Sailing Wild Horses
  • Home
  • Crew
  • Blog
  • Our Boat
  • Projects
  • Contact
  • Clearing In - USA & Bahamas Edition
  • Clearing In - Carib Edition

Sharing our journey

Ocean Play:  From Culebra to the USVI

5/6/2023

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
We arrived at the island of Culebra last Monday and loved it immediately. It is beautifully green with perfect sandy beaches littering the coastlines. The coral reefs around this island are known to be some of the healthiest in the area so our plan was to start the day outside of the main town and get snorkeling. 

But, small glitch in our plan. Mike had tweaked his back earlier in the morning, just before we weighed anchor. Ugh. He could move around but it was limited.  Snorkeling would have to wait. So, onto Plan B!  Our buddy boats went on to the chosen snorkeling site while Wild Horses continued for another hour to the main town’s huge lagoon. Here Mike could rest and our buddies would catch up to us the next day. Perfect!
​
Downtown Culebra is very walkable, with lots of restaurants, cafes, and stores. Even a really great gelato cart with beautifully served gelato.  Passion fruit and cherry with a twist of coconut.  Yum!
Picture
Welcome to the island of Culebra!
Picture
Hector El Protector guides the mainland ferry into Culebra
Picture
A view of the Culebra waterfront, from our anchorage
Picture
Waiting out a squall along with a few chickens
Picture
The small boat canal in Culebra
Picture
This puppy came out to guard his small stretch of land along the canal
Picture
Dinghy parking at the town gas station
Picture
Tasty and pretty gelato!
Our boat buddies arrived the next day and we quickly made plans for exploring Culebra, visiting the nearby smaller island of Culebrita and also for doing some snorkelling and diving in the area. Mike’s back was healed and we were ready to have some fun. Our friends Dave and Lisa on Indigo Lady offered to play chauffeur for our three-boat play dates (Wild Horses, Caretta and Indigo Lady).  Awesome! Indigo Lady is a beautiful boat. Dave and Lisa purchased it as a sailing catamaran several years ago but quickly converted it to be solar electric powered.  It does not disappoint!  On the few days we were on the boat, it was moved entirely on solar.  Incredible!  You can see more about the conversion of Indigo Lady here.
Picture
Indigo Lady
Picture
Solar panels cover her roof
Picture
Lots of space in the cockpit for chatting with friends
Picture
Ocean and Victoria sit on the stern walkway on Indigo Lady
​Our first adventure was to take Indigo Lady to Culebrita. This island is home to incredible walking trails, beautiful natural baths and, oh my gosh, also to a hoard of bees! Thousands of them to be exact. The area is suffering from a lack of rain so these poor bees were looking for any and all sources of fresh water. For those that know our pup Ocean, well, this is a problem. She loves to eat bees.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  She actively hunts them down.  Now, with hoards of them in the picture, it was just too much for her and she did get the bitter end of a few of them.  Getting stung didn’t deter her though! With a swollen nose and jowl, she kept right at it. For the rest of us, the bees weren’t an issue.  They only wanted the fresh water and we had beers in hand (and not water) so they left us alone!
Picture
Swimming always provides some relief from the heat
Picture
Culebrita is littered with walking trails
Picture
The Culebrita lagoon
Picture
Ocean looking out towards the baths
Picture
Ocean hunting bees aboard Indigo Lady
​On Thursday, we rented golf carts so we could see more of the island of Culebra. Caretta and Indigo Lady climbed into one cart and Wild Horses took the other.  It was an awesome day of touring the island, including an incredible day at Flamenco Beach, one of the world's most beautiful; beaches.  
Picture
Our rented golf cart
Picture
A view of our golf cart on the move with Ocean in the back
Picture
Ocean looking back towards our friends, from her perch at the back of our golf cart
Picture
Walking along Flamenco Beach
Picture
Ocean loved the beach!
Picture
An old tank used for bombing practice during WWII and for Vietnam
Picture
Another tank, deserted by the US military and used for bombing practice
Picture
Ocean and Barry enjoying a moment on the swing outside of the La Cocina restaurant
​Friday we continued the adventure!  We set off on Indigo Lady once again and headed around the north west shore of Culebra to explore one of the many island dive sites. Dave and Lisa launched their Hookah dive system (surfaced supplied air system), Andrea and Barry jumped in with their dive tanks, and Mike and I slipped below the waterline with our snorkel masks and fins.  And Ocean you ask?  Well, she did her exploring in her birthday suit with just a simple life jacket on.  Four ways into the water and we were all plenty happy with it all!
Picture
A dive site on the western edge of Culebra
Picture
Dave gets out the Hookah
Picture
Barry getting suited up to dive while Andrea waits in the water
Picture
Mike headed off to snorkel the coral reef
Picture
Ocean swimming off the back of Indigo Lady
Picture
Barry holding a lobster with eggs on her belly. Of course the lobster had to be put back!
​Whew, what a jam-packed three days of exploring the Spanish Virgin Islands!! But all good things must come to an end, but only so you can enjoy other good things!  And that is exactly what we did.  On Saturday we all weighed anchor and headed off to St. Thomas in the USVI (United States Virgin Islands).  We will explore the islands of St. Thomas and St. John as we look for a good weather window for heading to St. Martin.  More fun awaits us! 😊
Picture
Wild Horses sailing along to the USVI
Picture
Mike at the helm
Picture
Our first anchorage was right beside the St. Thomas airport!
Picture
Flying the USVI courtesy flag
Want to find out which island we are exploring today? Click the link below!
Where we are now

Comments are closed.
    Where are we now?

    Author

    Victoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire.  Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat.

    Categories

    All
    Bahamas
    Boat Work
    Caribbean
    Chesapeake
    Dog
    DR
    Gulf Stream
    ICW
    Leaving Canada
    NY And Delaware
    NYS Canals
    Puerto Rico
    Thousand Islands
    USVI

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Crew
  • Blog
  • Our Boat
  • Projects
  • Contact
  • Clearing In - USA & Bahamas Edition
  • Clearing In - Carib Edition