Its a little choppy in the anchorage this morning, and I can’t convince anyone to go snorkeling again with me. (“Why, we did that yesterday?”) So after some quick schoolwork, we head out of the anchorage and around the north end of the island. There are a number of reefs along this route, but the chart shows a narrow channel through the middle. There are no markers, and this is not something I would try without GPS, but I have seen a couple of other boats go through, so I know its possible. The alternative is to back track down inside the reef to the south side of Culebra, then follow the marked channel outside. It would probably add an hour to the trip.
Once through the reef, we are heading straight into the big rolling swells. They are stacked up a bit due to the shallow water. Soon we reach the deep water, and they are more manageable. The wind does not allow us to sail directly towards Magens bay, but we can make better time motor-sailing off the wind than just trying to power into the wind and waves. The waves are still pretty big, and we are burying the bows into the waves and sending spray flying. Noah has taken his Dramamine, and is pretty much out of it, laying in the cockpit. Delaina wisely spends most of the trip on the helm seat watching the water and spotting lots of flying fish. Tracy suddenly hollers Dolphin!! She saw two just a couple hundred feet from the boat. Soon I see them zip by heading right in front of the boat. I go up front and sit on the bow seat, hoping that they will swim in our bow wave. They must have just been passing by, because there is no further sign of them. I get a nice wet ride out of it though, sitting on the bow seat as we peak on one wave and then plunge down and bury the nose in the next one. I wouldn’t want the kids up here for this, but I kind of like it.
The rest of the sail is uneventful, and we reach Magens Bay around 1pm. Its a deep bay, staying around 60 feet, until we are right up on shore. The beach is packed with people – lots of yelling and life guard whistle blowing. Quite a change from the Spanish beaches. Even Noah asks “Why did we come here?”.
We have a late lunch/early dinner, and soon the crowd start emptying out. Noah has spotted rocks on the shoreline, so he has his plan set. He and Delaina head to shore on the kayak and spend an hour or so jumping from rock to rock. They want to swim on shore, so Tracy and I swim in to watch them. The dinghy is still up on the davits, and neither of us feels like launching/hauling again. Its now about 4pm, and the beach is empty – cruise ship crowd is gone. The beach is nice, but nothing special. We stay till 5, then need to swim back to the boat before feeding time. (While cooking lunch I saw a huge splash and flash of something big and brown behind the boat in the deeper water, and tell Tracy it was probably the big shark that bit our kingfish) She makes the swim back to the boat in record time! Back at the boat, we start another game of Phase 10 – did I mention I am still undefeated? We end the game and head off to bed. Its completely still and a little humid. Like clockwork, the rain showers start.
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