Puerto Rico delights

Sea Turtle found several interesting one-night anchorages, such as the delightful island of Isla Ramos where we were the lone explorers. It evidently had no permanent inhabitants though we saw chickens in a cage and a wondering Siamese cat that we watered. We retrieved a couple of coconuts and found a few good shells as we combed the beach. Thankfully a local boater soon arrived to tend to his animals.

The next stop was by the large mangrove basin of Punta Medio Mundo that we explored in the dinghy. We had good fun zooming through the labyrinth of channels and even managed to get lost a couple of times in the natural maze!

Mangrove network

Click here, Mangrove Mania, to watch our 35-second YouTube video of speeding through the mangroves.

Later in the day, we moved to a cove on Isla Pineros and picked up a mooring buoy in front of a beautiful beach. There were a couple of other boats there but they soon left and so, again, we had the place to ourselves. It would have been a perfect stop other than we were restricted to the beach due to the potential danger of unexploded ordinances, the remnants of past military exercises there.

The other deterrent was the onslaught of biting no-see-um bugs. (Hmm, maybe that's why the other boats left.) Wearing only a bathing suit, I was a bug buffet and was in agony with the itch of the bites covering my body. Jordan escaped the torture as he had worn a long-sleeved shirt.

No man's land

We next anchored at Cayos de Barco in the lee of its string of small mangrove islands that formed a barrier against the open ocean waves.

Another overnight stop was at Isla Muertos whose name means death or coffin. The Island is a marine park that's sensitive to sea turtle nesting. There are no permanent residents and it's a popular place for day boaters from the mainland a few kilometres away.

We walked a fair distance from our dinghy along a cactus lined trail until we got to the base of a hill, and from there, the trail got steep and gnarly as we climbed to the top. On top was an old large lighthouse building that obviously housed a contingent of caretakers and protectors of the realm. It had long since been abandoned and the only function now is a small high intensity beacon light for today's seafarers.

Lighting the way

We discovered an opening in the wall that we could climb through to get to the spiral stairs that led up to the top of the lighthouse tower. It was a nerve wracking 50-step climb on rusty stairs, but the awesome view was worth it.

A lighthouse vista

The rusty stairs weren't the worst scare of the day though. What was terrifying was the snake that wrapped itself around my leg - not once but twice!! The first time, I kicked it off but it immediately wrapped itself around again. Screaming and kicking finally shook it loose and away but not before I tumbled in the frantic effort. Phew! Time to leave Muertos...

Anchorages:
N18°18.929' W065°36.743' Mar 27 Isla Ramos
N18°15.768' W065°36.567' Mar 27 Punta Medio Mundo
N18°15.297' W065°35.312' Mar 28 Isla Pineros
N17°55.084' W066°13.998' Mar 29 Cayos de Barco
N17°53.555' W066°31.695' Mar 30 Isla Muertos