Sailing Vessel Echo

Last Thursday, April 24th, we listened to Chris Parker’s weather forecast which indicated a gradual increase in wind speed.  This came as welcome news since the trades had been too quiet for sailing for the past few days.  Unfortunately, there was also a growing north swell predicted which was expected to reach 8 to 10 feet sometime Sunday.  The swell could be a bit uncomfortable but we decided that by leaving right away we should arrive south of Turks and Caicos and gain protection from the north waves by the islands and banks just about when the swells were predicted to arrive.   We weighed anchor near Gilligann’s Island in south west Puerto Rico about 7:00 am and sailed to Cabo Rojo on the west coast where we quickly fueled up.  By 3:00 pm we were ready to go and headed into the Mona passage.

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