Casa Corona

I awoke @ 5am this morning, determined to be the first one to Orchid. I woke Lorrie up @ 6am. We had coffee and listened to the roosters, in the dark. Forecast was calling for a 40% chance of showers, we decided to head out anyway. Left Casa Dos Chivos @ 7:30.

We made it to Orchid about 7:45 and were the first ones there. I immediately went to work on the roof of the cabana because it looked like rain. Sure enough it began sprinkling. We stuck it out and finally it abated. Eventually we were rewarded with clear blue skies and not a soul on Orchid. I spent the time under the shelter to make a better sign for our new cabana. I got some video of it.

While we were sitting there in our beach chairs I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was down by the old cabana. An iguana, I got some video of it:

Finished filming the iguana I went back to just sitting under my new house, starring out into the Caribbean. It was then that a man and his daughter walked up  to Casa Corona. I hadn't even noticed him on the beach. He came up to me and said "Your Curt, from After the Mortgage". I said, well yes....I am. He then told me that I was the reason he was on Vieques. He's been reading this blog and enjoys our exploits. I thanked him for the kind words. Having someone else enjoy what we love so much makes it all worth while. Hope you have a great time on the island Kenneth and Sydney.

Oh that reminds me, last night when we were entering Casa Dos Chivos (it was 7:30 or so) someone stopped a vehicle on the road outside and yelled "Hi Curt and Lorrie!".  Not really knowing what to do I yelled back hi. He then indentified himself as VQSJim from trip advisor. Jim said he's been enjoying reading the blog. Jim IS the person to go to on Trip Advisor. He's an expert on Vieques. Jim lives on the island not far from Casa Dos Chivos.

It's 1pm now. There's about 26 people on Orchid. Surfs still pounding. I did go out and snorkel for a bit and  followed  a ray across Orchid for a long time. The surf is still too rough to get close into the reefs. We've been watching people use the old cabana here on Orchid. We're glad to see other people getting some use of it.

We ran into Bill and Bev on Orchid. Talked with them for a bit.  Said hello to a retired couple from Michigan with their daughter Brenda . They come down for 3 weeks or so every year. They like seeing the rock art. I did my duty as curator today, adding to the collection and mending some damaged pieces. We hung around on the beach until 4:30. Then headed by to Casa Dos Chivos.

When I got by to the house I gave Peter a call. We met Peter on our trip last November. Peter had emailed me on the 22nd wanting to hook up. Having no internet at the first house I didn't get his email until this morning.  Peter and Rick are in the process of renovating a house they bought a fews years back in Los Chivos.  We did end up making it over to their place and it's really something to see. They have, what we think, is a better view than Quinta Jabali. The two of them are great hosts. Lorrie and I  even got to try one of Peter's gin/tonics, without the tonic. It was quite good. The amount of work they've put into their place so far is amazing, different vista and elevations. They were having to large palms delivered from the main island the next day.  We would have loved to have taken some pictures but company was so good the thought never crossed our minds. Thank you Peter and Rick for opening up your house to us.

Made it back to the house @ 8pm. I was so tired from the long day that I turned in early.