I weighed anchor under sail and had another wing on wing sailing day with light winds and a well working spinnaker boom. I went by some nasty reefs and “Sail Rock”. I imagined that all these reefs and the rock must have been here when Columbus and the first explorers came.
Culebra could be seen from far away but there are a few reefs right in front of the entrance to the bay that must be avoided. I took the mainsail down before entering the channels through the reefs and was able to sail all the way into the bay. The bay is huge and wasn’t very full so I decided to try to anchor under sail, too. This was the first time that I had tried that and to my great satisfaction everything went well and so it turned out the first time that I had never used the engine all day, not even for a minute.
After getting the dinghy ready and finding the dinghy dock I walked to the airport (a small airport and not very far away) to report to CBP and clear into the country. I had put on a shirt and real shoes to make a good impression. Unfortunately by the time I was halfway to the airport the shirt was soaking wet from sweating and looked awful. This is one thing I don’t understand: Why am I always drenched and sweating like a pig and everybody else looks like they are just going to church with their best Sunday outfits and everything clean and dry? It can’t only be the color of my skin. Other white people don’t sweat either and besides my skin isn’t really that white anymore. And people with darker skin definitely don’t seem to sweat at all. At the airport the officer wasn’t in for the day so I would need to report myself through the internet. For that I would need a WIFI which had yet to appear. As I was just leaving there was a man with darker skin and an airport uniform entering the hall. His shirt was drenched like mine. I was relieved. After months of not belonging here finally was a sweating person who was definitely not a tourist. I now didn’t need to worry about being the only one. Here was a sweat relative (sort of). He told me that the CBP officer would return the next morning.
I walked back into the small town and found a taco bar with a WIFI. I had a taco and a beer. The CBP app said they were processing my request. I checked the weather and sent some messages. Still processing my request… Had another beer. It was afternoon and fairly hot outside and I was by now a little tipsy. “Standby for a video interview with a CBP officer”..oh no. How would that work? The salsa music in the bar was incredibly loud I and I wouldn’t be able to hear one word unless I held the phone to my ear but then it wouldn’t be a video interview and outside of the bar there was no internet reception. Instead of the video interview it then went back to “processing”and a bit later I got a message that I was approved for entry into Puerto Rico and that they had also issued me a cruising permit for the US for one year. Now wasn’t that something. Back to Amy and down came the yellow flag.
I went back to the airport the next day to ask some questions and the officer there (also very helpful and welcoming) printed out my cruising license for me. I then did laundry and was immediately reminded of old times when making a phone call home from a US phone booth cost 6 or so dollars for a minute and you needed to have it all in quarters. The laundromat cost 7.50 for washing and drying…all in quarters. Luckily the bakery had change for a ten. I spent the rest of the day walking around the town, trying to get a sim card (no luck) and crossing the hills to the western side to a beach.
On Sunday I took a long hike to the north of the island to a lagoon and Flamenco beach which was very beautiful. I swam, read in “Treasure Island” (in Spanish so I could practice a bit for all the next stops to come) and enjoyed life.
On Monday I went back to the airport and checked out of the eastern quadrant of Puerto Rico (there are four and apparently you need to check in and out of each one as you go). Went back to the ship and got everything in order for an overnight passage to the south coast of the main island and relaxed for a few hours before weighing the anchor.
