Sailing to Culebra Spanish VIs

Leaving St Croix

It’s about 50nm from Frederiksted on St Croix to Ensenada Honda on Culebra and we knew that we needed to arrive in time to get to the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) post at the airport during working hours.  So, it was an 0600 start from St Croix on Tuesday 1 May and we had the engine on and off a few times before the wind settled down to a good 15-18knots from the southeast.

We made good speed downwind (about 7.5knots) with plenty of blue skies and a lovely blue sea to go with them.

And a large pod of dolphins spent 10 minutes of so playing around the bow wave and diving under BV from one side to the other until, suddenly, as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone.

Entrance to Ensenada Honda, Culebra, ahead.  The reef is visible between BV’s port bow and the island, with yachts anchored behind it

We arrived off the entrance channel through the reefs outside the bay at about 1230. Unfortunately we arrived at exactly the same time as a huge black squall and so made our way in through the wide, well-marked channel in torrential rain.

Passing the reef out to our port side

The channel runs really rather close to the reef in places, which was particularly disconcerting in the poor light conditions, but we were soon past all the buoys and into the bay beyond.  From there we had a further 2nm to go to the anchorage off Culebra Town.  With the wind from the east there is space for a good fetch here, though it is possible to anchor behind Pirate Cay for added protection.  Not intending to stay too long, we anchored between Pirate Cay and the town quay, quite close to a very familiar looking yacht – Wild Iris.

Ensenda Honda, Culebra, Spanish VIs