After a short sail from Fajardo, we were finally back to Culebra. We’d visited many times by plane before and were excited to be back for its beautiful beaches, excellent diving, and delicious seafood.
Cayo Luis Peña
We spent the most amazing two weeks we’ve had yet anchored on the west side of Cayo Luis Peña, a beautiful, uninhabited island west of Puerto Rico.
Anchoring was a little tricky, as there is only a 10-meter strip of sand running between a rocky beach and lots of coral, but it was worth it. Of all the anchorages we’ve been to, this was our favorite.
For two full weeks, we didn’t see another person or boat. We woke up to the bleating of mountain goats on the beach. We swam in crystal-clear water and snorkeled around coral reefs that were teeming with sea life: moray eels, octopus, sea turtles, manta rays, parrotfish, etc.
Oh, and for two weeks straight, we caught and ate lobster. And not just any lobster, these were huge, 10+ pound lobsters and they were everywhere! We had grilled lobster, steamed lobster, lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, lobster rolls, and lobster benedict.
Eventually, we ran out of butter, and made the difficult decision to leave our beautiful island.
Isla de Culebra
We made a short sail to a protected bay on the south side of Culebra called Ensenada Honda, where we purchased groceries, fuel, and visited a couple familiar restaurants. Culebra had grown substantially in the five years since we’d last visited and unfortunately, so had the prices. We stayed for just a couple of days.
Tropical Storm Bret
We sailed to the nearby island of Culebrita. We’d been there once before and couldn’t wait to return. But, almost as soon as we’d dropped anchor, we saw that Tropical Storm Bret had developed and was heading in our direction. By the next day, early spaghetti models showed it heading right for us.
After considering our options, we set sail for the ABCs (Aruba, Bonaire, or Curaçao), a region that’s generally safe from hurricanes. Later that night, the forecast suddenly changed and showed Bret heading much further south, towards Dominica. So, we turned around and headed back towards Culebra!
There were still strong winds headed our way, so we went back to Ensenada Honda for three days until they had passed.
Culebrita
Finally, we returned to Culebrita and spent a few wonderful days snorkeling, hiking to a 17th century Spanish lighthouse, and of course, catching and eating more lobster!
Because hurricane season was approaching, we’d only planned to stay in Culebra for a week or so. But weeks have quickly turned into months, and it’s time to continue south.
Amazing pictures!! Those lobsters are HUGE and that water looks absolutely gorgeous!! Love hearing about your adventures!!