Tapas - Yum!

The day dawned as have all the others for the last week, but we were in for a change so we stayed put on the anchor. With the big islands of the Greater Antilles there is an interesting wind effect. The trade winds can blow all day but at night and early in the morning the cool air coming down from the hills stalls out the trade winds and makes for some pretty spectacular sleeping. The boat just doesn't move, not even a ripple disturbs us. It's hard to believe but just a couple of miles offshore, the trade winds are still blowing.

When we arrived in La Parguera yesterday we had seen what looked like a tethered blimp but by the time we had anchored it had disappeared. Well look who's back this morning!

After working a few years for a manufacturer of tethered blimps that looked exactly like this, I have an inkling of just what they are capable of carrying. I can't imagine the surveillance that is going on down here, but perhaps it's just a weather monitor... Regardless, as the active weather that we were expecting in the afternoon rolled in, down came the blimp.

We decided to get off the boat before the rain arrived (which it never did) and partake in some tapas at a recommended bar.

The ambience was perfect, watching the passers-by in the street, including this rooster and his two hens that strutted by a number of times.

The food was great, including tempura battered shrimp and ricotta stuffed mushrooms, accompanied by Medalla and a mojito,

tostones (double fried plantain), with sangria,

We also enjoyed some tacos, chicken skewers and empanadillas (fish and crab). All under the watchful eye of this fellow.

What I loved though was as we left we chatted with the manager and asked if the dog sleeping right on the threshold was his, and as he carefully stepped around her, he answered that no it was just a street dog... Most of the time they are shoo'd away, but this one obviously had earned her place of honour.

We returned to the boat on the dead still lagoon as the last red glow disappeared from the sky and as we approached we could see a whiter glow on the horizon. Climbing up on top of the boat was just enough elevation to see over the trees and glimpse the nighttime rest spot of our morning visitor. Hard to see, but that's the blimp down on the ground but still inflated. They take a heck of a lot of helium so they are kept inflated but tethered to the ground, especially when the nights are so calm.

If the weather is good for tomorrow we will round the south west corner of Puerto Rico and set our sights on Boqueron on the western shore.