Road trip around Puerto Rico

April 12...Leaving Lucia Beach Villas without a swim in the pool. There is no one at these villas. We believe people are staying at the main hotel where we had dinner last night and breakfast this morning.

Our first stop was Patillas where we stopped at the Malecon, meaning boardwalk. There was a pretty nice anchorage there with about five boats. Next was Salinas, drove to marina.....a large hurricane hole with lots of mangroves. A fisherman there had a pail of live lobsters, squid and some type of fish. We stopped for lunch but left as it was pretty pricy. On to Ponce to our restaurant but closed due to renovations of the boardwalk around it. Kept driving and ended up at Guanica where we booked another Tropical Inn. Drove along the Malecon there, pretty deserted but it could have been the time of day. Unfortunately not much walking as Peter did his knee in while crawling around the bilges.

April 14...Drove yesterday to the south west corner of PR but not before trying to find the sunflower farm. No luck in that one but did see the working salt flats. The Information Center was closed as many things around here are. Restaurants in hotels are only open on weekends it seems. Drove up the west coast, Puerto Real seems really nice, a sort of European coastal city but under construction  so couldn't get through the town. Further up stopped along the water at Rincon for a bite and had a look at the Mona Passage. Wow, big body of water out there! Is that where we are going next year? 

Ended up at a nice place overnight in Aguadilla, good price, dinner and two pools. Lovely breakfast this morning before we head out to the caves in Camuy and the observatory tower...largest in the world.

A long drive to the Rio Camuy Cave Park along windy twisty roads, not well marked. A wait for the trolley that takes you to the caves. Well, it was pretty spectacular once in....size enormous, we walked into and around it. The guide was knowledgeable and we also had a recorder to tell us about the various stations, the tour was about one and a half hours. Once in the area we drove along another windy narrow road to the Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest telescope. Unfortunately it was closed for repairs. One would think there would have been signs somewhere indicating it was closed.

Back to Aquadilla, we had decided to stay another night at Parador ElFaro. Clean rooms, good food and two pools, lovely grounds, an airplane, although I only swam in the one every morning and evening. What more could we want!

Puerto  Rico is a land of baseball stadiums, roadside stands, narrow twisty roads, friendly people, crazy drivers, turn signals on cars are a waste,Walgreens, Burger Kings.....in all very picturesque, very green, rolling hills.

Today, April 15 on our way to San Juan. Feeling a bit sad that this journey will end shortly!

April 17...Bus into old San Juan. Free trolley tour and a stop at the museum of the Americas. History of the native Indians as well as colonization of Puerto Rico. Walked back to bus Terminal, a stop along the way for a Medalla, and then a long long wait for a bus but arrived safely back to the hotel. Best Western where we stayed last year with Emily is a short walk to the beach. Took a walk down, nice and surprisingly a turtle nesting area right at the entrance. A drink on our balcony before dinner. Sunset!

All checked in for tomorrow's flight!

4

Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico

April 1...No, it is not an April fools day joke. We are finally here at the marina. The way in was a bit rough and we, or rather I, had a bit of a scare coming across from Culebra. A bit rough and I ended up sitting on the cockpit floor doing crossword puzzles so I wouldn't have to look out at the rolling seas. But we made it and had our life jackets on.
Wow we have been here almost a week! We have not had Internet which meant going back and forth to the office so rather difficult to post anything. L&L and Bug left yesterday.  We rented a car and drove them to the airport. After that, we drove into old San Juan and did a bit of touring. We parked and walked along Constitution Avenue where presidents of the US who have visited PR are life size in bronze. On the way back stopped by Walmart in Humacao to renew our phone package.
The last week here has been rainy and overcast in the morning and clears late afternoon. Some afternoons have been spent at the pool.
This morning was bad bad weather..... downpour and could hardly see in front of you. But since we had the car for only the morning we had to replenish some groceries to last for at least one week. Off to Capri and Ralphs. We have been slowly doing some cleanup to get the boat ready for haul out  April 12. And I mean slowly. This afternoon Peter spent long hours trying to remove two of the blades from the wind generator as next year we already have replacement ones.

and today is April 5th.....where does time go? Working hard or slowly at getting boat ready to haul. Cleaning, tidying, sorting. We have the cleanest bulges ever probably in the history or Mistress. Worked hard on those. Late afternoons are spent relaxing, reading and swimming at the pool which is nice.

Later spent time doing the head sail. It is now bagged and on deck. It is much cooler at 5 30 to do this than even first thing in the morning. Chrome has been ophsoed and rinsed. Today pick up rental car, check time for haul out, Walmart for incidentals!

So very calm in the marina last night and this morning....no swells at all!

April  9...slowly working...ahead of schedule. Decided to haul a day early because of rain forecast on the Tuesday. Only thing left to do is our Florida room to be put away and the main sail to be wrapped. Almost all packed and food ready to give away. Exciting!

Yesterday we took a road trip down the east coast of PR as far as Marina del Ray. Passed by the Malecon in Naguabo which is a seaside resort with a boardwalk and looks out to Monkey Island. Very nicely done and some good fish restaurants. Looks like a fishing village as well. Passed by Roosevelt Roads, the former town which was a large naval base on the island. Closed now and they have road blocks so you can't even get in past the gate. Over to Ceiba and along the waterfront. Large family park with lots of shelters for shade, barbqs. There was a flying club there....amazing, we saw a fellow come down from the sky. Unfortunately, his landing was not too perfect but I don't believe he hurt himself

it really is amazing...they have these huge fans on their back put on just like a knapsack.

And today at 6 pm we are done! Haul out was to be at 10 but yesterday we were informed they didn't have enough stands so we would have to wait until 1 pm today. No matter, got the final laundry done, vacuumed, fridge, freezer done, goodness knows what else. We were ready and anxious but of course the yard was not ready for us. We left the dock at the Yacht Club at 1 pm and docked near the travel lift, in other words forcing the issue a bit. By the time we hauled, had the bottom cleaned and the travel lift had moved us to our spot and the stands in place it was about 4 pm. Lots of sitting around as the boat is off limits until it is secure. Then it was a mad dash to put lines, fenders away, water tanks filled, heads flushed and goodness knows what else. It's like moving!  Glad the boat is put away.

An aside, the boat that burned in Charlotte Amalie about three weeks ago....well it was towed to Varadero@Palmas and was sitting in the boat yard. Apparently it still floats! The story goes that Norweigian Cruise line wanted to go on board when they were helping to put out the fire but the St. Thomas fire department wouldn't allow them. They wanted to contain the fire by dropping some type of foam into the cabins which stops the spread of fire aboard a vessel but were not allowed.....sounds like a law suit somewhere

Tomorrow begins our journey west after a good rest in a real bed with a real shower and mirrors! Oh oh, I don't really want to look! Lol

at the Yacht Club - B39, the best place to be...no swells

gorgeous vista and pool which hardly anyone uses

channel coming in to the Yacht Club

Bug

sand castle building at Flamenco on Culebra

lift bridge at Dewey, Culebrita, permantly down

shaking hands with Obama in San Juan

left over tanks on Flamenco, Culebra.  this is the place the US used for naval training.  all residents who lived here were forced to leave. The US used this from 1900 to 1970 or so and it was Nixon who pulled the military out.

sunset at Rosario. Culebra