Weather Gods Have Been Very Very Good To Us

Leaving Enmedio Reef

No need to hurry out of the anchorage today.  Normally traveling along the south coast of Puerto Rico requires short hops beginning at dawn.  Somehow we've been granted a window of ridiculously light winds.  What we would expect to see between dawn and say 9 am... we're getting all day long!

The passage between two reefs was calm.  Looking at the chart at these anchorages, one would think it's a minefield of danger.  I'm not sure that it wouldn't be in big winds and seas, but our incredible luck made it all easy for us.  

Easily visible reef with small breaking waves

Arrecife Enmedio was a little bit of a dud.  No snorkeling really.  But since we had a great snorkel opportunity earlier that day, we weren't too disappointed about it.  It was a nice flat place that provided a wonderful night's sleep before moving on the next morning.  

Is that it?  No... Anyone want to buy an island?

We did a bit of revision to our itinerary while we lounged around.  We decided to pass on Ponce and make a run for The Yacht Club Marina at Palmas del Mar for Mother's visit.  We still had five days to get there and it would be closer to the airport by land...  And the weather forecast promised continued perfection all the way through.  Instead of basing our movements on weather, we could actually decide where we wanted to go just for fun!

Next stop... Gilligan's Island!  

The "island" is just a small patch of mangrove with sand really.  The anchorage is very well protected from any direction and good holding.  If there was any hint of ugly weather in the forecast this would be a great place to hide out.

N17°56.674

W066°52.489

One of those homes is where Pepe lives

When we first arrived we got a message from one of our former Yacht Club friends.  She was trying to get us connected with her friend Pepe, who was literally looking at us in the anchorage from his home.  How cool is that???  Unfortunately he had to work until Saturday and although we had a little breathing room, we really wanted to get around to the east coast as soon as we could... so it was not to be this time.  

Tourists come to the island by boat

Looks like a great park for locals to camp and hang out

Mooring balls good only for birds

There seemed to be good snorkel spots in-between the mangroves so we suited up and took off to find some cool water.

The best part of snorkeling today... a HUGE puffer!

We were tempted to remain here another night or two so that we could meet Pepe and see the town... but the delightful weather beckoned us onward.  If we stay here only one night we could squeeze in a visit to Caja de Muertos... a new prospect that wasn't even on our original agenda.  

So in the end, the anchorage that was supposed to be so awesome held less appeal due to the superb weather conditions.  So sometimes even when the weather gods are very very good... it means you must move on!