Sunday, June 15, 2014

Puerto Rico

After the theft, given we had little hope of the stolen iitems being promptly recovered if at all, we were all ready to leave the BVI.  So, Monday morning we raised anchor and set sail for Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

An odd reality of all those years living in the Virgin Islands is that we had never had the occasion to sail over the north side of ST Thomas.  This was a first.  Who knew all those little islands were back there?  It was a beautiful morning and the sailing wind was fine, so Quantum raced the some 50 miles west past Culebra to Puerto Rico.

Originally there was a lot of talk about all the places we would stop on this trip.  It always seemed a bit optimistic for the time frame, and that was proving true.  Our few days in Martinique, Dominica and the Saintes ruled out any thought of Antigua, Barbuda or St. Bart's.   Now we realized that if we wanted any time to enjoys the Bahamas nor Turks and Caicos, we didn’t have time for stopping at Culebra, or, after Puerto Rico, at the Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico, however, couldn’t be missed for practical provisioning reasons, particularly for a boat that hasn’t had the chance to shop US products for seven years! Fajardo,, on Puerto Rico’s east coast is the boating center of the island.  There are at least five marinas in the area, predominantly filled with sport fishing boats and power runabouts, but making room for the odd sailboat, and the marinas with haul out facilities have become an  option often taken for cruisers during hurricane season.  Not being part of the cruiser gossip network, we didn’t have the inside scoopn which marina was the preferred one for cruising boats.  Tom made a fair stab at it by making a reservation at SunBay Marina, described in the cruising guide as “new”, an SSCA Cruising Outpost, and offering free water and Internet.  

I’ll confess I was anticipating a little luxury from a Fajardo based Marina, since Puerto Ricans are known to  like their amenities.  This marina was not the right one for that.  We entered via a narrow approach channel with the depth sounder flashing alarm, the props stirring up mud, and people on the dock motioning us to hug the starboard side, while a 20-knot wind was blowing briskly abeam on the port side.  Very hairy! 

The assigned slip was not where we’d interpreted the directions to put it, nor, when we found it at the end of the dock furthest in and attempted to spin the boat to put her in it, was the space wide enough to fit the boat with room for fenders..if we could thread that needle!  There was only one guy on the dock to take lines and, with the wind on the beam,  no padding of any sort on the dock’s sharp corners.  Basically, a boat owner’s nightmare come true.  Tom aborted, and we put Quantum on an end T…whether management liked it or not.  The question then was whether we could ever get her off again with the wind holding her hard against the dock.


Once in and secured, the marina wasn’t so bad.  There was indeed free internet and water, fuel could be delivered in the slip, and the staff was friendly.  Our first night in, we arranged a cab and celebrated with a fine dinner at Lupita’s, a not-so-nearby but yummy Mexican restaurant…with very tasty margaritas, by the way.

Tuesday, Tom rented a car and the four of us set out for adventures in Puerto Rican driving.  The best news we had was discovering that using Don’s phone on Puerto Rico, navigation and all, is just like being in the US.  However, that does not automatically mean Ms GPS could always make the right choices or give the best directions.

Our primary objective was to take advantage of US stores, especially the big box stores, since Bette wanted to provision for a Bahamas visit by family.  Driving through the Puerto Rican landscape is oddly American, with familiar marquees everywhere, from  Walgreens and CVS, to Home Depot, to Walmart and Kmart, to KFC and Church’s Chicken, to Micky D and Burger King.  Yes, even Subway and West Marine.  But the highway is pitted and irregular, access roads run alongside, and start two way, then fade to one way, and it doesn’t help that for stores, at least, entrances are often not well identified, if at all.  It took us several failed loops and circles to find our way into Costco.


After hot dog lunch, reconnoitering and buying such items that could survive the afternoon in the trunk of our Ford Focus, we got brave and pushed all the way in to Old San Juan, never quite on the road the GPS recommended…but close enough!  



In a miracle from the heavens, we found a parking place right in the center from which we could walk to Fort San Cristobal, which along with El Morro, is one of the two prime landmarks of Old San Juan.  Built by the Spanish to defend against the British, it was subsequently used by the United States.  



The stone fortifications are amazing, towering up from the sea cliffs and affording awesome vistas seaward and back over the city.  


There were subterranean tunnels and dungeons, with graffiti painters on the wall by a prisoner held for desertion, a gun ports and parapets, 






plus an impressive rain catchment, cistern, well arrangement! 


 As Don observed, he’d much rather have been stationed at this fort with its blasting breeze than Fort Napolean in the Saintes!  I don't know.  Bunks look a little short, babe!  And hard!



We finished in time to join rush hour traffic out of the city.  This time we managed to get on the expressway for a least part of the trip.  We stopped for supper at that great Puerto Rican eatery – Sizzler!  It was actually a rather nice meal!  Can we say salad bar!

The next day, Wednesday,  Tom and Bette took the car to revisit all the big stores to acquire the rest of the stuff they wanted, including Best Buy to replace Tom’s stolen iPad.  Meanwhile Don and I stayed behind to do boat chores.  Don installed two new engine room blowers and strove to tighten all the alternator belts.  I did laundry and put away the leftovers of the previous day’s shopping while Don washed the decks.

When they came home, we swapped, and took the car about 15 mins south to meet up with and have cocktails and dinner with my friend Kathy Parsons’ brother and sister-in-law, Ken and Margaret, also cruisers, with whom I have often corresponded but never met.  Another Facebook connection!  Ken and  Margaret have been in Puerto Rico a week already and their accounts of touring the rainforest and Arecibo that day, reminded me how much we are missing moving so fast.  Puerto Rico is a lot more than American stores!

Their marina, Puerto Del Rey, turned out to be the marina Bette and I were imagining!  It is the largest marina in the Caribbean, Margaret told me, so big that they have golf cart service to ferry you in from distant slips!  Ken and Margaret plan to haul their Voyage 44 cat Rocking B here for hurricane season.  Having seen Peter Jones’ Voyage fleet at West End, BVI, we had plenty to talk about.

We came home to find Bette Lee still up, engrossed in restoring Tom’s new iPad from iCloud while she had that free Internet.  Another nice feature about Apple!

The best news as we settled into bed that night (doors locked, of course!) was that the strong winds seemed to be abating.

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