After the visit from Damon and Andrew, we waited in Puerto Del Ray for our mainsail to be repaired. We were in port for Valentine ’s Day.
Susan and I had a nice dinner out for two in the waterfront restaurant in the marina.Two days later, we received a call from the sail maker informing us that our mainsail was done. He did a very nice job, he even went back and correctly repaired the small tear we had fixed by the unfriendly Haitian in George Town. With the Adamo ready to go, we departed, after some discussion, to Vieques.
Susan felt like we were going backwards since we had already been to that island. The boys and I wanted to head back there to see the bio-luminescent bay, reported to be the brightest in the world. Anchoring up in the bay at Esperanza, we waited for night fall to motor the dinghy three miles east to the opening of the shallow, bio-bay. If you have never seen bio-luminescent water, it is a glow that emits from the water from microscopic organisms that put of light in the dark when they are agitated by movement in the water. It is a fairly common occurrence in this area. In Samana, the bio-luminescence was such that you could see fish swimming in the dark by the glow their tales put off.We spent the day walking around the little seaside town of Esperanza, waiting for evening to arrive.
The island of Vieques was the center of controversy several years back when the locals wanted to put and end to the live munitions training occurring on the island by the US Navy. The protests grew to the point of violence and the Navy abandoned its hold on the island. 
You could most definitely tell that there was still hostility being harbored by some locals towards Americans. Since the Navy base has been closed down, the island must now rely on tourism as a major source of income. Due to the undercurrent of hostility, a lot will need to change for Vieques to become a sought after vacation spot. For the crew aboard the Adamo, it was an educational lesson. Not everyone is happy to greet American’s, even in US owned territory.As night fall came, we prepped for our excursion. The boys and I donned our wetsuits. Sue was convinced by us to come along, though she was not interested in swimming at night. She wore her foul weather gear. The wind was blowing and the waves had built to 4 to 5 feet. To shorten the dinghy ride to the bio-bay (two bays down the coast from our anchorage) we decided to cut from bay to bay by carrying the dinghy over the beach separating the bays. This turned out to be a bad choice. Turns out the beach was rocky and the waves on the other side of the beach made launching the dinghy quite daunting.
We managed to get back in the water and proceed to the bio-bay. As we slogged through the waves we began questioning our plan. How hard would it be to get back to the Adamo in the dark in these seas? We decided to press on. We entered the bio-bay and waited for darkness. We were wet and cold. Sue was not happy . . . and if the Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
As night fall came upon us, we splashed in the water to see the bioluminescence. There was virtually non. Quite disappointing. We headed back to the Adamo. Fortunately we were running with the waves which made the ride much smoother, dryer and quicker. Back at the boat the boys and I got to eat a little crow for dinner.
Subsequent to our experiences at Vieques, we decided to head straight to St. Thomas vs. spending more time in the Spanish Virgin Islands. It’s a 50 mile sail to St. Thomas, so we departed at 3:00am to take advantage of the decline in wind that usually occurs at night and to insure a day-time arrival in St. Thomas.
We departed the anchorage on time. As we rounded the corner to deeper open water the wind was blowing at 18knts with 5 foot seas. Not bad. As the night progressed we ran into several squalls with 32knts winds. The seas built to 8 to 10 feet. I felt like we were back in the Dominican Republic! We where hit by a 20 foot rogue wave. Doug was sleeping on the salon floor. The wave splashed against the side window, which was not properly latched. Water shot into the cabin. Doug was shocked. He thought we were going down. Because it was still dark out, heading to an anchorage was out of the question. We were committed.
The slog-fest continued till 8:00am. As we rounded the East point of Vieques, things settled down. The waves declined to 6 to 8 with 20knts wind. By 1:00pm we entered Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. We had reached our goal! We were tired but excited. After naps we headed to town for a celebratory dinner in old town. We enjoyed the most exquisite meal in a Spanish style restaurant.
Now we are waiting for our new sail to arrive, then it’s off to St. Croix were Susan’s mom and Ed will be meeting us on March 3rd.
