 - 30 mph (so cold winds). Should we just stay a few more days? As my Dad would say, why not?

So tomorrow (Sunday) we'll return the rental car as scheduled back to San Juan and catch a short 30 minute flight to Culebra - a beautiful island off of Puerto Rico and stay until Wednesday. Why not? :-)