Culebra, Day 1

I try as hard as possible to put off the evil moment of going ashore to check in, but Mike won’t hear of it and off we go.  We are assured by a friendly Aussie on a neighbouring boat that the Customs and Immigration at the airport is “only five minutes up the road”.  Well it probably is if you power-walk and don’t have to run the gauntlet of the men with diggers who are lifting up large chunks of road.  Eventually we arrive, having dodged many chickens on the way, determined to make their presence seen and heard.

We pull open the door of the Customs department to be met by the official just going off for his hour-long lunch break at 12 noon on the dot.  I smile hopefully that he will process us – after all, it can’t take that long can it?  But no, he’s off (very politely) and invites us to return at 1.30.

Photo:  Local shop – closed of course!

We wander back into town but looking around the shops doesn’t really take very long, so we stop for lunch at the Dinghy Dock Restaurant and watch the tarpon swimming just a few feet away from the deck.  Three turn into 9 of these large fish, ranging from 4 to 6 feet in length.  The largest one has obviously had a close call with something larger as he has a chunk missing from near his dorsal fin.  Watching these fish leisurely swimming around takes our mind off the fact that our food takes ages to arrive, but when it does, it is delivered in such a friendly, laid back manner that it really isn’t a problem.  Mike’s choice is brilliant;  mine, OK.

Then we have the walk back to the airport.  Same officer, same polite manner, same level of ridiculous bureaucracy.  He takes one look at our British passports, and in a near-horrified voice, says “please tell me you have US visas”.  We do, and he is pleased but no wonder he didn’t want to process us before he left for lunch -  it takes 20 minutes with 5 forms to fill out; 3 for the boat and 1 for each of us and lots of things to be put into his little computer.

Eventually though, we are processed and legal once more and off we trundle just as the heavens open.  We put our jackets on but the deluge is so great that we are forced to stand on a concrete bench under a school shelter to escape the full force of it, and begin the slow process of steaming from the inside out!  Ten minutes later the sun is out and we ride a very wet dinghy back to the boat.

The weather is not favourable to Kev and Jo leaving today, so after changing, we go over, me for a lesson in using Windows Live Writer and E-Blogger, and Mike to drink beer.  Later, we go through the sad process of saying goodbye again and head back to Jeannius for supper and bed.