A Gale is coming!

Wednesday 27 Mar, SVI day 2, Culebra: Walk in town, then dinner with our friends.
Today is orientated around our friends arriving in the Swan66, Gale.

Before the safety alarm we awake to airplanes taking off from the nearby airport which sound like they are coming right above our boat. These twin engines Islander planes are noisy! But not annoying.
Clear sky and sunshine again, and although the clouds yesterday gave us the much welcomed shade, and the rain cooled our skin, we are happy to wake up to sunshine again. Any place looks better when the sun shines. But it’s also sticky. Hm, is this the climate now that we are slightly off the trade winds?

After a bit of admin (backing up raw video footage, we learned our lesson!) we head ashore to explore the town in this lovely sunlight. Great for photos.
The Dinghy Dock Restaurant is the only suitable dock to tie the dinghy and they don’t mind us leaving it there even if we don’t sit for meals and drinks for the moment.
From there we venture in the main part of the town, passing the lifting bridge. This bridge is a feature of Culebra. It was built for two large fishing boats to pass under, and these boats are now gone so the bridge doesn’t work anymore. To our eyes looks like a red LEGO bridge, it has that appearance of a toy.

Through the town we again appreciate the peace (no blaring music) and only hear the chatter of few locals and a few chickens. The colorful houses are clean and tidy and all with shutters closed to keep the sun away. So Spanish. A couple of them offer accommodation.
We stop in a bakery and a cafeteria, both pretty basic and not exactly busy. There is an espresso coffee machine in the bakery, but no smell of actual coffee, so we pass it. Otherwise they only had donuts.
The post office is housed in a very interesting building, which looks like a combination of Wild West on the lower floor and Caribbean on the upper floor.

The road takes us down to the ferry terminal which is now busy with several ferries and few people waiting for their departure. Along the quay there are a couple more small dinners selling sandwiches, a dive shop, and a small clothes and accessories shop selling not much.
On the way back we pass a souvenirs shop where we pay the mandatory visit to buy trinkets for the family, and then the loop takes us back to the Dinghy Dock.

When we glance out into the bay, we spot s/v Gale coming in, our friends Christian and Eva will be joining us to visit Culebra for a few days. So we dinghy to welcome them and arrange to meet for dinner. Then we head back to Cloudy Bay to cool off.
It is hot today. In fact, we are noticing that it’s getting warmer and warmer as the weeks pass. We didn’t really notice this last year. But then we were in the windward islands with the constant cooling trade winds. Whereas here, the trades are less constant and perhaps we are feeling the effects of springtime warm up? Whatever the reason, it’s more uncomfortable and sees us using the shower to regularly cool off!

We have a few hours to kill on board and I set about a long overdue task, fitting CCTV cameras on the lower spreaders. One facing forward, one aft. Not that we’ve had even the slightest security issue, but we hope this, along with the intruder alarm will frighten off any unwanted boarders.

Dinner is a very pleasant time with our friends in the Dinghy Dock restaurant. The food is fantastic. They certainly seem to have a successful business recipe as it’s full, and with a wonderful atmosphere. Nice to see a place doing so well. Good for them. After the meal we go for a stroke through the town walking-off our dinner before we retire back to the boat.
It’s very still tonight, almost zero wind. We will need our fans on to be able to sleep no doubt.