Newfoundland and South

I have some incredible news to share – Ziggy has been found, alive and well! When Ziggy took off on December 11, and after searching for him for 3+ weeks, I had lost hope that we’d ever be reunited. I hoped he had stowed away on a mega-yacht and was sailing the seas in style, but I would never be certain.

On March 27, I received a phone call from Tory, a man saying my cat is on his patio. We still get these calls, though rarely now as it’s been nearly 4 months since I put up the posters, so I was prepared to say “thanks for calling, but that’s not my cat”. What I didn’t expect was Tory asking me several questions first – where and when did I lose him? Did I tie a rope around him?! After I gave him the details and confirmed I would NEVER tie a rope around a cat, he sent me photos and we connected on FaceTime. The cat on his patio certainly looked like Ziggy, my gut told me it was my Ziggy, but I’ve been down that road before and since I am now hundreds of miles and a very expensive plane ride away, so I had to be sure. I asked Tory to please keep feeding the cat and at his first opportunity, bring him to the Humane Society to see if the cat has a microchip. Two days later the Humane Society called – the chip number was a match!

Once the tears of joy subsided, I needed to figure out how to bring Ziggy home. Sailing there is out of the question as it would take about 2 weeks and that’s assuming perfect weather conditions. There are no direct flights from where we were (in Grenada); I would have to fly via Miami and the trip would require two overnights and over 20 hours of travel time in each direction. So I called my brother, Elmars, and asked him if he wants to take a short trip to the Virgin Islands…24 hours later, Elmars was on a plane to St Thomas.  After a couple days and two plane plane rides, Ziggy is now at home in Cleveland with my brother (I’ll go get him soon). 

Ziggy is now safe and happy, eating and snuggling like never before. My theory is somebody found Ziggy and wanted to keep him. They fed him (Ziggy has actually gained weight) but didn’t have a clue that you can’t walk a cat on a rope. Their mistake was my win – Ziggy escaped and found his way back to me.  Truly a miracle.

Now back to our volcano journey…

Montserrat is a small island, approximately 40 sq. miles, east of Antigua. It is a British territory, still supported by the UK government. The official language is English, their currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, though US dollars are widely accepted, and the population is approximately 5,000.

Before 1995 nearly 13,000 people lived in Montserrat, with the majority living in the capital city, Plymouth, on the south-western shore of the island in the shadow of the Soufrière Hills Volcano. It was a vibrant Caribbean city with a heathy economy consisting of fishing, agriculture and mostly tourism. It was home to many businesses including Barclay’s Bank, shops and hotels. That all began to change in July 1995 when Soufrière Hills unexpectedly woke up after hundreds of years of dormancy.

Vents opened up at the summit of the volcano, spewing foul-smalling gas and steam. Several small earthquakes rattled the island, triggering initial evacuations. Then came mudflows and sulphur dioxide emissions, prompting more evacuations – there were 3 major evacuations in total. In December 1995, the first pyroclastic flow descended from Soufrière Hills. By April 1996, the capital city of Plymouth and surrounding villages were completely evacuated.

What is a pyroclastic flow vs a lava flow?  I’ll let AI explain it: Pyroclastic flows (all Caribbean volcanos) are fast-moving (up to 700 km/h), extremely hot (500–1000°C) avalanches of gas, ash, and rock, usually occurring during explosive eruptions and causing instant destruction. Lava flows (like in Hawaii) are slower, viscous streams of molten rock that generally move at a few miles per hour, destroying property through incineration and burial. 

June 25, 1997, is known as Black Wednesday in Monserrat. At 12:59 pm, the 300 foot lava dome blew in a violent explosion that lasted for 20 minutes, unleashing massive pyroclastic flows that buried Plymouth and nine villages. While most of the population had already been evacuated to other Caribbean islands or the UK, tragically 19 people lost their lives.

On Christmas Day 1997, more earthquakes shook the island and at 3am on the 26^th of December, approximately 55 million cubic metres of dome material flowed at speeds of nearly 300 km per hour, and in less than a minute devastated a 7 km wide arc of city and landscape.

Soufrière Hills’ last major eruption took place in February 2010. Today, two-thirds of Montserrat remain an exclusion zone, requiring special licenses and permission to enter it. According to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, the volcanic hazard level remains at 1. which means volcanic activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano is low.  The volcano is monitored 24/7 by volcanologists.

So why would we go to Montserrat if most of it is closed to the public? Because the north end of the island, in stark contrast to the south of the island, was protected by the Center Hills Mountain range. It is stunningly beautiful, lush and tropical.  The roadways are impossibly steep as they wind up and down the mountains and through rain forest. There are freshwater springs tricking down mountain sides where people line up to fill water bottles. You are surrounded by green jungle foliage, colorful flowers, stunning sand beaches and the residents are friendly and welcoming.

Perhaps the main reason we sailed to Montserrat is because we were able to hire a driver licensed to take us into the Exclusion Zone. Joe is in his late 70’s and lived in the Plymouth area until 1995.

As we approached the Exclusion Zone boundary, Joe pulled over to speak with a guard, showed his credentials, then called-in the time and number of passengers. On the way out, he repeated the process. He told us that if he did not check-out before dark, search teams would have been sent to look for us.

Joe gave us a four-hour tour, showed us “before” photos on his iPad as we parked in front of what used to be a men’s clothing store, a bakery, a church, a home. He brought us to the waterfront, an area that expanded as the mud, ash and rock flowed into the sea and solidified. We saw bollards (the short, strong posts on a pier used to secure ships) that used to be out on the pier, but are now well in-land. As we stood by the “new’ seashore, the volcano appeared peaceful against the white clouds and new vegetation growth, but the constant sulfuric smell of cooking eggs confirmed this giant is just having a snooze.

We only had two days on this island of stark contrasts, but I want to see more of Montserrat…. perhaps next year we will go back, unless, of course, Soufrière Hills decides nap-time is over.

It’s been a while since my last blog and so much has happened since I last wrote in June 2025. Last time I wrote about frantically travelling home from the BVI to get treatment for a detached retina, and now it is almost one year later.  After three surgeries, two to repair the retina and one for the cataract the previous surgeries caused, my vision is crappy. I have permanent depth perception issues and distortion – straight lines look wavy. I’m fortunate that the other eye’s vision is pretty good and my brain is getting better at meshing the mixed vision and I’m navigating through my new normal world fairly well. I still stumble when I don’t see small obstacles on the sidewalk or a sudden change in elevation, like an unexpected step or slope, but I am counting my blessings that I can still move around independently and won’t let poor vision get in the way of living life.

This year Allen and I started off the season in different directions. Meshuggana 2 spent hurricane season in the yard at a marina in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Hurricane season officially ends on December 1 so we usually fly down mid November to spend a couple weeks cleaning, rigging, provisioning and prepping so she is ready to go into the water in December. This involves many hours of hard labour in the blazing heat, sweating gallons and being eaten alive by fire ants and no-see-ums….not my thing. Last year I gave Allen fair warning– I’m not signing-up for this again.  And Allen agreed.

In November Allen flew to Puerto Rico to work on the boat, while I jetted off to Europe, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, with an incredible group of eight women, to experience Baltic Christmas markets. After having my fill of incredible festive markets, as well as a little snow & freezing rain, I flew back home and about 30 hours later boarded a flight to the US Virgin Islands, with our cat Ziggy, to begin our sailing season together.

What seemed to be an incredible start to our season was marred by tragedy. Allen greeted Ziggy and me at the airport, brought us to the marina, and before getting into the dinghy to take us to Meshuggana2, I strapped Ziggy into his harness & leash, to let him stretch his legs in the grass after being cooped up 10+ hours in his carrier.  Just a few minutes later, something spooked Ziggy and he was out of his harness and gone! We walked the marina and surrounding roads, put up posters, staked out dumpsters and parking lots, industrial areas, befriended security guards and a man living in an abandoned building …. for 3 weeks we searched literally every day & night. Ziggy was never seen again. With heavy hearts we had to move on and accept Ziggy was gone.  But we don’t think he perished. There are no land predators in the islands that can take a cat, no venomous snakes or insects, there are no garages where he can get locked-in, and “roadkill” would have been obvious as we walked every single road every single day. However, the area where he disappeared was surrounded by docked mega-yachts, and a mega-yacht would have hundreds of places for a small cat to hide and not be discovered for days. We believe Ziggy traded up and is now sailing the high seas feasting on cream and caviar.  Fair winds, sweet boy.

Though my heart ached for my funny little orange cat, I was excited to begin this season’s adventures. Last year we sailed to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and spent the entire season there. I was ready so see more and this year has delivered in spades.

Since early January we have been island hopping. Each island has its own character and vibe as well as some common threads – perhaps the most interesting is many are volcanic!

• St Martin & Sint Maarten, French and Dutch sides – not volcanic
• St Barts – not volcanic
• St Kitts  – dormant, last verified eruption was 1800 years ago  
• Nevis – classified dormant, but has signs of heat and low activity
• Montserrat – the most active! In 1997 it buried the capital city of Plymouth!
• Antigua & Barbuda – was volcanic millions of years ago
• Guadeloupe  – actively volcanic
• Dominica – actively volcanic
• Martinique – actively volcanic – 1902 eruption claimed over 28,000 lives as the capital, St Pierre was buried in less than two minutes

Phew!!  And we’re not done yet!  Before our season ends and we haul the boat out in April in Grenada, we will have also visited volcanos in St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada!

I love volcanos, the way they rise over the island, imposing, powerful, breathtakingly beautiful! Thanks to science, seismic activity is closely monitored and eruptions are now far more predictable and preventing tragedies like the 1902 death toll in St Pierre.

Here are summaries of some of our island adventures and perhaps in a future blog I’ll go deeper, as each has its own culture and idiosyncrasies and deserves it’s own page.

St Martin (French) & Sint Maarten (Dutch)– two countries sharing one island in perfect harmony!

This island is big on tourism and everything that goes with it – resorts, hotels, restaurants shops, tours…it has it all. Moving between the Dutch and French sides is seamless, you may not even notice you’ve changed countries if you are walking, driving or riding in a dinghy through the lagoon. But NOT in your sailboat – that requires a whole pile of paperwork, fees, Customs office visits….so if you sail there, pick a side and stay here.

This island has every type of yacht service imaginable, boat yards, sailmakers, chandleries – anything and everything boat. And it’s duty free, so it’s no wonder it has become a major sailing destination. Large, well-stocked stores make it the best place in the Eastern Caribbean to fill your freezer and pantry for reasonable cost. On the French side English is very much a second language, but service is good and most establishments make an effort to communicate in “Franglais”. On the Dutch side it seems to be English only.

St Barts is a playground for the rich and famous. We learned that over 300 mega yachts were docked there for New Year’s Eve (maybe Ziggy joined the celebrations). Just behind the Customs office are several blocks of luxury shops – Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Dior…all there.  However, a bit outside the main city is a nature reserve with a pristine beach and lovely coastal hike and home to a sea turtle sanctuary – quite a nice change from the city.

St Kitts & Nevis are one country on two separate islands. Historically it bounced between French and English occupation, so the language you hear the locals speak is an interesting Patois, but now as a British territory, English is the official language. Customs & Immigration is very formal, detailed, and honestly a pain in the butt with forms, and documents and fees.

The St Kitts capital, Basse Terre, has seen better days, except for a few blocks of the cruise ship shopping district. This area is a strange, artificial world with endless jewelry stores selling diamonds and watches next door to tourist junk stores selling t-shirts and fridge magnets, interspersed with tacky bars selling expensive sugary cocktails. This place is teeming with tourists until about 5pm when the ship leaves, then it becomes a ghost town.

But just one block outside the cruise ship terminal, Basse Terre feels more like a third world country with shells of buildings damaged by hurricanes long ago, crumbling streets, and residents who don’t seem to appreciate strangers wandering their neighborhoods. As Allen and I walked the around looking for a laundromat, we got the distinct feeling we were intruding. At no time did we feel threatened, but we did not feel welcome either. 

Then there is Nevis, just a two-hour sail away. A much smaller island that does not attract giant cruise ships. The main city of Charleston is compact and walkable. More businesses are open, lovely cafes and restaurants and EVERY SINGLE person we met greeted us with smiles and a ‘good day’, ‘welcome to our island’.  It’s clear they are investing in tourism, and residents appreciate visitors and make them feel welcome.

In St Kitts we were joined by friends & fellow sailors, Colleen and Gerald from Toronto. We promised them sailing adventures, and we delivered with some super ‘sporty” ocean conditions, but first we dragged them up a volcano! Well, they were actually very willing to join us on the advertised “hike through a rain forest to Mt Liamuiga volcano”.  A five-hour trip…we assumed we’ll need to wear sensible shoes, bring water, bug spray & sunscreen. It will be good to get some exercise!

Our first clue should have been our guide changing out of his shoes and putting on mud boots. He also told us there are no bugs and we won’t be in the sun (he was right). Great! Then he told us the summit is over 3700’ vertical. That didn’t really sink in until it was too late and we were ankle deep in mud, my not-quite-appropriate for jungle hiking outfit was glued to my body with sweat, and realizing peanut butter toast may not have been the best breakfast choice for this level of physical exertion.  We hiked, climbed over rocks, used tree roots as ladders and after three exhausting hours, it was 3pm and we all noticed the change in the bits of daylight penetrating the thick foliage. The sun was making its descent and we had to begin ours despite not reaching the summit – we still had nearly 1000 feet to climb and the last part was the most difficult with more vertical climbing than the bottom.  Our 25-year-old guide seemed a bit disappointed, but we convinced him he’d have a heck of time getting us down the mountain in the dark.  Two and a half hours later we were back in the truck, a little bloodied, definitely dehydrated, covered in mud, but happy that we took on the challenge.

I’m going to leave it here and save my favorite volcano for my next blog: Montserrat.

It’s been some time since I last wrote, and there have been some amazing adventures, and some not so great events in the last 6 months. It’s been hard to get back into it as so much time as passed, but I woke up this morning ready to share my story.

As I write this blog on a sweltering June day in Toronto, I am reflecting on an incredible sailing season, and then an unexpected turn of events that brought me home early. I’ve been back since exactly 3 a.m. on March 11, 2025—a full month ahead of schedule—cutting short my Caribbean adventure, but I’ll get to that a bit later.

When I last wrote we had just finished a wonderful family Christmas in Puerto Rico and were heading east to explore new islands. First up – Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Charotte Amalie, the capitol of USVI, has a huge, sheltered harbour with room for at least 100 boats. Allen and I visited here about 16 years ago enroute to a charter vacation, and much was still the same despite the city being devastated in September 2017 by two Cat 5 hurricanes, Irma then Maria, hitting the USVI just two weeks apart. As Charlotte Amalie is popular cruise ship destination, I wouldn’t be surprised if cruise companies helped restore it—rebuilding countless duty-free shops selling luxury goods and enough jewels to outfit royalty. It’s touristy, but still pretty and charming.

Sixteen years ago, we hadn’t noticed the marina for mega yachts. We took the dinghy for a ride and got a close-up look. With Google’s help, we identified several of them, including the stunning, blue-hulled Kismet, owned by Jacksonville Jaguars’ owner Shadid Khan, and the smaller Bad Romance,sadly not Lady Gaga’s, but Dr. Phil’s. Despite the flashy yachts, no celebrity sightings.

Next stop was St. John, the smallest USVI island with a very interesting history. In 1718, Denmark claimed the island and several plantations were established, growing primarily sugar cane and cotton. Eventually the island was home to 109 plantations, with the Annaburg plantation becoming one of the island’s largest sugar producers.

In 1917, the United States bought the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million (and agreed to recognize Denmark’s claim to Greenland as part of the deal). Private investors later purchased properties and transformed the island into a luxury tourist destination that it is today. Conservationist Laurence Rockefeller, purchased 5000 acres of pristine land, built an “eco resort” and later donated it to the US government to create the Virgin Islands National Park, which today covers 60% of the island. Today the park offers miles of hiking trails, pristine beaches and the preserved ruins of several plantations, including Annaburg.

In mid-January we moved on to neighboring British Virgin Islands, BVI, perhaps the best-known Caribbean sailing playground famous for stunning views and gentle sailing conditions. In this land of yacht charters and luxury resorts, you can find striking mountains, calm turquoise water, white beaches and very expensive bars and restaurants.

BVI have a similar history with the USVI and many other Caribbean islands, historically bouncing from empire to empire, from Dutch, French, Spanish, Danish and finally the British claiming the prize in 1672. Like their US neighbors, the BVI prospered from sugar cane production until 1834, when slavery was abolished. Today the BVI remains a British Colony and is one of the wealthiest Caribbean island nations with booming tourism and financial services industries.

We love hosting guests on our boat, but unpredictable weather makes scheduling tricky. Since many people don’t have the flexibility to change vacation dates and flights on short notice, we’ve had just a handful of guests join us in past seasons. However, the BVI changed all that.

The BVIs consist of over 50 small islands, only 16 of them inhabited, spread across just 25 miles. We can easily sail from one island to another in just a few hours, making airport pick-ups almost effortless. As a bonus, there is a secure mooring ball field right next to the airport – our guests simply exit the airport, walk 10 minutes to the dinghy dock for a quick 2-minute ride to the boat.

Highlights in the BVIs:

Tortola is the largest island and home to Road Town, the capital and largest city in BVI and I recommend you avoid it. Unlike many other Caribbean capitals, Road Town has no charm and there is no reason to go there unless you are catching a ferry, buying groceries, hardware, boat supplies, or need medical care (more about that later).

Two places worth visiting on Tortola are:

Soper’s Hole – a deep protected bay offering many mooring balls and marina for dockage. It has a grocery store and few small shops, restaurants, including the famous Pusser’s Rum restaurant and bar, featuring their signature BVI cocktail, The Pain Killer.

Cane Garden – A huge bay with plenty of mooring balls as well as good holding for anchoring. A casual village with several bars and restaurants, the Callwood Rum distillery and the best laundromat in the BVI made this a frequent stop for us.

Jost Van Dyke is perhaps the best-known island in the BVIs, thanks to it being home to the bars that put BVIs on modern maps, Foxy’s and Soggy Dollar. When we visited 16 years ago, we swam to shore, drank reasonably priced Pain Killers, added some graffiti to the wall and swam back to the boat. Today both bars have been rebuilt after devastating hurricanes and have become booming commercialized party destinations for cruise ship and charter boaters. Both now have huge gift shops, expensive drinks and have lost some of their charm, but if you’re looking for the party, this is the place.

Norman Island – you can’t write about the BVI without mentioning the famous Willie T, floating bar and restaurant. It’s a decommissioned tanker, parked near shore and features a bar, kitchen two decks for drinking enjoyment. Although there is a sign stating “No Diving No Jumping”, of course, it’s the main attraction of the Willie T!

Virgin Gorda is my favourite island in the BVIs because of its diversity. At the southern end are The Baths, a stunning maze of giant granite boulders and hidden rock pools where waves crash dramatically through the gaps. It’s a must-see—just be sure to arrive early to beat the cruise ship crowds.

On the north side of the island is The Sound, home to Bitter End Yacht Club, Saba Rock and Leverick Bay, where it’s not unusual to bump into Sir Richard Branson having an afternoon refreshment when he takes a break from his private island next door. The Sound offers tons of safe, protected anchoring, ample room for water sports and a variety of bars and restaurants for happy hour and dining.

Anagada isn’t as much an island as much as it’s an atoll. Starkly different from the rest of the BVI, it rises only 28 feet above sea level and is made up of coral and limestone. Surrounding reefs are responsible for many shipwrecks, making it a favourite snorkeling, spearfishing and diving destination. These same reefs also make sailing there quite challenging, especially in unsettled weather. Long, flat and sandy, the best way to see this island is by renting a Moke and using plenty of sunscreen.

Our BVI season was special mainly because we shared our adventure with friends, some there for the first time, some seasoned BVI-ers. However, my sailing season came to an abrupt and early end due to a medical emergency – a detached retina.

I started worry when I started seeing a sudden increase of “floaters” in my left eye. I searched for a local ophthalmologist and learned there was only one who visited the island about once a month. I booked an appointment about 10 days out and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, things got worse, and I could not wait any longer.

An optometrist in Road Town diagnosed a vitreous detachment, that is not dangerous but needs to be monitored. Thirty hours later my vision turned black and I phoned Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital and was advised to get home immediately.

The next 24 hours were a blur of ferries, taxis, and flights, ending in a middle-of-the-night arrival at home and surgery the next day. I then spent a week face down, 23 hours a day—eating, sleeping, reading. Unfortunately, the first surgery failed, I had a second, a vitrectomy, followed by two more weeks in the same face-down position.

While I was going through surgeries and recovery, Allen was left to single-handedly bring the boat back to Puerto Rico and prepare it for the upcoming summer heat and hurricane season. It was a very, very hard time for us, both physically and psychologically, with both of us feeling guilty for leaving the other yet being helpless to help one another.

But we made it. My family and friends all jumped in to help, from shuttling me to doctor appointments, shopping for groceries, making meals and just keeping me company. And Allen received offers from friends to come help with the boat, though at the end he chose to do it by himself with a bit of hired help at the marina.

Meshuggana² is safely tucked in at the marina in Puerto Rico, Allen is home and endlessly busy with other boat projects. My retina has healed, but I’ve permanently lost most of my vision in my left eye and I am learning to navigate the world with vision impairment.

But life and adventure must go on. We are starting to plan our next sailing season starting at the end of November. This year we will skim through the USVI and BVI quickly, as there so much more to experience in the islands beyond.

If you read my last blog post, you’ll know that one visit to Puerto Rico is simply not enough. On April 10, 2024, we hauled Meshuggana² out of the water and spent the next few days preparing her for not only for a scorching hot Puerto Rican summer, but also hurricane season. We know very well how to winterize a boat for cold Canadian winter months, but “summer-izing” is a whole different process.

Our main concerns were

1. Ensuring the boat and everything on her is strapped down tight so nothing can go flying if hit with storm winds.
2. Anything that can explode, spill or bubble over in temps topping 100 F is removed or contained. This includes any aerosols, liquids, gels including cleaning, cooking and toiletry products. I forgot to take home bottle of ibuprofen gel caps and returned to find one big blob!
3. To avoid insect infestations, all traces of food must be removed and every surface scrubbed clean. We donated what we could to a food bank and the rest was either thrown out or given to local friends who didn’t mind taking half a jar of peanut butter.
4. All cupboards, drawers and doors were propped open and cushions and mattresses rested upright on their edges to promote air circulation.

That’s a lot of work! And just a few months later, we had to do it all in reverse to get Meshuggana² back in the water!

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with the peak being August through October. Even when we are safely in Toronto, we still pay close attention to what’s happening in the South. Last summer when Ernesto hit Puerto Rico, he wasn’t yet the Cat 2 hurricane he would later become, but he still did significant damage, especially in Fajardo. Most of the island experienced wide-spread flooding and its already fragile power grid gave out, blacking-out most of the island. However, we got lucky that our marina and Meshuggana² were spared with no damage at all.

On November 21,2024, Allen, Ziggy and I flew back to Puerto Rico, and spent several days cleaning, rigging and provisioning Meshuggana². We “splashed” on November 26, ready for our next adventure – seeing the rest of the Enchanted Island by circumnavigating PR.

Heading south and then west, we kept PR’s magnificent mountain ranges on the starboard side. These volcanic mountains cover most of the island’s interior and are home to a growing agro-tourism industry including haciendas (plantations) and fincas (ranches) producing, among other crops, coffee, cocoa, pitahaya (dragon fruit), guava, pineapple, dairy and of course, rum.

Sailing west along PR’s southern coast is enjoyable, with prevailing winds behind us and good ports to pull into every evening. These small towns all have a beach-town vibe, with beachside bars and restaurants, small shops, at least one convenience store selling a little bit of everything. They all have guest houses and inns, catering to a more Puerto Rican clientele vs the large cities with masses of foreign tourists. However, we were there a few weeks before Christmas, the off-season, so not much was open. One shop owner told us as soon as schools get out for Christmas break, the towns will be swarming with people.

Puerto Patillas – we rated this a 4-Star anchorage! First, it offered good holding for our anchor. A huge reef provided protection from sea swells, and it had a decent spot to beach our dinghy on shore (I’d give it 5 stars if it had a dingy dock).  It’s a cute town with simple, but good restaurants and a lovely public park and large sandy beach. However, the town did get loud on the weekend, with bars and traffic running until midnight – but it kinda made it feel like home – I guess I’m still a city-girl at heart.

Salinas came recommended by fellow cruisers, and it clearly has a large cruising-resident community inside a massive lagoon filled with perhaps 100 boats. But that’s not our thing, so we spent one calm night at anchor and moved on.

Ponce, named after the explorer Ponce de Leon, is PR’s second largest city. Not nearly as large as San Juan, it still offered many conveniences of a larger town including access to a marina, taxis and Ubers and shopping for everything from large grocery stores to a mall with Sears and JC Penny (I didn’t know they still existed!). Old Town by the port must have been beautiful at one time, with lovely Spanish architecture, and was probably a bustling port city at one time; however, it looks like hurricanes have taken their toll and now many buildings are damaged and abandoned or occupied by auto repair shops or machine shops.

About a mile further inland is another “old town”, completely different. Here you find more lovely Spanish architecture, grand hotels, restaurants, shops, a central cathedral with a large square that hosts concerts, children’s carnival rides and street vendors. We went on a Rum Tour, were driven around downtown and the surrounding mountainside, and to the original Serrallés family home, the founders of Don Q rum. We learned that Don Q is the favored rum in PR (not Bacardi!), and that the Daquiri cocktail was invented in Ponce, using Don Q. Unfortunately, the mansion was closed for a private function and the distillery does not gives tours.

Our tour took a somber turn as we learned of a tragic event in Ponce’s not too distant past, as we visited the Mameyes Memorial. Mameyes was a community where Ponce’s poorest residents lived and built their homes on a sandstone mountainside. On October 7, 1985 at 3 AM, after days of torrential rain, the mountainside gave way taking with it approximately 175 homes and potentially hundreds of people, although the official death toll is 129. Despite rescue efforts of neighboring communities, local government plus additional assistance from United States, Mexico, France and Venezuela, just 50 bodies were recovered. The area now serves as a memorial and mass grave to victims buried under the mud and rock.

What is most eerie about the tragedy is that just 3 days before the landslide, children in the Mameyes school were asked by a teacher to draw “whatever comes to mind”. Several drawings were not typical children’s art, but were drawn with dark earth colors, featuring crosses and turned over houses, perhaps as a prophecy of the coming disaster. These drawings are now exhibited in a Ponce museum.

We continued to move west and found two more lovely anchorages, La Paguera with a cottage-country vibe and close to another bioluminescent bay, as well as Boqueron, another small beach town mostly closed before the Christmas holidays. Our big surprise here was an unexpected neighbor dropping anchor nearby – Koru, Jeff Bezos’s more than 400-foot sailboat! We watched their tenders go back and forth to shore all day and evening, so we assumed Jeff was not aboard, but likely the crew had shore leave and were enjoying some beach time.

Here we had an opportunity to rent a car and explore beyond the coast.  A highlight for me was visiting and touring Hacienda Verde Tahiti, a farm specializing in pitahaya, better known as Dragon Fruit.  Ingrid, one of the owners, walked us through the farm and the pitahaya fields, as well as introduced us to her sheep and apiary, that will soon produce sheep milk products and honey. Originally the hacienda produced Tahiti Limes, but in 2017 Hurricane Maria completely destroyed the crops. Now, in addition to growing and exporting pitahaya all over North America, the self-sustaining hacienda produces wholesale plants for nurseries and offers eco-tourism “glamping cabins” with ocean views – yes please!

As we headed north along PR’s western coast, the Mona Passage was playing her unpredictable games, and we couldn’t stay there as long as we hoped. After another night-time passage, we arrived in San Juan Harbour, this time full of anticipation for my family arriving for the Christmas holiday.  This year, in addition to traditional holiday celebrations, we went on a few family outings to experience more of this fabulous island.  

After a somewhat scary drive up the side of a mountain on deeply pitted dirt roads in our rented sedans, we reached Hacienda Chocolat, where an ATV picked us up and took us even higher up the mountain to the hacienda. But it was worth the drive as we then walked among cocao trees, learned about cocao production and later sampled cocoa in various refined stages. Fun Fact: almost all ”chocolate bars “commercially produced contain little to no chocolate. Next time you buy a Hershey or Mars bar, read the label and you will find that cocao or cacao powder is typically one of the last ingredients listed, meaning while it might be a delicious candy, it’s not really chocolate. After sampling the real stuff, I agree – there is no comparison

Puerto Rico is known for producing excellent coffee and this means no trip to PR is complete without a tour of a coffee plantation.  After another drive into the mountains, we arrived at the Hacienda Muñoz. Our guide walked us through fields of bush-like coffee trees, and despite it not being peak season, several trees had ripe, red berries. For this reason, all coffee bean harvesting at Hacienda Muñoz is done by hand, as is much of the bean processing. We learned that in PR, brewed coffee is always hot and black, and a real Puerto Rican would never put sugar or cream into their cup. After sampling I agree that this coffee is much better than Tim Horton’s, but I think I still prefer to add some cream to mine.

This was a tough Christmas for us as it was the first one without my father, but spending time and sharing adventures together with my family made it special, and I’m sure Dad approved. We wrapped up a wonderful week of Christmas family time, but eventually everyone had to go their own way.  And it was time for Allen and me to move east and begin new adventures in new places. We still love Puerto Rico, and will be back again.

The Island of Enchantment was never on our list of must-go destinations when planning this trip and we’ve discovered that PR is not a popular destination for cruisers heading south and most stop in Dominican Republic or continue heading directly to Grenada.  We really did not know much about PR, but chose to end our season on PR’s east coast for entirely practical reasons.

We purchased Meshuggana 2 from a Miami based yacht dealer, who also has an office in Fajardo, PR, inside the largest marina in the Caribbean. Since almost every new boat requires warranty work, and Meshuggana 2 was no exception, we decided to haul-out in Fajardo where we’d have good access to marine services. The marina had excellent reviews, and our insurance company approved land storage here for hurricane season.  We booked haul out for April 10, 2024 and flights home a few days later. But first, we needed to get to the far east end of PR from Samana, Dominican Republic, with the infamous Mona Passage between us as we felt the pinch of time. 

For much of our 2023-2024 sailing season we experienced less than ideal weather conditions and were forced to wait in protected bays far longer than we wanted to be there. There is a saying in the sailing world: plans are written in sand at low tide. We now had firm plans as we pleaded with Mother Nature to be kind.  And this time she granted our wish.

When exiting the Dominican Republic, most sailors turn south and navigate through the Mona Passage, known to be unpredictable at best and treacherous at worst, as it funnels the mighty Atlantic between two land masses, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, into the Caribbean Sea. Sailors usually turn east and sail along PR’s southern shore enjoying bluer, calmer, warmer Caribbean waters and many towns and safe ports along the way. The alternative route is the North shore, with big Atlantic swells, north wind and absolutely no ports between Samana, DR all the way to San Juan, making this a more than 24-hour non-stop journey.

As I mentioned, Mother Nature was kind to us and after nearly a week of waiting, we finally got a favorable forecast with gentle offshore winds over a scant 24-hour period. At first light on March 20, 2024, we left Samana, DR and set sail for an overnighter to San Juan.

The passage was not an easy one; however, we’ve gotten good at this. As the sun rose, revealing PR’s magnificent mountains and north coast, we almost forgot the rough night. A few hours later we sailed past the imposing walls of El Morro, the fort that has protected San Juan and it harbour for centuries, as we entered San Juan Harbour. As expected, San Juan is one of the busiest harbours in the Caribbean, bustling with industry, freighters, cruise ships, tourist boats and of course, other sailors like us.

Now we had a good problem to solve – Fajardo was only a 5-hour sail from San Juan, and with about 3 weeks before haul-out, we had some extra time. What to do? Explore Puerto Rico, of course!

We spent those weeks exploring San Juan, Fajardo and the Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques, Culebra and Culebrita. After these three weeks, we came to realize this was not enough and we would need to see more Puerto Rico next season.

We hauled the boat as scheduled, flew home and spent Spring and Summer home in Toronto. We returned to Fajardo in November 2024, launched the boat and continued our PR adventures by both land and sea.

I’ll share highlights of our adventures, but first a little history to better understand the island.

Puerto Rico, an island of only 3500 square miles, is in the West Indies. Taino and other indigenous people occupied this land as long as 4000 years ago; however, in 1493 Christopher Columbus landed here on his second voyage and later, in 1508, Juan Ponce de León sailed into San Juan Bay, naming the island Puerto Rico (Rich Port). For centuries PR was part of the Spanish Empire and until 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the United States invaded PR making it a US territory. The following years are a very long and very complicated history between the two. Today Puerto Rico is still mostly self-governed, its citizens are US citizens, but there are many distinctions between a state and a territory.

San Juan is the capital city, with many distinct neighborhoods, from the very old to very modern. The heart of this city is Old Town, inside the fortress walls of El Morro. Cobbled streets, steep hills, historic buildings and fort walls ooze history, but the daily cruise ships dumping throngs of tourists into this city every day have spawned cheap souvenir shops and gaudy bars and restaurants.  Old San Juan is still a must-see, but evenings are the best when most cruise tourists return to their ships.

El Yunque Rain Forest is the only tropical rain forest on US soil. It is only an hour’s drive from San Juan, and is a natural wonder with miles of trails to be explored. We chose some waterfall hikes, and hope to return next year for more exploration.

Culebra, Culebrita and Vieques, known as the Spanish Virgin Islands, are smaller islands off the east coast of “mainland” Puerto Rico. Just a few hours sail from PR, these islands have become one of our favourite Caribbean destinations.

Vieques is home to the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world! We arrived on a moonless night, hiked 20 minutes down a dirt road carrying our SUP, and spent an hour marveling at what can only be described as “magic”. Every splash, every ripple, every fish swimming by glows blue under the water – I felt like I was on a Disneyworld ride! Unfortunately, photos do not turn out well, so you just have to go experience it yourself.

Culebra is the party island where main islanders go to R&R. A large, sheltered bay, several good restaurants, gorgeous beaches, decent snorkeling all make this a great weekend destination. The frequent, inexpensive ferry makes it even better – a one-way adult fare is a mere $2.00.

Culebrita is an uninhabited nature reserve next to Culebra. Hiking trails bring you up to an impressive, no-longer used light house with impressive views, as well as a large white crescent beach and bubbling pools where ocean waves power through a natural break wall. Its surrounding reef makes it tough to get inside the bay with a sailboat, but we got lucky and chose a day with calm seas, allowing us to spend few days in this little paradise.

Phew! There’s still so much to tell you about Isla del Encanto, but I will save that for next time…it really is an Isla del Encanto!