Feb 11 - March 22, 2008

Puerto Rico

After sailing for 38 hours from the Dominican Republic, we arrived very early in the morning in Boqueron, Puerto Rico. The anchorage was wide and calm and we were happy to enjoy the tranquility after the bumpy ride from Ocean World Marina. The small downtown square was also calm, even empty, but we knew it had a reputation of being quit a party town on the weekends. All along the main street were small stalls and booths where local vendors setup shop to sell food and drinks. On the weekends, it fills up with college kids, bikers and other assorted revelers. But today, the town feels like a hangover after the weekend and we have the place pretty much to ourselves.

Our first task is to check-in with U.S. customs and immigration. Before we left Florida to the Bahamas, we signed up for the "Local Boaters Option" which allows us to simply call customs and immigration when we come back into the U.S. Previously, we would have to personally go to the closest customs and immigration office upon arrival. Sometimes, as the case in Fort Pierce, Florida, the offices are at the local airport and requires a 30 minute taxi ride for the two minute check-in. In this case, Boqueron is not a port of entry, so we would have had to take a taxi 12 miles to check-in at Mayaguez.

Like many other government programs, this one did not work quite as advertised. Terri called the customs and immigration office in Mayaguez and she was told that the Local Boaters Option was not available and we would have to come personally to check-in. She called the main office in San Juan and was told that we could use the Local Boaters Option, but because we were in Boqueron, we had to call the office in Mayaguez. Another call back to Mayaguez gave her the same response; we had to come to the office personally. As it was getting near to closing time, she called one last time and talked to a different officer who apparently had read the memo. In less than a minute, we were checked-in and legally back in the U.S.

We stayed in Boqueron for several days relaxing after our trip from DR and enjoyed the town including a great steak dinner on Valentine's Day with Paul and Mary from Sea Otter. On Saturday, we moved to La Parguera on the south coast of Puerto Rico. We left early in the morning before the winds picked up and arrived in this interesting, bohemian town set in the mangroves before lunch. The locals have anchored houseboats all along the banks of the mangrove rivers giving it a funky, Caribbean/Venetian look.

Here we also had our best meal since leaving the U.S. at a restaurant called Aguazul. Run by a young woman chef originally from San Juan, the menu was an eclectic fusion of Latin, Caribbean and modern styles presented beautifully on our plates. We had been told about the restaurant from some locals we met in Boqueron, and it was obviously popular. We almost didn't get a table, but while we were waiting, we were able to read the wall of reviews and accolades about this little restaurant.

For the next five days, we moved from one anchorage to another along the south coast or Puerto Rico until we found ourselves docked at Puerto del Rey Marina, the largest marina in the Caribbean. This was a great location for us to leave the boat while we flew back to Houston for a week and it was also a good jumping off point for our next leg to the Spanish Virgin Islands. While we were there, we were able to reprovision the boat from places like Costco and Walmart, stores not available since we left Florida. Finally, we had great trip to the only rainforest in the United States, El Yunque.

Despite the fact that we had a wonderful time in Puerto Rico, the boat's refrigeration decided to die for the third time since we left Houston. This time, the condenser that we replaced in Ft. Lauderdale last summer decided to leak again. Luckily, shipping parts to Puerto Rico was easy, and after a few days delay, we were ready to move to the Virgin Islands: the Spanish, U.S. and British.

View of the dinghy dock in Boqueron, Puerto Rico. The bar at the dock is a nice touch that says "Welcome Home".

Although many people in PR are bilingual (Spanish and English), some things don't translate all that well. The gas prices are in liters and the distances are in kilometers, but the speed limits on the roads were in miles-per-hour.

While this looks like a big stage set from an old Pink Floyd concert, this is a radar blimp which is used to track potential drug runners flying into Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, the blimp is tethered to its base with a very long cable which can not be extended if the wind is over 15 miles per hour. Given how windy it was here all the time, I don't think it caught many bad guys.

"Houseboats" in the mangrove canals in La Parguera.

All the pictures were taken at the El Yunque, the only rainforest in the US.