July in Puerto Rico

A little bit of work, a little bit of play and a little running away…

We have been enjoying our time here in Puerto Rico as we familiarize ourselves with the country and how we plan to spend our time. We appreciate people following our travels and apologize for slacking in our posts for the past several weeks. We will try to stay more on top of things from now on but if you haven’t heard from us for a bit please feel free to “friend” Jeff on Facebook as he usually posts short messages.

After clearing into Boqueron we stayed put for a week while we reorganized after our passage across the Mona. We had stowed everything possible to minimize the mess during the passage but a journey like that does take it’s toll on us and the boat. We also spent time relaxing and visiting with friends, Sweet Chariot and Shanghai along with Bendecida who we had met in Luperon. The number of “cruisers” we encounter is diminishing as we move on, many either headed back to the US for the summer and fall or they have moved further south out of the hurricane zone. Just a few of us exploring Puerto Rico now.

Boqueron is a seaside village where many Puerto Ricans come to enjoy the water. There is a large beach with many facilities available and the residents take advantage by the hundreds. Over Father’s Day weekend we learned that people in this country enjoy the water and loud music. We have found the people here to be welcoming yet less engaging than those in the Dominican Republic. Even though many people speak English, we seem to have fewer conversations with them. The pressure is off with regard to our need to learn more Spanish but we do hope to continue with our Rosetta Stone lessons through the summer.

Since Boqueron we have slowly been making our way along the east coast of PR while doing a bit of exploring. We continue to head directly East which means fighting the ever present trade winds. We plan departure times to stage arrival in the next stop for early morning so we often head out in the dark. This usually provides for the least wind and calmest seas however we have encountered high wind and seas at times. Just about all of our travel since entering Dominican Republic has been under engine power, we look forward to when our destinations will not be up wind so we can sail again. Our plan had been to make our way to Salinas to scope out a plan for storm protection before anything cropped up. We did take our time and made a few stops along the way.

We made several short hops while stopping at the following:

Cabo Rojo – a remote area that has a rocky cliff coastline. The cliffs are a pinkish color, hence the name Cabo Rojo which means red cape. Hike to a lighthouse and nice beach.

La Parquera – a small island where boats anchor in great numbers for partying, lots of loud music.

Gilligan’s Island – a small mangrove island with a beautiful beach and canals to swim or kayak through. It is a popular spot with daily ferry service but deserted after the last boat. It is also near the Copamarina Beach Resort where you can enjoy their restaurant.

Ponce – a good size city where we choose to take a slip in the marina for a week. While there we rented a car and ventured out for shopping and a bit of exploring. Continued to do a few boat projects while enjoying our air conditioning. We also took a side trip to San Jaun where we stayed over night in a hotel on the beach, enjoyed a great Puerto Rican dinner and explored Old San Juan the next day.

Old San Juan was founded in 1521 by Juan Ponce de Leon. It is a walled city with cobble stone streets, plazas, and beautiful houses. The city is also home to 2 large fortresses that were built by the Spanish to protect the deep harbor which was the first safe stop for ships sailing to the New World. The fortresses are protected by the US National Park Service and open for exploring, Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristobal. We enjoyed exploring both the city and the forts.

Caja de Muertos – aka Coffin Island, named for it’s shape is a beautiful island just a few miles of the coast from Ponce and a popular daytime destination for boaters. It has beautiful beaches on one side and a protected area on the other where hawksbill turtles nest.

We finally pulled into Salinas and dropped anchor. Salinas harbor has a marina and several boats anchored or moored. We met people who have been living there on their boat for many years. The marina is welcoming of all the boaters and has a restaurant and pool (for a fee).

A few days after arriving we began to see reports of a tropical depression forming off the coast of Africa. We are diligent about checking the National Hurricane Website daily and now began to watch as the storm built and became a Tropical Storm Chantel. Ok, so here we are in the hurricane zone with a tropical storm heading our way… Well, we along with a few other boats headed off to an area a few miles away called Bahia de Jobos. Here we were well protected by mangroves, there are channels with deep enough water allowing us to motor well into the bay and drop anchor while being protected on all sides from waves and wind. As it turned out, Chantel had little impact on us but it turned out to be a good “dress rehearsal”. It gave us the opportunity to take the steps necessary to secure the boat so we know what we have, how to deploy it and what steps could be taken to improve things for the future.

While in Salinas we were plagued with Mosquitos and no-see-ums because of the mangroves. At dusk and dawn there were swarms of both and inevitably some made their way into the cabin to feast on us through the night. We began to explore other options of where to stay and have since moved to Palmas del Mar Marina a bit further east along the coast. Here we have few bug issues, water, electricity, a pool, a nice beach nearby along with shopping and restaurants within walking distance. From this location we can easily take trips to visit some of the Spanish Virgin Islands and even further depending on the weather. If we are traveling and a storm starts forming we can make it back to the marina and secure the boat quickly. This plan also allows us to secure the boat and head our to explore the island by car. Prior to leaving, we can prepare everything for a storm so there would be no rush to get back to take care of the boat. All on all is seems like a good plan for now and we can also make it back to the mangroves in Jobos quickly if we feel it would offer better protection from the weather.

Our second named storm of the season, Dorian, seems to be loosing steam as of this morning. While watching it’s progress this week we spent time making preparations to secure the boat while at the dock. This involved getting additional lines and chain. We are happy not to have to test things out quite so soon but we do feel prepared.

So it’s our plan to continue checking weather and continue exploring Puerto Rico and hopefully some of the close Virgin Islands for now. Thanks again for following us!

Jeff and Mary