Gillian's Island

Here's the problem with going east along the coast of Puerto Rico.  We need to go east if we want to make it to see the rest of the Caribbean.  The trade winds always blow from the east making it very difficult to travel straight into the wind.  At night there is supposed to be a backing of the wind due the cooling of the land.  We have yet to experience this.

Ugh!

After leaving the safe harbor of La Paraguera we were thinking we would just try and go around to Gilligan's island.  The first 6-7 miles were 2-4 foot seas with the wind blowing 15-20 knots but with the reefed main we sailed along and thought, this isn't bad.

Then we came out from behind the reef and bashed into waves for the next 2 miles.  That doesn't sound like a lot but was rough on all of us all over again.  You would think we learned our lesson the first time.  To top it all off, the scariest part was when the seas were crashing around us, just off a rocky lee shore, with a lone fisherman in a small boat anchored near us, the motor died.  Paul quickly diagnosed it as air in the system and Nicholas and he fixed the problem within minutes.  

We safely anchored near Gilligan's Island and the Copamarina Beach Resort & Spa.  There is a ferry that brings guests from the resort over to Gilligan's Island so we decided to check it out.  It's a small place with lots of picnic benches and places to grill.  It is mostly mangroves and has nice white sand and clear water to swim in.  We all had fun swimming.

We also visited the resort for Mother's Day.  The food was good and the atmosphere was pleasant.  I couldn't have asked for a better treat.