Sailing Ohana

Culebra and Culebrita are known for a couple of outstanding beaches on both islands. We loved the little harbor we anchored in, surrounded by a picturesque bustling town.

I prefer using cruising guides and paper charts over Google and our electronic charts, and I always consult these, referencing “my book” frequently when talking with other cruisers or making plans. It’s gotten to the point that our friends and my family joke about “my book” being the source of all the info we need. My book mentioned that Culebra feels more like the Virgin Islands than Puerto Rico, and we agreed. It feels like a European fishing village.

We spent a day exploring with our friends in the dinghys, looking for a good snorkeling spot, but ended up in a bay that was rough with poor visibility. We moved to a cool little cove that had tons of coral rocks instead of sand, and some decent snorkeling, so we hung out there for a bit. I got a big coral scrape on my thigh when a wave pushed me into a coral bed. I scrubbed it and cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide but after it started healing it developed itchy red spots, and I had to wrap the scrapes and slather on antibiotic ointment for it to heal.

One night we had a wonderful potluck dinner on our friends’ boat and spent time with other kid boats that we’ve seen off and on since P.R. Our last night there, we all went out to a local taco restaurant and had delicious food. We walked to the ice cream shop afterwards, only to find that it was closed. After wandering around for a while, we found a Chinese restaurant that had a freezer full of individually wrapped ice cream bars. The kids were happy.

We left with two of our buddy boats to Culebrita, a small island east of Culebra. We tried to take our boats into an anchorage on the North side, but waves were breaking and crashing all over the entrance. Instead, we anchored in the west side for the day and hiked to the other anchorage where there was a spectacular beach, and the Monks Baths. Because of the wind and waves, the baths were very exciting. The boys and their friends got thrown around for hours, never tiring of the fun. At the end of a full day, we moved to a beautiful anchorage on the Southeast side of Culebra, which is protected by a reef that surrounds it. The other two women and I had happy hour in our front cockpit and the guys hung out on our friend’s bow while the kids pulled each other around on their skimboards with the dinghy.