While drinking a beer at Dinghy Dock, the only bar on Culebra – and a cool place too I might add – I met Captain Tony. After I finished my beer, we jumped in his boat for a ride around the bay. After, I caught of glimpse of St. Thomas in the distance, we circled back for the dock and he invited me over to his boat, Genesis, for barbeque and Cuba Libras.

We spent the evening sipping our rum and cokes, and talking about the politics of our lives….who we were in our professional lives, why we came to Culbra, where we were headed and what we were looking for. It was a great night. One of those random encounters that you’ll remember forever.

Somewhere in the course of the evening, he invited me to go snorkeling the next day on the reef just offshore of Cayo Luis Pena, a tiny little island near the main harbor of Dewey .

Since I still hadn’t figured out that Puerto Rico is actually 4 hours ahead of Los Angeles (not 3 like the East Coast), I arrived at his boat the next day more than an hour late. He didn’t seem to mind, and we quickly jumped on Panico – his speed boat – and headed out for Luis Pena.

Along the way, we first stopped at the reef offshore of Carlos Rosario. He handed me some spare snorkeling gear and we jumped in the water for a little exploration of the colorful Caribbean world that thrives just under the waterline.

We spent hours floating along the surface, just above the reef, checking out the vibrant tropical fish and colorful plants native to these waters. Soon, the rain clouds rolled in and I started to feel rain on my back as we headed back towards the boat. We jumped onboard and headed for Luis Pena. Somehow, we managed to pull out of the rain clouds and found this glimmering beach soaked in sunshine. What a paradise.

Tony pulled the boat in right up to shore….almost beaching in on the sand before he dropped anchor. Then we jumped out for a walk on the shore. It was perfect, like we were the first to ever walk on those pristine white sands.

It didn’t take long for the rain clouds to find us and soon, we were back under dark clouds getting doused with mid-afternoon showers. We gave up on the thought of snorkeling the reef just offshore and jumped on the boat for a cold ride back to the harbor. I was soaked and the rain was stinging us like needles as we tried to accelerate the pace and get back to the harbor. It was funny though and I enjoyed every minute.

Thanks Tony. I’ll never forget you.

February 6 , 2006