Pickled in Brine

Cap’n and Crew stayed on a few extra days at South Side Marina to clean up, replenish food stocks and fix broken boat bits.  With the help of dockside neighbours, Aleisha and Doug, also Hunter owners, the Cap’n managed to remove the cranky main sail stuck firmly in the mast housing and pack it away, ready for St Martin and the riggers.  

Initially, we had hatched a plan to take the wide and easy Ships Channel south, then after making a quick fuel stop at San Jose on the northern side of Puerto Rico, island hop the Virgins to reach St Martin.  A consultation with the weather gods indicated the folly of that choice, so we set off around the northern side of Turks & Caicos in calm weather.  Over the days, winds steadily increasing in strength, and naturally, found our nose.  We had thought this traditional route might offer us a more direct course for the Virgin Islands.  

Easy?  Well, not really!  We spent 5 days, always with wind head on, bashing and crashing our way south east.  Then fuel became an issue.  At the weather’s worst, the engine cut out (fuel starved rather than empty tanks we later concluded) so we put out additional sail and adjusted our course back to San Juan.  Even that became a challenge given a night arrival, a busy harbour and our unknown fuel tank capacity.  So, we changed course yet again, put up more sail and ran downwind in the island’s calm night lee making for a protected Puerto Real on PR’s west coast.  Fingers crossed that the Mona Passage did not live up to its lively reputation and cause us further grief!  

After much effort, 5 testing days sailing and lots & lots of tacking, we made a sheltered, mangrove lined bay of Puerto Real.  What a relief!  With clothes and hair stiff with salt, we recalled learning at school that Admiral Lord Nelson’s body was shipped home in 1805, preserved in a barrel of brandy.  Instead, we have inadvertently gone for the cheaper pickling option – salt.  From our Med days, we recalled bacalao, a famously salt preserved fish that adds an adventurous aroma to Spanish markets.  After 5 days at sea, we were very salty and smelly too!  We threw out the hook, washed off our salt encrusted selves and then ate the best meal we’d had in days.  A medicinal rum (not brandy) aided a sound sleep.

There are other forms of helpful medication available too!

Next morning, our trusty Cap’n sussed out the nearby marina fuel dock and on meeting welcoming staff and friendly fellow boaters, booked us in 5 days.  The best health retreat we could imagine!  So here we sit, plotting our coming course through the Spanish and British Virgins; all in all, it will take much longer than we planned to get to St Martin.  Still, we are now officially on (Caribbean) island time, mon. Caramba!

Catch of the Day at Puerto Real