About half-way through our track up the south coast we found another Ensenada Honda; this one totally deserted and surrounded by mangroves. The colours were amazing with milky turquoise of the shallow waters set against the verdant emerald green of the trees. We took the opportunity of a break from pounding into the seas to prepare lunch before setting off for our last hour of eastward tracking before we could round Punta Este and then head north back to Culebra.
Once we rounded the point we set our sails and it took literally only about two hours on a beam reach to find our way back to Dewey on Culebra. We anchored on the west side of the town this time (remember last time we settled in behind the reef at the bottom of Ensenada Honda - yes, another one!) and after a civilized lunch on the foredeck watching the other boats come in to the remaining mooring balls we piled into the dinghy and headed down the lagoon to return to Mamacita's. We left the dinghy tied up outside the bar and split up for a little exploration before meeting back down at the ferry dock.
The evening held a surprise in store for us; we planned to go to Mamacita's for sundowners and perhaps an appetizer. The bar was busy with restaurant patrons awaiting their tables, so we headed to the Dinghy Dock for our first round. The Dinghy Dock (is there one in every Caribbean town?) faces onto Ensenada Honda where we watched the fishing boats (Puerto Rican Navy?) hooking up on their stern tied mooring balls and a wonderful little tri-maran who raced up the bay before settling gently up against the dock just along from our table. Once we'd drained the first round, we decided to head back to Mamacita's where we found room at the bar for the evening.
Appetizers started with coconut shrimp and crab cakes, before moving on to chicken burritos and bean enchiladas - all exceptionally yummy. The trade-mark drink in Culebra appears to be the Bushwacker so of course we had to sample, but I think the ginger mojitos were better. Of course, when in doubt a cold Presidente will always hit the spot!
A band of local talent, 'Son de Culebra' played us through the evening and in tribute to Ottawa even tuned up White Christmas. They were wonderfully inclusive and shared with us some of their stories. We must be turning into real cruisers though because I think we were pretty much completely bagged by about 8:30 and headed back to Mowzer for the night.
Of course, at this point you've figured out that the wifi in Culebra is a little more accessible and hence the numerous updates to the blog for the last few days.
Next, we are heading to Culebrita (the little sister-island to the east of Culebra) and will most likely spend Sunday and Monday nights there before heading back across the Savannah Straight to St. Thomas. We'll most likely be back in touch at that point...
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