Buenos Aires to Plymouth Massachusetts (Part 7) Landfall in the United States

A beautiful dawn as we leave St. Thomas astern

Our final trek to the United States took us from Tortola to Culebra (Spanish Virgin Islands),  then to Puerto Rico to clear in to U.S. customs. Moving west northwest across the Mona Passage, we skirted along the north shore of the Dominican Republic, then jumped up to the Exumas with a quick check in for fuel in Georgetown. We then sailed up the Exuma Sound, slipped across the bank south of Nassau then north and around Chubb Cay, before making a rhumb line for Stuart. Making the voyage was Maite and me, my son Benjamin and our captain and friend, Martin Tate. Also along for the first time was our golden retriever Tyler and our black lab Nala. We left on June 12 and arrived in Stuart on June 20.

Culebra (Spanish Virgin Islands) under U.S. Control

Compared to our trip up South America this was a breeze. I was amazed at how close Culebra was to St. Thomas. It was clearly visible as we passed around St. Thomas' northern shore. Once we cleared Culebra, Puerto Rico was visible in the distance, almost before we had left the Spanish Virgins. We cleared U.S. Customs and Immigration in Fajardo, but the highlight of the trip was the town of San Juan. 

Maite on the streets of San Juan

The town was bustling, and the Spanish fort guarding the entrance to San Juan harbor was fascinating. San Juan was the jumping off point of the entire American adventure for the Spanish. Most bounty loaded aboard ship was brought to the safety of San Juan harbor before staging for the trip home to Spain. Likewise, ships full of goods to sell or troops making the transatlantic crossing could always count on San Juan as a safe harbor, in which to resupply and rest before moving on to South American, Caribbean or North American targets.

Ben at the fort, looking at one of the batteries

View across entrance to San Juan harbor from the Fort

Looking northeast from the Fort at San Juan. A decorative graveyard.

The original entrance gate to San Juan, placed
in the fortified west facing wall.

Dry moat that kept attacking armies at bay in front of the fort

Maite just outside main entrance to San Juan used in the 17th and 18th centuries

The city of San Juan just inside the fortifications

Map showing the central position of San Juan in most of Spain's Caribbean campaigns.

San Juan was where all the galleons resupplied before heading home filled with the treasures of the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans. As such it had to be well fortified. It stood guard over the bay of San Juan and along with the tiny fort across the inlet, prevented enemy ships from entering and protecting the vessels within. It was actually used until WWII.

After San Juan we sailed along the north shore of Puerto Rico, across the Mona Passage and just off shore of the Dominican Republic before we turned north. We had been told that Cuban waters can be a hassle as both the Cubans and Americans take turns boarding you and that was something I would just as soon avoid. So northwest we went. We also sidestepped the Turks as we were told they were extremely dog unfriendly, and a doggy quarantine was right up there with being boarded by the Cuban Coast Guard on the list of stuff to miss. We started fishing again once we were clear of the Virgins and had success with several tunas, barracuda and lastly a blue shark just south of Nassau. We were warned about the risks of Ciguatera and even though the risks were very low for predatory fish like Mahi and Tuna we had decided to wait.

Spinnaker up, nice smooth run, until...

I have mentioned on previous posts that we are relatively inexperienced sailors. Nowhere is this more evident than when using our asymmetric spinnaker. During the passage between Puerto Rico and the Exumas we had a beautiful 15 knot wind from astern. We put up our spinnaker and we were rewarded by a steady 8.5 kts and a very calm ride. We were having such a good time that we put two trolling lines out looking for dinner. That when the s*** started to hit the fan. 

The spinnaker is deployed differently from all other sails in that its halyard is raised while it is ensheathed in a sock. The sock is then raised and the sail opens as it catches the wind. Most experienced sailors might tell you that it is usually a good idea to raise the mainsail while using the spinnaker so that you can blanket the spinnaker or block the wind and depower it while trying to lower the sock back down. Without the main up, this can be difficult if the wind increases at all. Now Jason will tell you that it is easy-peazy up to about 20 kts of wind, but that has just not been our experience. I look forward to actually sailing with him and learning his techniques. Jason's spinnaker techniques are similar to others I have seen on YouTube videos, but it always appears that the instructors in these videos are raising and lowering the sock in only a kitten's breath of wind. That I can do. For now I still consider myself a bit "snake bit" with the spinnaker. Read on!

Anyway, we were smoothly cruising along at about 9 kts and we suddenly got strikes on both fishing lines. We went instantaneously from a leisure cruise to being short handed. Ben and Maite took one rod and I took the other. Martin was attempting to douse the spinnaker and was asking me to ease the sheet while I was trying to land the tuna. Trying to turn off the wind, I also started the engines to help maintain heading, and push us down wind to "depower" the sail. As I was doing this, Martin appeared to be doing impressions of the flying nun on the bow, so I released the sheet, secured the fishing rod and went forward to help. Not a good idea as now the sheet was so loose, it wrapped around the flailing sail, grabbed the clue and ripped it off. Oops! The sheet then went overboard and promptly got wound up in our port propeller stalling the engine Oops again. We did manage to boat one of the tunas. We joked (sort of) that our new tuna cost about $120/pound. It did taste great...but honestly, not that great. The seas had really started getting bumpy so we held off on going overboard to free the prop until we could pull into a cove in the lower Exumas. The next day, after a quick jump overboard with a mask, the prop was freed in 5 seconds, so we were off again with both engines and only the spinnaker and my reputation as a sailor as casualties. 

Ben's million dollar tuna.

I have heard people say that God will never give you more than you can handle, or that He only hits you with a hammer big enough to get your attention. This adage can be just as appropriately applied to sailing. I seem to learn something every day. Some days I break stuff and learn a lot more.

Just south of Nassau, Ben got three strikes, each a bit bigger than the last. First a medium barracuda, then a very big barracuda. Lastly, he set the hook into the biggest fight he had on the entire trip. 45 minutes later, he brought a shark along side. Exhausted, it just hung on the end of the line...for a minute or two. Martin was keen on cutting the hook and freeing the shark, but the shark had other ideas. Luckily they did not include eating Martin's hand. Fishing hooks are made of tough stuff, too tough to cut with a pair of needle nose pliers. After a brief rest, with a quick twist of his tail he spun up and onto the line which he quickly bit through and he was gone. Sorry Maite missed the quick spin move, but we were all running for our lives and the camera got switched off. Oh well.

After skirting around several thunderstorms off the Florida coast and having night fall upon us, we slid into Stuart harbor and the 20 mile pretzel that gets you past a gazillion markers, the railroad bridge, a major highway and into the marina. Home at last!