Crew list:

Don Boyd (your correspondent)

Joni Crosby (she who is to be obeyed)

Mik the dog (the world famous cruising Pug)

Miles travelled - 90 (nautical miles as measured straight line GPS)

* Engine hours -34.0 (19 charging)
* Sailing hours - 5

• Money spent:

F- Food / beer / ice / snacks on board / provisioning- $ 1,036.00 US

C- Charts /fees/ medicine / phone - $ 430.00 US

D- fuel / boat parts / - $ 185.00 US

T- Eating out / drinking out / touring - $ 385.00 US

Aprox. total this leg - $2, 036.00 US

WOW!!! A lot of bucks eh? Well, remember that we hadn't stocked the boat with food since Florida and that's half of the expenses. Also we needed to pick up engine bits and spare parts, we rented a car for 4 days at about $ 100.00, we had almost $ 100.00 in film processing... you get the idea. This is a great restocking stop, fair prices and great selection. A case of Pepsi here is 1/3 what it'll be in the mid Caribbean so we have no water line again as 25 cases of pop, beer and juices are now aboard!

FAVOURITE PRICE SAMPLES -

All Prices in $ US:

Cruising permit for one year $ 9.00 / Diesel (per litre, jerry canned from the Marina) $ .30 / 2 quarts of 2% milk $ 1.89 / 24 Bud Beers in 10 oz. cans at Sam's $ 16.05 / 24 Pepsi colas in 11.55 oz. cans from Sam's $ 4.65 / 750 ml. bottle of Bacardi $ 5.95 / Tube of Pringles $ 1.59 / 1 lb of bacon $ 2.50 / Cabbage $ 1.79 lb

One 10 oz. Medalla Beer at happy hour $ .75 / Six pack of 10 oz. India Beer in cans $ 3.30 / Pincho pork or chicken (pieces of meat on a stick with a piece of bread) at open market $ 1.25 / Rent a car from Dollar Rent a Car, $ 19.95 per day / new 6 volt golf cart batteries $ 99.95 ea. / cost of water at Marina Salinas FREE!!! / Cost to use marina facilities (mainly the pool) for the day $ 5.00 per person per day or $ 40.00 per boat a week or $ 75.00 per boat per month /

• High temperature this period 35.9 Celsius
• Lowest temperature this period 23.2 Celsius

Straight line distance from PCYC Montreal • 1684 (nautical miles)

Ports visited:

•Boquer—n, Puerto Rico (anchor) •La Parguera, Puerto Rico (anchor) •Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island), Puerto Rico (anchor)•Salinas, Puerto Rico (anchor)

Up until nowall I knew about Puerto Rico was that it is an Island whose national animal is a frog, and that West Side Story had something to do with it's people. It's the famous play and movie where a bunch of leather cladded Puerto Ricans sang a lot about a hot babe named Maria who had left the island for New York City. When we arived here I had no idea what to expect. Singing frogs from New York? Yuk!

This is one friendly and beautiful spot, with everything from sandy beaches to rain forest, from mangrove harbours to Wal Marts. In fact there are Wal Marts and Mac Donald's restaurants all over the place. To a guy who just spent the last four months in the boonies quiet a sight for sore eyes!

The first thing Joni and I did was to get to a big supermarket and just stare at all the food. After the DR in particular, the sight of aisles and aisles of food excited us. And all of it was carefully shrink wrapped, boxed, bagged or packaged with the price clearly marked! "Look Joni!!!! Meat with no flies on it and it's for sale for only a few pesos!!!!!!!!"

Too bad that the price was in US dollars but at least it did not come with a risk of stomach cramps. You can even drink the water from the tap in Puerto Rico and the "Banos" here have real toilets!

Pinchos are to Puerto Rico what hot dogs are to Quebec, the official local food. A Pincho is basically cubed meat, pork or chicken usually, stuck onto a stick like a shish kabob , grilled, with a BBQ like sauce over it and served with a single slice of French bread perched on the top. They sell them every where! They even sold them from the back of a boat at a mangrove island beach one mile off shore from the town of La Parguera. I am now addicted to Pinchos and plan to make my fortune by opening "Mc Pinchos" when I return home.

The best part about Pinchos is that kids really like them and they are left with an extremely sharp stick after eating. They have lots of fun running around stabbing people in their Puerto Rican butts. Rarely however is there any blood, mainly I think because generally speaking the average Puerto Rica butt is pretty trim and the stick breaks before penetrating very far. In fact, this is a very young and attractive country. Every where I look I saw beautiful PR girls, sitting on park benches, drinking in bars, eating Pinchos they were every where and VERY VERY healthy. But as always, when Joni tugged extra hard on my collar it was time to go back to the boat.

Another thing that's very different here is that the beer cans are 10 oz.. It's a bit like travelling back in time to the 60's except with pull tabs. And 7 oz. bottled beer and pop is very popular too. They still charge State side prices, but to get a six pack you need to buy seven cans, ten if you buy 7 oz. bottles. I love the India and Medalla beer brewed here but don't like the size because they don't fit the boat's foam koozies. Also, every now and then while I hold the little cans or bottles I get confused and think that I am getting bigger. This scares me because I am afraid that I'll blast all of my clothes off as I expand and be sitting in front of all the pretty Puerto Rican girls in my underwear, preparing to write a Calculus exam that I didn't study for.

There has been a number a interesting emails lately. One alert reader wrote in part:

"Speaking of Joni, the women folk back here have requested that see a report from her with the female perspective on things... They can't be fooled of course as they will expect to see secret girly code words that only Joni would know."

Joni here! It really is, Don doesn't write in bold italic! Thanks for thinking of me. I am having a great time and Donald has been great! In fact he is the best husband in the world and I am going to take over all of the boring chores from now on because he is being so good! I will even open his beers for him and serve them al-la "Daytona Viki" if he'd like.

I would love it if we could sail in bad weather now and then, it would help me learn to bake in heavy weather. I do not miss sleeping in a dry bed every night, I believe that it makes us strong having to move stuff around just to nap.

I think that I will go back to Montreal and work while Donald stays here in the Caribbean honing his fine skills further! I will send him a healthy allowance every two weeks! I am so lucky.

All the wives back home should let their husbands come down here because it is the best idea ever! Maybe you could even come for part of the trip your selves. Also, another good idea is to always make sure that the beers are cold because they are so good that way ! Yum!

I n case you don't believe that this is Joni writing the girl word is... wait... if I put it on the web, all those silly but very useful and deserving husbands will know it... I am not going to use the code word (bathroom) or the boys (Cosmos) will (stomach cramps) find (bathroom again) out (one more bathroom) our code. (lid down)

I believe that I will let Don go to the Pincho place now because they are so good for him and the beers are very cold!

Wow! Thanks Joni.

Another reader recently wrote asking:

"I am planning to "untie the lines soon and head south. What is the most important piece of equipment on your boat?

Visa Gold.

This brings us to the part where I tell you about the sailing. There has been sailing, but as usual it is more the experiences aboard and ashore that comes to mind. Probably because there are 1,234,876 hours of non sailing to every 1 hour of sailing these days. The distances are now fairly small. You can actually SEE the next head land or island as you travel. There are nasty reefs now and then but if you have one eye and a parrot who can steer you will miss them. There are no fish left, do not waste your money on fancy fishing equipment. Do as I now do and tear up a $ 5.00 bill every day you sail/motor some where and be glad you saved the other $ 590.00 of fishing stuff for the day. There is a problem with the amounts of fish left in these and ALL waters we have visited.

The waters here are warm and the weather as predictable as a postcard. It never gets cold and when anchored amongst the mangrove, a Manatees slap will awaken you occasionally at night. There are cactus on some of the little islands south of Puerto Rico because the rain waits until it hits the mountains of the rain forest.

Lizards are now a big problem. They are everywhere, teaming up with the beer swilling aquatic creatures to stalk my now replenished beer supply. I found a little guy (gal?) in my back pack the other day with a camera so small I could not see it.

Here at the very hospitable "Marina Salinas" the lizards are all part of a Gang. They watch your comings and goings and write down the supplies that you take to your boat. The plan then is that they'll telephone the Manatees, swimming around in the bay, when it's time to steal your beer.

A truly dastardly plan.

Stupid buggers don't ever get it right, because there is rarely a telephone in Salinas that isn't busted to rat ca-ca by "Bipeds"

I use the chandlery phone.

I would like to thank Schaefer and Brown in Boquer—n for their fabo service fixing my broken VHF radios. They even delivered a loaner VHF to the dock while the handheld and base were fixed under Apelco warrantee at NO CHARGE!!!! Wow!

look for the next instalment!