BVI - SAN JUAN

Sorry - still no photos! Magda is in Toronto with the camera and I am still in Puerto Rico.

The rest of the week sailing was glorious, one rainy morning but the rest of the time the bright green of the islands was set against blue skies and seas. We had one splendid day when we sailed right along the north coast of Tortola to Jost van Dyke before lunch.

We snorkelled in various places; the most attractive was in Privateer Bay on Norman Island where there was lots of life. Multi-coloured fish, different corals, even a turtle which visited the boat. I picked up a medium-sized conch shell with a beautiful pink interior, but after it had sat on the boat for a little while a tiny crab came creeping out! So I threw both crab and house back into the sea...

Tortola is a source of employment for people from all over the Caribbean from Guyana to Jamaica, so you hear a babel of varied accents. It was a delightful reminder of the years I spent here. A less agreeable reminder of the less than perfect efficiency of the people came when the charter company failed to reconfirm Magda's flight out of Tortola, which cost her 24 hours, a lot of heart-ache and not a few dollars... However she got to Canada eventually and I rejoin her there tomorrow.

Here in San Juan I am struggling to keep up with the overwhelming hospitality of Paul and Raquel. Yesterday I went to the rain forest park at El Yunque, an hour east of the city. It rained! This was my favourite place to walk in the days when I lived here - 17 years ago! Last time I went the trees were leafless and the bamboos all smashed after the passage of hurricane Hugo, so it was nice to see that the forest has recovered entirely, the birds are back and the Coquis (tree-frogs) chirruping with renewed vigour.


Lo siento, todavia no hay fotos! Magda esta en Toronto con la maquina y yo estoy todavia en Puerto Rico.

Terminamos la semana navegando con un clima maravilloso, solo una manana con lluvia. El resto del tiempo navegabamos entre islas de un verde intenso, con mar y cielo azul.

Nadamos con equipo de snorkel en varios lugares; el mas atractivo es Privateer Bay en la Isla Norman, donde vimos una gran variedad de peces de colores, corales, y hasta una tortuga de mar. Encontre una hermosa concha grande, rosada, y quise llevarla, pero despues de una hora salio un cangrejito! La concha era su casa, asi que la eche de vuelta al mar...

Tortola es fuente de empleo para gente de todo el Caribe desde Guyana a Jamaica, y se escucha un verdadero Babel de accentos. Para mi fue un recuerdo agradable de mis anos en la region. Otro recuerdo menos agradable de su "eficiencia" ocurrio cuando la empresa que nos arrendo el velero no hizo la reconfirmacion del vuelo de Magda para salir de Tortola, lo que le costo 24 horas, mucho sufrimento y varios dolares! Sin embargo, finalmente llego a Canada y nos juntaremos alla manana.

Aqui en San Juan estoy sobreviviendo los efectos de la tremenda hospitalidad de Paul y Raquel. Ayer fui al bosque en el parque nacional "El Yunque", a una hora de la ciudad. Llovio! Este era mi lugar preferido para caminar cuando vivia en Puerto Rico - hacen 17 anos atras! La ultima vez que fui, los arboles no tenian hojas y los bambues estaban todos rotos despues del huracan Hugo; estaba contento de ver que el bosque se ha recuperado totalmente, han vuelto los pajaros y se escuchan los "Coquies" - unos sapitos tipicos de la isla.