East Coast to San Juan

We left Patillas relatively early heading east up the coast so we could see the El Yunque National Rain Forest Park on the way to take Mary and Taylor to the air port in San Juan.  It was a beautiful drive along the coast but when we got to the park it was full and they were allowing visitors  in only as someone left and would be closing at 11:00am due to the crowds.  We were allowed to drive up to the waterfalls only to be met with a heavy rain shower and could not see,

tree that must be related to crepe myrtle, colors were awesome

a flowering tree that was just everywhere you looked

bamboo growing over roadway

ferns growing with trucks like small trees

more rain forest roadways 

one of the small falls on the way to the large falls we couldn't see

what we think is wild ginger

 so we came back and continued to San Juan, where Carl & Carrie Butler joined us.  We went to Old San Juan, ate at Mojitos

lunch at Mojito's, notice I'm the only one with indigestion!

where once again I had God only knows what, but it was good.  Then we toured the old fort that guarded San Juan, which was an awesome fort.

ramparts overlooking the bay of San Juan

permanent 3 ft. long resident of fort

San Juan Bay from ramparts

There were 8 foot wide tunnels inside the walls connecting all the ramparts.  This was so the soldiers could move about while under attack.

one of many tunnels connecting stations

courtyard in center of fort

the west end of the fort which we did not walk the 1/2 mile to see

another shot of bay guarded by fort

 It was time to head to the airport and we got to see the prettiest site (to me) in PR, the bridge to the airport is lined with USA and PR flags, hope the picture shows the awesomeness.

makes me want to salute

After we dropped Mary and Taylor off at the airport we took Carl & Carrie to the grocery store to provision for their upcoming trip. A lot of stores in PR are multiple storied with parking on the ground floor and elevator to get you out with your purchases.  After dropping them off at the dinghy dock, Sally & I drove back to Patillas.

street in old San Juan

The following two weeks in Patillas were spent being lazy bums.  We wished for wi-fi, slept late,wished for wi-fi, did small boat chores, wished for wi-fi, rented a car to see the north coast we missed earlier, wished for wi-fi, went to eat & happy hour with Don & Janis Furness  and wished for wi-fi.

YOU TALKIN TO ME!

 The trip north was more rain forest and then a 2 hour drive through pot holed, 1 1/2 lane, hair pinned, unmarked mountain road to see the Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope seen in the movies, SETI, Contact & James Bond.  The 20 acre dish is located in a sinkhole several hundred feet deep.  IT WAS CLOSED until October, but no notice of the closure except by the gate guard.  We could not even take pictures except from the road more than a mile away.

the radio telescope tops;  the bottom of the dish is 600 ft below 

neat little waterfall at the curve of the narrow road with no pullout  was really nervous stopping for this

So, we went to the Rio Camuy Caves Park over the same type roads.  It was open and is a very neat cave, great formations inside  well lit and knowledgeable guides.

inside the cavern

 After coming back above ground, we found a credit union where despite two hours of broken spanish vs broken english vs internet, I got some much needed cash since NO ONE sent me any money to my Philippine account, despite how much I pleaded my dire situation.  Thanks bunches!!!

We were overstaying our welcome with the Furness’ so we motored on over to Culebra and anchored in a wonderful bay next to SV Oden, Sally’s Facebook friends and now mine.