Blogs from Ponce, Puerto Rico, Central America Caribbean
January 21st 2011
We now both understand why the Mona Passage has the reputation that it does! Even though we made our passage in relatively mild conditions, it was a challenging exercise. We left Puerto Bahia at about 8:30 am and had a pleasant day as we worked our way toward the actual passage. Of course, by the time we actually moved into the passage, it was dark. And things always seem scarier in the dark. Thank goodness, we had a nearly full moon which helped see the sea conditions. Before I go to far, let me make it clear that we were never in any physical danger. The boat performed exceedingly well. It was just a question of being a bit uncomfortable with big rolling seas which seemed to change direction every half hour. But, we knew both ... read more
January 21st 2011
After spending a pleasant evening in Boqueron, we hauled anchor a dawn and started working our way around the southwest corner of PR and heading toward Ponce. The day started calmly (as you can see by the picture of the lighthouse) and proceeded to get more robust. A stimulating passage which we were happy to end at the Ponce Yacht Club. After getting ourselves secured in a slip, we headed up to the club bar and restaurant. We met some really friendly and helpful club members who gave us some great local information on completing our trek up to Fajardo. We finished the evening with a nicely prepared grouper filet. Today, after Terry goes into the Customs office to purchase some sort of decal that we need, we will head up to Salinas which is only ... read more
January 11th 2011
Day 3 consisted of the ride of my life, literally! We attempted to find this coffee plantation because coffee is one of the island main agriculture exports and money revenue. But alas, we did not find it. Instead we go to take the ride through the mountains and all around them, allowing us, when not fearing of falling down the mountain side, to see how the landscape changed. As we went through the mountains, the landscape was lush and green. When we were more towards the south west end of the island, the orographic lifting gave way to a dryer climate, more lowlands and browner vegetation. On our way the San Juan, we transitioned from the mountainous interior to the costal lowlands. You began to see grazing lands rather than mountainous landscape. We did manage to ... read more
April 5th 2010
Breakfast at Denny’s Tour EcoElectrica (Guayanilla) Lunch at “El Paladar” dock side outdoor empanadas (chicken, shrimp and conch) Tour Medtronic (Villalba) Hilton Group Presentations The team regrouped after staying at separate host homes for breakfast at Denny’s where everyone quickly learned that Coop is a big fan of pancakes! After everyone’s tummies got full, we headed to EcoElectrica, which is a large power plant that generates electricity from natural gas. The complex also includes a desalination facility, and 50% of the saltwater processed is supplied to civilians. We had the opportunity to visit the control room and see the employees who keep the kilovolts flowing! They were very eager to share with us that they had never had an accident. Everyone felt the pride the workers had in their jobs which was also demonstrated by the ... read more
April 4th 2010
Day Uno. The morning of departure, Coop our fearless leader scheduled our team to meet at the Walmart off the University Exit (where I79 and I68 meet) parking lot at 7:00am. Many of us were quite frantic and worn out from preparations and last minute details. Everyone did their best to pack light and the team loaded into Coop's car driven by his brother Mike and Ben's truck. Mike would have brought the Denali if he knew Coop was traveling with ladies and not just "a bunch of dudes". Even after we reached the airport, we still could not quite believe we were there. We ate at the Irish Restaurant O'Briens but Amanda broke out her own breakfast burrito which she made for Jake. Jake apparently couldn't eat it because she was driving too crazy down ... read more
Puerto Rico - Spontaneous Freestylin’
Published: March 7th 2010Central America Caribbean » Puerto Rico » Ponce
March 7th 2010
By Melisse. Yesterday most of our crew rented a car and went riding through Puerto Rico’s countryside. We had no agenda. Our only plan was to have fun and see some of the island. That we did! All five of us were in fine moods, open to however the day unfolded. We followed along on a map but if we didn’t make a turn we thought we might, no problem, as long as it was pretty outside our car windows we were totally A-OK. We ended up driving through the island’s hilly green interior, and eventually to a city, Ponce, on the southern coast and then to a rocky southern beach. As we moseyed along, whenever anyone got a hankerin’ to stop they’d call out and we’d pull over. It was fun sharing the experience with ... read more
February 14th 2010
Palmas Del Mar and Salinas Puerto Rico, we had really only seen the road to the airport and the marina at Puerto Del Rey, so we had decided to cruise down the coast a bit further. We left Culebra on a very calm morning and headed on down to a place, which in our pilot book, showed an anchorage. We arrived, and as we got there realised that the anchorage was no more and in it’s place was a large marina. We rarely go alongside, for several reason. The main one is the heat, I like to be able to swim around the boat, to cool off, we like to be anchored on our own, so we don’t worry about noise, or more importantly that vermin can come aboard. Ok, Alan I have to put up ... read more
adventures with fried food
Published: November 24th 2009Central America Caribbean » Puerto Rico » PonceNovember 24th 2009
So far this trip is turning out to be a bit more of an adventure than we anticipated, but we’re going with it and having fun regardless. We arrived at San Juan airport Saturday afternoon. It was a bit chaotic and crazy busy, but tolerable—until we had to wait 45 minutes for the Enterprise bus to pick us up. I read that you should only use the big name rental car places to avoid hassles and scams, but a hassle it was. They even gave us a car with no gas in it. But we managed to get a car and began the hour and a half drive to Aguadilla on the north shore of the island. We stayed in a Marriott Courtyard on Ramey base—what used to be a U.S. military base until sometime in ... read more
June 8th 2009
Fin d’une autre étape…. De retour au bateau après trois jours d’auto, nous découvrons que nous rapportons plus que des photos de notre périple….. Jean-Pierre d’abord, puis moi, sommes affectés par une diarrhée carabinée!! Nous cherchons la cause; nous croyons que c’est le petit déjeuner pris dans un kiosque au bord de la rue, dans La Vega. Une pochette de poulet frite dans l’huile et un grand verre de jus frais (bien recherché par les mouches….lors de la préparation) sont, il nous semble, une source probable de quelque chose qui ressemble à une salmonellose. Nous nous bourrons d’Imodium (efficace sur les symptômes mais non curatif). Le lundi 18 mai, nous faisons nettoyer la coque d’Absaroque; les coques et les vers ont tapissé sa coque malgré qu’elle soit recouverte d’une peinture anti-salissure supposée très efficace. Le mardi, ... read more
ABC Islands to Puerto Rico
Published: December 24th 2008Central America Caribbean » Puerto Rico » Ponce
December 23rd 2008
Jimmy and I are in Puerto Rico now and plan to spend Christmas on the boat this year. Since the last blog entry we have put a few miles under our belts. We left Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela in late October and headed out of the country via the offshore Venzuelan islands of Los Roques and Los Aves. We spent a couple of days in each island group before sailing to Bonaire. Bonaire is part of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao). This was our second visit to Bonaire. Jimmy and I were in Bonaire about 10 years on a scuba diving vacation. Bonaire is known for its pristine coral reefs and is popular among scuba divers. Jimmy made several dives while we were there and I snorkeled. I seldom dive anymore and prefer to ... read more
