Puerto Rico (Part 1)

This is our first Spanish speaking island and we have had fun pulling out the dictionary that Kelli brought down for us. We cleared customs on the island of Culebra and headed off to Culebrita for the night. The bay we anchored in was a turtle nesting sanctuary though we did not see any turtles here. Ron and I hiked along the shore to explore an area referred to as the Jacuzzi’s. These turned out to be interesting tidal pools where the waves from the windward side spill into the basins. The pools didn’t look like a comfortable place to hang and seeing the water wasn’t heated to 104 degrees and because I stepped on a sea urchin we didn’t hang around. Now the sea urchin was extremely small and tucked into a rock crevice, if you are wondering how I stepped on a sea urchin Upon returning to the boat, Ron managed to excavate most of the urchin residue though we will wait and see if any remains.

Our next stop was Bahai de Sol (Sun Bay) on the Isle of Vieques where we anchored for two nights. Snorkeling here was not so great but the beach was a beautiful palm lined white sand beach. What was very special here was a bay a short dinghy ride away called Bahia Puerto Mosquito. This bay is considered to be one of the world’s brightest bioluminescent bays. This place was beyond words. We liked it so much that we went back the next night to experience it again. Watching the fish weaving and darting in and around the boat was like watching fireworks. Everything that moved in the water glowed, especially us. What an experience.

We left there with another night time sail up to the main island of Puerto Rico and we are now anchored in Playa de Salinas. This is a very protected anchorage surrounded by mangroves and adjacent to a nice marina that allows anchored yachts to become bay members. This gives us full use of the showers, swimming pool, parking lot and laundry. To our surprise there are resident manatees here. These wonderful docile creatures that are a joy to watch.

Puerto Rico is a very large island and to facilitate us getting around here we have rented a car. Our first outing was to old San Juan and I have to say it is a wonderful and beautiful place. There is so much history here and the town has been preserved and renewed with incredible character. While walking the streets we were caught in a very intense tropical rain fall. This caught us totally unprepared and we dashed from door way to door way. What was even more intense was driving out of old San Juan after the rain. Many streets were flooded and there were places the cars were up over their axels. Finding ourselves in rush hour traffic, to Alex delight we pulled into the Mall of the Americas and waited out the traffic.

Our next outing was to El Yunque, the largest tropical rain forest in the United States. Here we explored a world class interpretive centre and then off to hike to the Mina water falls. Tomorrow the caves of Rio Camuy and to the Arecibo Observatory, the worlds largest radio telescope.