Catamaran Cruising on MAMA COCHA In the Spanish Virgins

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Well we dropped off the crew from the first week and picked up Ray & Debbie, Kevan and Phillip in St. Thomas. After a provisioning and topping up with fuel and water we were ready to set out for the Spanish Virgins Islands which are actually part of Puerto Rico and a US territory. We were told when we checked in at Cruz Bay that we would not have to check in again. Other cruisers have said the same thing but alas they are all incorrect. With this in mind we headed for Isla de Culebrita (Little Snake Island) which turned out to be a fairly nice sail in light to moderate breezes. We peaked out at about six knots with winds ranging from 7 to 10 knots from the southeast which kept us on a broad reach for most of the trip. It was only about 18 miles from Crown Bay Marina so we arrived in the early afternoon. Entering Baie de Tortugas (Turtle Bay) was quite nerve wracking until we found the opening in the breaking surf that hid the entrance to the bay. This would not be a safe entry in a big north swell. Fortunately that was not the case and the waves were reasonable in a slight northeasterly swell of 5 to 6 feet. It made for interesting navigation until we cleared the entrance and made it into flat water. This was like paradise lost. No one was anywhere to be seen and there were no boats on either of the two moorings. The white sand beach arced in a serene crescent with palm trees dotting the shore. An occasional outcrop of old coral  framed the beach on each end and this turned into some large rocks and then into some huge jagged outcrop of rock jutting straight up with a cleft cutting through it.