Gilligan's Island

We left the lighthouse anchorage at 4:00am and sailed 8 hours until the wind was too strong.  This is when we pulled into the Gilligan's Island anchorage. We then napped for 8 hours, woke up and I made tapioca for dinner, then went back to sleep for another 8 hours. Puerto Rico has surprised us again.  This has been the epitome of a perfect place to anchor. We are tucked in away from any surge or swell, there is a constant breeze all day that powers the wind generator and funnels cool air through the boat, and the island itself is AMAZING!  It did not say anything about how fun Gilligan's island is in any of the guidebooks so we almost didn't even go check it out. In fact our plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but at the last minute we both decided we wanted to go check it out.

Gilligan's Island is a "local" swimming hole.  I'll try my best to explain exactly what I mean. There are ferries that run all day shuttling people to and from the island. It is an island with the Caribbean Sea on the south and east side. It is more like 3 small islands right next to each other with clear, sandy, shallow water between them. They are protected from the sea by a reef a few hundred yards out. This allows the waves to break off shore, but the current still pushes through the islands creating a natural lazy river.  The island has brick grills, picnic tables, and pavilions.  There are people kayaking, wind surfing, floating on tubes, and just relaxing in the natural swimming hole.  We showed up not prepared and had to go back to the boat to get our swimsuits and snorkels.  We spent a few hours swimming up and floating down the mangrove lined tunnels.  One of the rivers even has 3 old bombs that have been placed in the center that are fun to snorkel.  We loved this place so much we spend the next day here too.  

The trade winds pick up around noon so we will be leaving our anchorages in the early morning giving us enough time to sail to our next spot before the strong winds come in.  I'm not sure if we will ever want to leave Puerto Rico. It is just too much fun!

Dodging small scuba boats throughout the day