Vieques 2 and Another Magnificent Beach (or two)

This will be a shorter post than some others because there is not much to add to the pictures.  

The first part of day 6 is a repeat of Monday with the only change being a drive to Caracas Beach -- the next beach to the east of Sun Beach and Mosquito Bay.  I may have mentioned beaches in Vieques are extraordinarily beautiful and very scarcely populated.   Caracas Beach is smaller than Sun Beach, but there are even fewer people out here for most of the morning.  

You can see just how much being on the leeward side of the island protects the beaches.  Just a mile or so off shore there are sailboats bobbing quite a bit in the swells that are nonexistent closer to shore.

We managed to nail the appropriate way to spend time on the beach right from the start today.

We simply decided to dispense with digging and pushing the pole into the beach and settle in with the sun to our backs.  By the way, the pole makes a fine hat rack.    

We finally decided to leave when it got crowded - maybe a dozen other people over a quarter mile of beach.  

In the afternoon we headed for the town of Isabelle Segunda, the older and larger city on the island, for lunch and to see some of the sights.  

The town itself is nice with a variety of shops and businesses and a small but steady flow of shoppers.  Other than being substantially more colorful with a great view of the Caribbean, its much like your average mid-sized town in a slightly hilly area.  City Hall looks good, and most of the buildings look well maintained.  Parking is at a premium along a number of streets.  

All in all this seemed to be a fairly prosperous area with a good business environment.  There were no more than the usual signs here and there that making a go of it was not guaranteed.  Although there were large functioning docks right downtown, this one was interesting in that it was an example of the limits to growth.  Besides that, I thought it would make a good picture ;-).  We strolled around for about an hour and picked up a few things in the shops and stores.

After lunch on the patio of one of the restaurants downtown, we wound our way up a hill to the Fuerte de Vieques, an old fort on the highest hill in town.  

The fort has been undergoing renovation over a period of years, and there is a museum located on the first floor.

The door was open, but on strolling in a lady at a table just inside said they are closed.  

The view up here is spectacular.  That's the big island of Puerto Rico to the north (right).   

Even this late in the afternoon it attracts any number of local residents to enjoy the breeze and some of the free food.  

Jim Parker had originally recommended we stay at the "W" resort on the north side of the island.

We needed to find a gas station so we could fill the Jeep before tomorrow's departure, so we figured we'd look around the W while we were at it.  

This place is really, "really" a resort.  It is a huge estate with multiple hotel buildings and separate shops for gifts, rentals, and so on.

The view, like almost anywhere on the island, is terrific.  There are a few differences, though.  Among them, the shore is much more rugged, the beaches less protected, and the surf more energetic.

They have extensive conference facilities, pools, rental cars right on the site, and a lot of other extras.

We grabbed a table on their veranda outside the restaurant and had a glass of wine while chatting about what we had seen that day and enjoying the view.

Eventually we had to find our way back to the Malecon House and get ready for dinner.

We found the only two gas stations on the way, located on opposite sides of the road between town and the airport, and within maybe 100 yards of each other.  Good thing it's not a large island.

After another meandering drive back to Esmeralda, I headed for the Tuesday night Rotary meeting while Ann shopped a bit.  

This is a fairly new club that meets at the Orquideas Restaurant patio behind Lazy Jack's.  They have already developed some nice traditions which I'll suggest to our board at home.  First, they meet outdoors.  Second, and perhaps most important, the club officers periodically head over to Lazy Jack's to get everyone a beer.  No telling exactly how this will go back in Waynesboro, but I'd expect a lot of enthusiasm in some quarters ;-).  

The club president (who I understand also owns Lazy Jack's and Orquideas) is off with his family on Puerto Rico for a birthday party so this small club is even smaller tonight.  Great folks, though, who are working on a variety of educational and animal care projects.  There are also some potential new members attending.  Discussion alternates between normal business and chatting with the prospective members who seem to be interested in the club's activities, and ask a lot of questions.  As of everyone's departure they still seem uncommitted.  

Toward the end of the meeting River Summer, a local photographer, practiced a speech to be given to local financiers.  This particular club project is to provide more education concerning animal management on the island.  River notes there is at least one woman who feels she is doing a wonderful thing feeding a large group of dogs, who keep breeding, and on and on.  One of the club's efforts, which she was passionate about, was to foster a better understanding of the consequences of human actions vice island animals in all groups, but especially among youngsters.  

At some point later that evening I did a quick summary of flight operations to that point.  Fuel consumption was down around 11ish gph while planning for 13.  I had been experimenting with leaning techniques for climb, alternating between CHT and fuel flow on the digital engine analyzer, to conserve fuel without overheating.  It seemed to work best if the climb is at around 110 kts, with cowl flaps open.  This kept temperatures below 420 which declined further the higher we climb.   

We're headed for St Martin (TFFG, Grand Case) tomorrow morning.  St Martin is actually two countries located on a very small island -- Dutch in the south, and French to the north.  These are the only other countries besides the US and the Bahamas we'll hit on this trip.   I know from Jim Parker's information this stop will be a little different.  Our room reservations are on the Dutch side.  Jim recommended landing at Grand Case because the big airport, Princess Julianna, on the Dutch side is apparently quite a hassle to get in and out of with a lot of commercial traffic and customs set up for that scale of operation.  It's a short hop to the French side of the island (only about an hour), and a short drive to the hotel, so we take his advice.  Guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow.