Puerto Rico

PUERTO RICO

Boqueron, is the most popular anchorages along the western shore of Puerto Rico. Once a small fishing village is now a small tourist town everything is within walking distance from the dinghy docks. Just around the bay is one of the nicest beaches around, it’s where all the locals hang out.

Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United states we didn’t need to get a visa, but we did need to check-in the boat and show them our passports at immigration. They use American currency here “yes feels good to me!” Immigration is about 15 miles away in a city called Mayaguez. We had to pay a taxi $40.00 to bring us there. The larger cities like Ponce, Mayaguez and San Juan actually look like your in the USA, because there are all the same stores and restaurants.

Mc Donald’s, Mal-mart and Sears you pretty much name it and you can find it here even West Marine the boaters dream store. After clearing in we checked out Boqueron, a bar is found every ten foot. Cobblestone streets are throughout the town. The shops are great, I bought a few new sun dresses and Carl bought a hammock and a nice hat. Venders are everywhere selling oysters and the local fried empanadas. The Spanish food is much different then the Mexican food is different then what we are used to even in Mexico. “But still nice” as Robert would say.
Mystique towed the Pas De Deux all the way to the city of Ponce. They need to have their trasmission rebuilt and Boqueron is just a small tourist town.

It took us a full day to arrive in Ponce with no problems. We invited Michiel (spelled the Holland way) & Robert to stay aboard Mystique while the Pas De Deux is being repaired. Robert is a chef and Michiel can fix anything. We enjoy having them aboard, two real nice guys. Carl had the windless fixed on Mystique. The electric wench that pulls up the anchor, while they fixed there boat. Now Carl will be in a much better mood when we set and pick up anchor. It was worth every penny spent!

Carl myself, Michiel & Robert rented a car and drove all over the island. My favorite stop was the El Yunque. The Caribbean Nation Rain Forest. I was in heaven, if you know me at all you know that I love plants, flowers and parrots. This place had it all! Plus waterfalls. We hiked a 1 ¾ mile hike to the main waterfall it was quite beautiful. The next favorite thing was the boardwalk in Ponce. It has loud Spanish music playing people dancing, food and beer. Best of all the little booths with the locals sold trinkets. We stayed in Puerto Rico for a week and enjoyed every minute. Wile we were there we received word that Chris and Amanda are expecting a new baby. Congratulation!!! Now the wedding date is going to be May 17th 2008. We will sail as far South as we can through the Spanish Virgin Islands and fly home for the great event. Keep you posted on how far we get.