Mona Passage.

 

Between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico lies the Mona Passage. It’s a very dodgy piece of water where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean. It’s over 3000 feet deep in places and the tidal currents are very strong. Also it’s the shortest distance between Europe and Panama so it’s a major shipping route. There’s a steady stream of bloody great tankers and container ships coming through there all the time and they don’t always look where they’re going. Takes them miles to stop even if they want to. Small boats have to watch it. 

So anyway I decided, instead of doing it in one hop, to break the journey and have a look at Mona Island which is about halfway across. Discovered by guess who in 1493, it’s Puerto Rican territory but nobody lives there now.

It’s rocky scrub mostly but it has some nice beaches. We dropped anchor off one of them, took the dinghy to shore, and went for a walk around. People have tried living there at different times. We found the remains of a few old buildings. They left their pigs and goats behind which is why nothing much grows. What does do very well there is iguanas. Big buggers about 4 feet long that live in holes. We saw a few and they saw us. ‘Ooooooh klua’ said the Buriram girls in unison, clinging tight to Captain Dick. Then as we were looking for a camping spot on the beach another boat shows up.

‘Ola!!’ says a bloke who turns out to be a Puerto Rican park warden. He’s in charge of a group of young traveler types, I don’t know what you’d call them. Neo-hippies, new-age beach bums, wealthy young folk.

You won't believe what happened next.....

Something has got the girls excited. They are shouting ‘Justeen! Justeen!’ and running over to hug some young bloke. Bugger me it’s Justin Bieber and his bloody entourage!

They are setting up a picnic and soon there’s a soccer game going and my lot all join in. I’m tempted to have a go myself, show them how it’s done like, but I decide better just sit and watch. 

Always like watching a bit of soccer. Takes me back to the glory days. The mud the sweat, the roar from the stands. I believe I’ve already mentioned my problem with drugs that got me kicked out of Arsenal. No point discussing that again. It’s back in the archives if you’re interested. 

Sitting there on the beach on Mona Island, watching the kids enjoy themselves, it seems like it all happened in another world. The young people know nothing about those days really except for the songs and what they see at the pictures. It’s alright. But it would have been nice if one of them had recognized old Dick. Maybe come over and said hallo. That would have made a big difference. But they didn’t. Oh, I know what Justin and his pals are thinking. Look at the dirty old man sat there sipping his rum. Then the ball got kicked my way and Nyum came over to get it. Bless her heart. She gave me a little smile which cheered me up a bit.

That was before she delivered the bad news. She tells me she’s leaving me. Justin has offered her a job in his PR department. 

So that’s that. Lovely girl. Wonderful navigator and she could hoist a spinnaker without strangling herself. I’ll miss her. I’d offer Justin a swap for Selena Gomez but he’d probably just laugh. Oh well. I still have the GPS. And I still have Ning and Nong even if they get on my nerves at times. 

Now here we sit, in the Mona Passage, just a thin hull between us and deep, deep water….. …..it’s a long way down. I’m going to stop here. I’ve gone and depressed myself. Today has been a real roller coaster. I’ll be OK. Just a bit upset.