Ela & Andrew left for home yesterday. We had a great visit and were sad to see them go. We’re now in Road Town, Tortola, BVI cleaning up the boat and catching up on our mountain of laundry.

We’ve been meaning to tell you about our new favourite marina stop (we discovered it on February 6th), but haven’t found the time ’til now.

We’ve stayed in a few marinas since we left Kingston on September 1st. Two in New York, one in North Carolina, two in South Carolina, two in in Georgia, two in Florida, one in the Bahamas, one in Turks and Caicos, two in Dominican Republic, one in Puerto Rico, and now one in the British Virgin Islands (from which I write you this dispatch). Most often our stay was only one night (with the notable exceptions of Jekyll Island, Fort Lauderdale & TCI), but we’ve stopped for fuel, water and pump-outs at countless others.

So it’s fair to say we’ve taken a decent sampling of the marina facilities along the US east coast and the thorny path to windward. Our favourite marina stop by far was Marina Pescadaria in Puerto Real (Cabo Rojo is the larger town nearby), on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. It’s wasn’t just that its location in a calm, quiet, well-protected harbour was exactly what we were looking for after the Mona Passage, or that Puerto Real is a very cool little fishing village where fishermen actually still go out in small boats and return to sell their wares locally, or even that the marina staff was warm, friendly and helpful.

To be honest, it became our favourite marina because of the little things. Like clean, well-designed showers, for instance, where the floors slope towards the drains. And a changing area – with ample hooks and benches, so no contorted balancing act or Mac-Givering of casement window cranks was required to keep our towel, fresh clothes and shower kit out of the filth – heck, there was no filth! And laundry facilities that actually work! What joy! I didn’t have to spend our entire stash of quarters to dry our towels, and the machines are located in an open-air shelter, not some dingy, dark, forgotten back corner of the marina. And the design of the marina complex itself was nice. Not over the top, like Puerto Bahia, but nice. Functional, bright, and comfortable. And clean…did I mention that it was clean? Oh, and Phill was very enthusiastic about the water pressure at the slips; though it made water easy to waste, it also made getting the bird poop and other assorted debris off the deck a breeze (or maybe a blast).

So, the little things made it our favourite marina stop. But the welcoming and friendly people we met, including the marina’s proprietor, José, whose smile was totally infectious, made us want to stay five nights. (I’ll save the stories about all the great people we met for our big Puerto Rico post – for now I’ll just stick to our marina experience).

When we were checking in, José asked us if we’d be staying for the rally. “What rally?” we ask. “The 2nd Annual Marina Pescadería Sailing Rally. It was great last year – a big party. It’s this weekend – Friday to Sunday.” We said maybe; it was Wednesday at the time.

It wasn’t just José’s smile that was infectious. So was the general enthusiasm about the rally. It was in the air. Everyone was really up-beat, and eager to help with the preparations. We decided we didn’t want to miss it, so we extended our stay for the weekend.

The second day we were there, we had lunch at Vaivén Tasca en el Mar, a neat little restaurant on site at Marina Pescadaria (I spent a fair bit of time doing a few posts here – the free WiFi was quite good near the restaurant). You can get Spanish tapas, burgers, salads or Puerto Rican frituras. And the staff – very friendly! So were the patrons, come to think of it. We enjoyed a great conversation with two young Puerto Ricans who were in the liquid petroleum gas-fitting business. They talked shop with Phill for some time, but also gave us several suggestions of places to stop as we made our way to the south coast of Puerto Rico, and threw in some amazing fishing stories.

José arranged for complimentary breakfast on the Saturday and Sunday morning of the rally for race participants and marina guests provided by El Messon. El Messon’s coffee, grown and roasted in Puerto Rico, is terrific! Actually, it’s more like cafe, the delicious espresso kind, complete with the “crema” on the surface like we had in Little Havana in Miami, and the DR, and of course at any bakery in Puerto Rico. Ottawa could use an El Messon…hmmmmmm(?).

Jim, one of the nice people we met at the marina (and husband to the lady who took us under her wing in Puerto Real), volunteered to officiate.

We enjoyed watching all the race participants get ready for the rally.

The whole weekend was a party. Sponsors and advertisers had banners and posters all over the place; booze vendors had an open bar set up all weekend, and sampling their wares was strongly encouraged; and catchy music was cranked loud – all resulting in a very festive atmosphere, as you can imagine.

On Monday we hitched a ride with Fernando to Cabo Rojo. He owns the marina store, which is a great stop for basic provisions and nice cold, very inexpensive beer.  Fernando was generous with his time and took us to the Cash & Carry and the supermarket. He didn’t even need to go to the supermarket, but he took us anyways and waited while we shopped. How nice is that? He also gave us lots of local anchoring advice and helped us get a cell phone. I believe he also mans the marina office on Sundays, so if you stop in then, you might meet him on the fuel dock or in the office.

We left the next day (I think, I don’t have the log with me), but we didn’t forget our Marina Pescadaria experience. In fact, Phill had a small dental problem a few weeks later, and he called José who recommended a dentist in Mayagüez. The dentist was great, deserving of a kindness & generosity post of his own. When arriving in Puerto Rico from the west (as we did), many crusisers skip Puerto Real and head for Boquerón. But as Marina Pescadaria’s logo says, maybe it’s time to “Change Your Waypoint”.