A Tale of Two Chemists: Isla Culebrita

Isla Culebrita

Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13th February 2025

Well, we are certainly having an adventure! We are effectively pinned down by the high winds and seas, but what a great place to be stuck in!

In our previous blog post Gloria described the anchorage in Bahia de Almodovar - beautiful, isolated and fully exposed to the wind, but protected from the ocean swells by the surrounding reefs. It’s a fabulous anchorage. With our Navionics charts we are able to drill down and read comments and reviews written by other boaters on the “Active Captain” open-platform. A couple of people had commented about taking their dinghies over to the island of Culebrita to the northeast, a short 1 mile trip. We thought about doing just that, but the conditions seemed much too fierce to make that a safe proposition, so we pulled up the anchor and took Cotinga over for the day.

Isla Culebrita is now part of a larger marine park, but appears to have previously been a gunnery target. There are lots of warnings about unexploded ordnance. We were able to find a sandy spot off the beach in about 18 feet of water and I snorkeled over the anchor and chain to check they were secure and not wrapped around any rocks. (18 18.788 N, 65 13.885 W - charts list this as a day-anchorage only - no overnight). It was pretty rolly, so as soon as we were organized we took the dinghy to shore. Initially, we landed at an old dock, but soon found there were no paths out from there, so we headed along the shore and hauled the ‘Dainty dog’ up onto ‘Snorkelers beach’. A series of foot paths took us up to an old dilapidated lighthouse and then over to ‘Treasure beach’ and finally ‘Tobago Beach. This island, and in particular the beaches, are some of the most beautiful places that we have visited on this trip. After our walk we contemplated snorkeling off the beach, but by the time we got back on board Cotinga it was so rolly that we decided to have a quick lunch and head back to the exact same spot in our previous anchorage.

This morning we moved location again, but only a couple of miles around the coast to another sheltered bay - Ensenada Honda. It was another short and bumpy ride, but the channel in through the reefs was well marked and we were able to anchor in a small cove (Ensenada Dakota) off the main bay. Once again, it’s wide open to the wind with a view out over the ocean to the east, but with reefs blocking the swell. There are more boats here, perhaps because of the easy access to the main town at the head of the Bay. We took the dinghy in, about a 1.5 mile ride, which we found easy downwind, but very salty coming back. Gloria had to sit on the floor of the dinghy to avoid the spray. However, it was fun to walk around town and we had an outstanding lunch - Mofongo with shrimp for me, and chicken pasta for Gloria. Mofongo is a classic Puerto Rican and Dominican dish made from green plantains and minced pork crackling - it was really excellent. The pasta dish sounded ordinary, but was anything but - it tasted fabulous.

Is it better to spend more time visiting one area more closely or use the time to explore more areas? There’s no right answer to this question, but at least for the next couple of days, we have no choice but to enjoy our current location. Who wants to go sailing in short period 7-9 foot wind driven waves overlaying a longer swell of similar proportions? (data from our marine weather forecast). Not us! Things are supposed to settle down after the weekend and we may be able to do a short hop down to Vieques on Saturday.

One last note - as many of you know, I broke the oven on our stove shortly after setting out in 2023. Whilst we were in Soper’s Hole Marina we finally learned how to make Ciabatta bread on the stove top. It was great!

18 17.517 N, 65 16.852 W

Mike

Full moon over the Bahia de Almodovar anchorage

Our first landing spot on Isla Culebrita - but nowhere to go from here - the main island of Culebra in the background

The Snorkelers Beach landing on Isla Culebrita gave access to footpaths across the island

The wrecked lighthouse at the top of the island

The masonry on the lighthouse was crumbling and colorful

Views south from the lighthouse. The Bahia de Almodovar anchorage is visible in the indentation on teh main island top right. The snorkeling off the reef seen here is supposed to be excellent but it was too exposed and rough to contemplate on this day

Gloria literally standing on the path to 'Treasure Beach' It was actually easy going, underneath the sea grapes

'Treasure Beach'

The waves rolling in from the east were impressive - this bay is not good anchorage !

'Tobago Beach' - as seen from the lighthouse. One of the most beautiful anchorages I have ever seen (but it looked a little rolly when viewed close up)