Anticipating Earl

8/26/10

Salinas, Puerto Rico

 In anticipation of another visit for Deb back to Beaufort and the onset of the height of the hurricane season, we slowly made our way back to Salinas, Puerto Rico. Salinas is a well known hurricane hole with miles of mangrove forests perfect for sailboats to hunker down in if any serious weather should threaten. Our timing was perfect as Hurricane Earl revved up and decided to head to Puerto Rico, despite the empty promises by the National Weather Service that he would veer to the northeast. Everyday we watched, and everyday Earl decided he needed some mofungo, the delicious local Puerto Rican dish of mashed plantains and garlic. As the tide was right for entering the mangroves when we arrived, Captain Don decided we had better tie up as Earl was only a day behind us. Imagine our surprise at how few boats there were and finding a good spot was delightfully easy.  Multiple lines fore and aft and two anchors out to start, we watched and waited to see if the NWS would give us some good news. Stocked up on Raid, mosquito coils, and the ever so reliable and highly healthy DEET spray, we were ready for some weather or bugs, which ever came first.

The NWS must know what they are doing as Earl decided to veer northeast 250 miles from the northern coast of Puerto Rico and make its way instead towards Bermuda.  A day and a night of 25-30 knot winds, grey skies, and a little rain was all we experienced here on the south coast. Unfortunately St. Thomas in the USVI and some places in the BVI were hit very hard and several boats were lost, all the more reason making a dash for the protected but buggy mangroves proved a wise choice.  Something about those high mountain peaks steers the storms north or south, making Salinas a very safe place to be. Blessed with an incredibly beautiful sky post hurricane was our reward for heeding the advice of our fellow trimeraner John on Buddy…”Run often and Run early!”