June 06. Essenada, PR, waiting for weather

The system with heavy wind is passed us now but was immediately followed by another system of another predicted 5 days of heavy winds. Usually there is a lee at night along the Puerto Rican coast, which means the wind will stop to blow around sunset, but will start again around 8 am. We've been waiting for that to happen. According to Chris Parker this was going to happen last night, although the local predictions are always about 5 knots stronger than Chris predicts and have been right so far. So we got up at 2.00 am, well the guys did, and as the wind still blew up to 16 knots and knowing we are in a protected anchorage, totally surrounded by hills, we don't get the whole effect of the wind. So the guys crawled back to bed end continued with their dreams. The guide for Puerto Rico says that the 60 miles will take 11 days to cross, I think we will brake that record. In a normal conditions we would love to go sailing in 15 knots of wind and 20 would be a fast cruising day. But here with the same coastal situation as in the Dominican Republic it is another thorn in the passage and should not be taken lightly as a boat can easily get in trouble. Almost every day we hear mayday calls on VHF CH 16. Not just that it is wear and tear on both crew and boat. I just read in "An Embarrassment of Mangoes" a very good description on what is happening. The Mona passage for instants drops from a shallow 150 feet to the second-deepest hole in the world, the 16 000-foot-deep Puerto Rican Trench. As massive volume of water tumble across the uneven bottom in an underwater waterfall, the surface churns, setting up wild and conflicting currents. Even in benign weather, crossing this stretch from west to east is like booking passage inside a washing machine. I couldn't describe it better. The bottom along the north side of the Dominican Republic and the south side of Puerto Rico are the same with uneven depths, creating currents and churning water on the surface. It is said that a good weather window is when the wind blows up to 10 knots, but it still can be rough. If the wind blows at 15 plus, it's definitely a no go and we learned that so far. So we're stuck again, in good company "Welsh Rover", which makes the waiting game more tolerable. We also had some heavy rain, which was needed as the boat was covered with crusty salt. In the mean time 3 tropical waves have passed and a few more are underway, which tell us that hurricane season is just around the corner. Knowing again that a strong hurricane year is predicted we really need to get out of the hurricane belt as soon as we can. We truly hope that between today and the next wave that we can get some miles towards the east behind us and leave Puerto Rico for the Virgin Islands, where the Anegado Channel will be the last thorn on the Thorny Passage, from there on we should have smooth sailing south. Hope Montsera will not give us any grief either as the volcano is very unsettled and is said it can blow any minute now. Said all that we'll be enjoying our secure little anchorage with green water that is hugged by mangroves and lush green hills, where turtles, dolphins and even manatees frequently swim buy to observe us intruders.