Since our last post we continued to explore Vieques, with a highlight of making a night mission to check out a bio-luminescent bay. It was AMAZING and one of the few places in the world where this natural phenomenon occurs on a regular basis. As we swam through the pitch-black water, every movement of our limbs and bodies spurred explosions of phosphorescent light. Meanwhile the melodic sonar pings of a nearby dolphin pod electrified the depths beneath us. Pretty magical...  

Pictures of Vieques

We also finally picked up the deep sea fishing gear that we had mailed to ourselves from the states. While the US mail had guaranteed that it would arrive in 8-10 business days, in the end it took nearly a month. As we've been told by a few different people - that's just the price of paradise. 

With fishing rods in place, we pulled the hook early the next morning and made our way to the other Spanish Virgin Island, Culebra. We anchored in the Bahia de Flamenco, home of one of the consistently top-rated beaches in the world. The rating proved to be no hoax. An unbelievably soft white-sand beach, splashed by ultra turquoise water, fringed by swaying green palms ... the kind of place James Bond movies get filmed. To make things even better, as we slipped through the narrow reef passage guarding the bay, we hooked onto a decent mahi-mahi and a nice little bonito at the same time. Within minutes we swung peacefully at anchor, the only boat in the most beautiful harbor you could imagine, having cocktails and feasting on fresh sashimi. Living life in Paradise is pretty tough work, but someone's gotta do it...
  
The next day we had our first really good session of kiteboarding followed by sailing in perfect conditions to the tiny uninhabited out-island of Culebra, Culebrita. We swam ashore right before sunset to take a hike into the interior of the island; discovering an overgrown, unmarked trail emptying onto a forgotten beach where you could image the filming of Castaway-2 might occur. 

Pictures of Culebra
 
At the moment we are back in St. Thomas to pick up our long lost boat documentation (needed to clear customs in foreign lands), re-provision, top off our water tanks, and make yet another trip to a marine supply store. Next stop - St, John. Stay tuned....