Mistress of the Wind: Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico

November 22...Arrived in San Juan with relatively no problems. Long line ups for everything at the airport. Not just one line but everything seems to be a line!

We got our rental car, drove to Yabucoa arriving just after dark. Good thing we stopped at the Burger King in town for directions. Would have never found our hotel, Hotel Lucia. Nice little hotel on the ocean with a lovely little pool, almost a lap pool. Too bad we are only here for two nights. Presently we are their only customers.

Boat looks in good shape, nicely polished and bottom painted ready for launch. Peter worked hard today, me not so much.....so hot! The repaired wind generator is back on, hopefully will generate and the impeller has been replaced as well. The stainless is pretty rough under the Bimini and under the solar panel. Guess they had winds and the seeweed blew up, attached itself to things and because of the drought made everything black. Guess the boats were pretty black as well.

Tomorrow we launch late in the day. That will give me time to wash the mold off the walls....little worse than usual!

Found a great grocery store and stopped in for the local beer, Medalla and a few cheese and crackers. Tonight we will eat in the main hotel again. Had dinner there last night, passable and don't have too far to go.

November 24...Splashed around noon, so hot had to go to hotel to get out of the heat. Back to The Yacht Club in the afternoon to put up the tarp. Stainless so rusty have to polish before dodger and Bimini go up. One problem already, the ever reliable Tohatsu has a movement problem, steering has seized.

Our friends, Lou and Lydia and Bug, arrived and lovely dinner at Pescadaris of yellow tail snapper, three lbs or kilos....shared by the four of us. The entire fish was deep fried....unusual cooking method but very good.

November 27...Wow! Is it three days since the last post. Where has the time gone? Let's see.....Dinner last night at Chez Daniel, turkey to celebrate American Thanksgiving. Cockpit is clean, galley done, suitcases put away, and ready to begin general cleanup of the odds and sods. V berth for company will be the last cleanup. Plans today are to get in touch with outboard motor places, continue chrome polishing. Nothing too exciting!

November 29...Yesterday a blaze of shopping. Walmart, Always 99 Cents, and the best of all, Capri! Everything you ever wanted and more! Anchor chain not purchased, will wait until Monday. Storm last night, lots of rain and boat hitting dock. Peter with a bit of a cold, a good day to work on projects that take a lot of effort as it is only 22 degrees. Brrrrr....and it will continue to rain all day!

December 1...Well the last few days have been a blurr! All is well and still hot. It has been raining although still warm and muggy. Yesterday I spent a semi quiet day doing laundry and catching up on my reading while others went to San Juan for chain, sale stuff at West Marine, etc. They were gone all day. Today we spent the morning cursing the chain....removing old one and installing new one, all 175 feet of galvanized steel. Several times before it was correct. Weights for exercises were not needed. Lifting new chain which now fits the gypsy, did the trick of at least ten pound weights. It should be smooth now going up and down with no skipping. Nevertheless, after lunch, a shopping trip to Capri, Walmart, where five lb weights were purchased, and Ralphs for food inventory rounded out the day. Our trusty golf cart was waiting again to take the supplies to the boat. Thank goodness for that!

December 3...So this is the second time today I am writing this. Internet got bogged down and of course, lost my entry. Sitting in air conditioned office now enjoying the cool.

Yesterday worked very hard, got the dodger and Bimini up with relatively no effort, dinghy in the water, tie downs and stakes from Joe in case we don't come back. Early this morning, head sail up. Went smoothly and now ready to fly....well not quite!

Juan, the head guy from the Yacht club came by with lobsters yesterday and since we don't have a large enough pot we had the fellow from the Tiki Bar cooked them along with a mescaline salad. Delicious!