Palmas del Mar

We put Brad on the plane in St. Thomas and spent the day in Lindbergh Bay, swimming, enjoying stolen internet and just being generally lazy.  With 2 weeks left in our Caribbean Cruise we had more than enough time to re-tour the USVI or head back over to the BVI – but you know what?… we realized that we are done.

It is time to think about our parallel universe where grandchildren come to stay at our house, kids get married, friends come over for dinner and other good stuff.  So with a new sense of purpose and adventure we headed back to Puerto Rico to put Blue Pearl to bed for the summer.

Pizza oven

Pam's kitchen window - looking out at Green Beach, Vieques

We raised anchor in time to beat a bit of bad weather and raced back to Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands.  We were there earlier with Jen and Jackson and with the Inmans so it was familiar ground.  Enjoyed walking around the town and doing boat chores – picked up a couple of bottles of communion wine since we were low.  Then to Green Beach on the west of Vieques and finally a 12 mile sail to the Marina at Palmas del Mar.

We stayed at Palmas in 1995 for a week and we are amazed that something this big and opulent has managed through these tough economic times.  We’ve seen so many of these “grand schemes” that have failed so someone must be doing something right here at Palmas.  It was stunning in 1995 and is every bit as stunning today.

We will be hauled in a week so we will enjoy the marina life – pool, tiki bar, chandlery, proximity to Costco wines.

Friends Mary Clare and Axel from Azaya arrived today and spent the day with us in a rental car, driving from West Marine to the outlet mall to Costco to Walmart getting all kinds of provisions and bits and pieces for the boats.  Azaya is hoping to capture one of the last spots in dry-storage here for the summer alongside Blue Pearl.

Stay Out!!! Turtles hatching.

Mary Clare and Axel on Palmas beach

AC making a difference

Yay for Costco wines!

We will start the process of taking down the sails, the canvas, changing oil, changing filters and all the other things on the “put to bed” check list. Looking forward to putting Blue Pearl to bed SLOWLY – with AC.  

Coolin' in the pool