A couple of days before we lifted our sails for Puerto Rico, we sat around with a bunch of sailors at the Chat-N-Chill. That’s where everyone started really making a plan and making decisions. It’s a funny thing; us sailors… we can have something in mind and then get blown off course by someone else’s knowledge of unknown places. Many of us were chartering new territory and many had information to share. Some were on their way to Domincan Republic, Turks of Caico, and a couple of us as were headed as far as Puerto Rico.
The decision was made! There was about 20 or so of us and we all lined up on February 26th at 6 am, one would have thought we were lining up for a race and we all set out for the open sea. The wind was just right and together we all hoisted our sails and sailed out of Georgetown. What a beautiful site to see. Off of each side of Raven, everyone’s sails were up and we were all riding the wind and waves. After a few hours; some were behind us that we could no longer see and some were making their way ahead. Everyone was now scattered on the sea.
One would say this was a perfect sail! For four days we kept our sails up, mostly had great wind. Occasionally had to run those nasty engines, but for the most part we were able to enjoy the wind in our sails.
One afternoon while I was off watch and enjoying a nap… David started to yell with excitement. My discovery was, he had thrown out a fishing line and he had caught a fish and was in the middle of reeling it in. Turns out he had thrown out two lines! By the time we had caught this beautiful Mahi-mahi, cut it up, cleaned the fish and the mess, and now had the fish vacuum packed and in the freezer… It was literally less than a minute the second reel took off. Well, it was easy to realize we didn’t need another large fish for the two of us and our little freezer. So, needless to say, that was one lucky day for that fish. We reeled it in, removed the hook and gave it back to the beautiful sea. Here’s hoping that Neptune will look kindly on us next time we get those rods back out. There is also nothing quite so good as a fish you just caught off your own reel. What a great dinner!!! Nice job Captain David!
Next evening, we landed in Puerto Rico, we just missed getting there before sunset and everyone was gone for the day. So, we tied up to the fuel dock and waited until morning. The next day our friends on White Wings joined us, they had waited outside the marina until morning. After the four of us were all fueled up again and tied up safely in the marina, the four of us were off exploring. We rented a car for a few days did a little site seeing and provisioning. One would have thought we hadn’t seen a store in years! There was good shopping to be had so we felt that we should take advantage of it, so we did!
The time went quick and after a week we said good bye to White Wings as they were going to stay a bit longer and go explore another island close by and we were off to the BVI’s. We had company flying in soon and wanted to get there early. A few weeks later we would see White Wings again at Willy T’s for drinks and dinner. For now, we were each on our own journey!
