We Are Tourists Now

The last couple of days CoCo has been anchored outside the city of Fajardo on the north east corner of Puerto Rico. Because Puerto Rico is almost rectangular it is OK to say that the island has a corner. Fajardo is an important centre for yachting, sheltered from high seas by reefs and atolls, with the virgin islands close-by.

Alissa Czasonis, a girl from New England of polish decent, joined the rest of the crew on our second day here for a week in the Caribbean. Hopefully the main crew will be able to provide a nice vacation before she has to return to her fast-paced job in finance on Manhattan.

Alissa and Peter in the dinghy outside Fajardo.

Before picking Alissa up at San Juan airport, the guys decided to check out San Juan’s old town. Old San Juan was founded in 1508 by Juan Ponce de León on a peninsula sticking out in the ocean. The first settlement was originally called Caparra and the city got the name San Juan in 1521 after John the Baptist. The crew of CoCo found the old town to be an idyllic and colourful neighbourhood, full of small shops and cafes. The neighbourhood is one of the top attractions for tourists in Puerto Rico. In fact there were no less than three cruise ships docked on the peninsula while we were there.

The peninsula forms part of a natural harbour, which makes this location ideal for a large port and a prosperous city. The old town itself is surrounded by a wall more than three metres thick and additional protection is provided by two forts; Fort San Felipe del Morro to the west and Castillo de San Cristobal to the east.

Typical Old San Juan street.

Peter outside the oldest Starbucks in the new world (?).

Living the bench life in the old town.

Castillo de San Cristobal.

The following day we took our rental car for a drive westwards to Arecibo. Up in the hills 30 mins away from the city an awe-inspiring sight awaited – The Arecibo Observatory. The main attraction of the observatory is the William E. Gordon Telescope, named for the observatory’s founder. The Telescope does not look like what most people would consider a telescope, because it is a radio telescope and therefore looks like a gigantic “dish-style” antenna (I was tempted to write “parabolic antenna” but that would be incorrect, because the dish is actually spherical in shape).

The Arecibo dish is built in a valley and has a diameter of 305 metres. This makes it the largest single-aperture telescope in the world. A platform weighing 900 tons is suspended by wires between three concrete towers over the dish. On this platform there are two receivers: a linear antenna used for atmospheric studies, and a gregorian receiver used for radar- and radio astronomic studies.

The Arecibo Observatory was originally managed by Cornell University, but today it is a joint venture between SRI International (Stanford Research Institute), USRA (Universities Space Research Association) and Universidad Metropolitana. In 1993 Russel Alan Hulse and Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of a new type of pulsar star, using the William E. Gordon telescope. A movie lover will recognise the telescope from the motion pictures Goldeneye and Contact.

Arecibo Observatory, aerial view.

The Crew of CoCo with renewed interest in the atmosphere after a visit to the Arecibo Observatory.

Welcome Back to the Caribbean

Sorry for not keeping you updated lately, dear fans. That happens when the Internet is something quite illusive and we are trying our best to hide away from civilisation.

After our rather terrible encounter with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency we felt like we needed to get away from it all for a while. Therefore, in Ponce, we stacked up on a lot of provisions and anchored in what on the map seemed like somewhere that nobody would be. We were right! Among the mangroves on the southern coast of Puerto Rico we found calm water and a seabed that excellently clung to our anchor. Fortune smiled upon us ever so sweetly… We even caught some fish on the way there, which enables us to hide away for two more days than expected.

This anchorage proved an apt opportunity to explore the mangroves. Mangroves are a strange kind of trees or shrubbery that appear to be getting by on saline water. That is very interesting! Saline water usually kills everything… They actually have these long tendrils hanging down from the tops of their foliage which suck the sea water up, cleaning it on the way. On the down side, mangroves tend to leave a lot of plant material in the sea, which makes the water a bit filthy. The crew of S/Y CoCo set out on an expedition to learn more about the mangrove. Regrettably, of the three of us that embarked on this expedition, only three made it back.

Hardcore exploration

The rest of us also wore hats.

After spending some of our most relaxing days at this place, we eventually decided that it was time to head back to a place inhabited by something more than plants. Or perhaps we were running out of beer. I don’t really remember. Whatever the reason, we sooner or later set sail for the island of Vieques. Here we have been able to do some long overdue maintenance, like put new strings on the guitar.

Dinghy dock in Vieques.

Tourists

Victim of a Hurricane?

Esperanza, Vieques.

Captain Peter on a typical Viequan street corner.

Trouble with the US Customs and Border Protection Agency

or how Sebastian celebrated his birthday.

The only picture taken in the last couple of days. Just before all hell broke loose on the way from Casa de Campo. Sebastian at the helm.

Sebastian awoke on his birthday the 10th of March to a lot of yelling in a language that he chose to call “Spanglish” on the VHF (Very High Frequency) radio, after a good three hours of sleep. It was around eight o’clock in the morning and CoCo was off the coast of Puerto en route to the island of Vieques. Approximately two days before, S/Y CoCo had left port in Casa de Campo. Conditions had been rough with waves up to 3 m (10 ft) and wind well above 20 knots. Both wind and waves were coming from the east, in the opposite direction that CoCo was going. Needless to say, sleep had been sparse. The crew had even decided to make an emergency stop in a bay behind a reef to get a few hours of decent sleep.

After a brief mind battle with his fatigue, Sebastian eventually got dressed and climbed the ladder up on deck to find the source of the radio ruckus. A Puerto Rican police boat was bouncing in the waves on CoCo’s starboard side. It was difficult to make out any of the Spanglish, but it was evident that they wanted us to change course towards the shore. The police boat escorted us into a bay that would have been quite lovely if not for a giant concrete pier and a bulk carrier feeding system. We were asked to make fast our vessel to a tug boat which was docked there. Aboard this tug boat were no less than a dozen policemen and other civil officers waiting for us.

The entire crew was detained on the deck of the tug after the officer-in-charge of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), had inspected our passports. We were informed that we did not have visas to visit the United States or its territories and therefore was going to be fined $ 5000. What!? Norwegian citizens does not need visas to visit the US. It appears that there were exceptions to this rule. If you come to the US aboard a private boat, you DO need a visa. Moreover, we were charged with entering US territory illegally the day before (the few hours of decent sleep mentioned above).

How were we going to get out of this one? Peter, the highly esteemed captain of S/Y CoCo, calmly (holding his anger and frustration contained) explained to the chief that he had contacted the US Coast Guard before entering Puerto Rican waters and that he had been referred to an office of the CBP. When we dropped anchor Peter immediately rang up the CBP office to say that they we had arrived. We were informed that we could anchor where we were but we were not allowed to go ashore before clearing in properly. Considering this information, how could we have done anything if not in good faith?

The chief promptly rang up the CBP office in question to confirm our story and we were informed that we had not entered Puerto Rican water illegally, as we had been incorrectly informed. Consequently, the CBP officer that Peter spoke with on the phone the day before was fired immediately. If he was prosecuted or not, we do not know.

Following a thorough questioning of the crew on the deck of the tug, CoCo was inspected. The CBP crew opened up any compartment they could find and made quite a mess of the yacht’s interior. As a final touch, a canine was brought onboard. After a good couple of hours we were informed that the officers did not find anything illegal, and neither did the canine smell anything it shouldn’t smell. Taking our good cooperation and the results of inspection into consideration, the chief chose to show us some mercy by allowing us a once-in-a-lifetime visa waiver for a cost of $ 585 per person. The catch was that we had to proceed to Ponce that same day.

Having no choice, the crew got aboard CoCo again, quickly tidied up the CBD mess and proceeded sailed westwards as fast as CoColy possible (which can be quite fast). We arrived in Ponce around five o’clock in the afternoon and docked on the customs dock. The wind was incredibly strong and the swell in the harbour was like nothing we had ever experienced before. The chief and one of his subordinates was waiting for us on the dock and we were informed that we had to do the process the next morning at ten o’clock instead because the office was not willing to pay the officers overtime. Not a minute too soon! Almost at that precise moment our bowline snapped and CoCo was flying uncontrollably around. Peter quickly jumped aboard with Sebastian while Henrik stayed ashore to remove all other tethers. Unscathed, but with Henrik left on the dock, CoCo proceeded further out in the harbour.

Luckily, we came in contact with the skipper of Infinity Beta, another sailing yacht close-by at anchor. He said he was willing to fetch us our stranded deckhand in his dinghy. The rest of the crew aboard CoCo quickly responded in the affirmative with great thanks and praise.

After six tries, the anchor finally found good hold. Peter took the dinghy ashore and returned with take-away! Thusly, Sebastian’s birthday was celebrated in front of the TV with quesadillas and caramel pudding.

The next morning, CoCo proceeded to dock at the nearby yacht club and four hours waited her crew at the local CBD office with further questioning, the taking of fingerprints and forms that needed to be filled out. The result? A $ 585 stamp in our passports.

Putting Wheels on a Sailing Yacht

We have been trying for some time to get CoCo up on dry land to redo the bottom paint. The flora and fauna of the Caribbean Sea is a bit different from what CoCo and her crew is used to back home in Europe. Consequently all kinds of crazy things has been growing on the hull beneath the waterline. A good antifouling paint, or bottom paint, should keep such uninvited guests away, but the language of our European paint is obviously different from the one that the Caribbean sea dwellers speak.

We first checked with IGY Shipyard in Rodney Bay in St. Lucia, but found the estimate for the job a bit on the outrageously expensive side. Additionally, we didn’t have much time before we needed to be at the ABC Islands.

The next option for hauling CoCo proved to be Varadero just outside Oranjestad on Aruba. We had scheduled an appointment with the marina manager, but as we were in approach we ran ashore! CoCo’s draught of 2.8m (9 ft) was too much for this place. The seabed consisted of mud and sand – no permanent harm to our keel.

Finally, we made it to a place where all conditions seemed perfect. CoCo is now on shore in Casa de Campo, IBC Shipyard, and the crew is spending a few days sightseeing in Santo Domingo.