April 1
At dawn, the other boat from Kemah, who had come here a day before us, was weighing anchor. We were kind of surprised to see them up so early, because last night they were racing around the harbor in their dinghy so drunk that one of them fell out. A couple hours later, the three other boats in the anchorage also departed, leaving only us and Sol Y Mar. The first of many ferry loads of people arrived at the island's dock about 09:00. The throngs kept coming all morning.
We are planning to have a picnic on the island today, but over on the eastern end where you can only get to by boat. This will keep us away from all the locals who come by ferry. We loaded up our chairs and a cooler, while Pat & Dori brought a small barbeque and steaks. We went to a little beach on the eastern end and found one other couple there who had come by kayak. Being on the leeward side of the island, the mangroves blocked the wind entirely and it was quite hot. We followed a little path through the mangroves which took us to the very eastern tip of the island. Here we found a shady spot to set our chairs, a nice breeze, and a view of the ocean to the south. We had pulled the dinghies into the very shallow water near the shore and tied them to the mangrove roots. Later a patrol boat from the DNRA (Department of Natural Resources A???) came by and told us we couldn't tie them to the trees, so we threw out our anchors. Rules, rules, rules. After enjoying a few beverages, we started cooking the steaks. Pat had a little throw-away grill that comes with charcoal that he had aboard for some time. We were a little uncertain if this would really make a good enough fire to grill two good-sized steaks, but it did fine. We enjoyed our meal watching the ocean break over the reef about a quarter mile offshore, totally unaware of the hundreds of people partying a few hundred feet to our west.
While we were on the island, we saw three other sailboats come from the east and enter the anchorage. When they were still offshore, they were obviously bouncing around quite a bit. There has been a huge north swell battering the northern shore of Puerto Rico for several days, and it is apparently wrapping around the island. We had felt it when we came from La Parguera to here and we can see from the motion of these incoming boats that it is still out there.
GPS N 17-56.717 W 066-52.431 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8825.
Apr 2
We were up pretty early today for our move to Ponce. It's only eighteen miles, but when moving along the southern coast of Puerto Rico, you usually start at dawn and make short hops so you don't have to move against the easterly trade winds. I think because I watched those three boats bouncing around so much yesterday, I was apprehensive about today's trip. I didn't sleep well thinking about it. We weighed anchor at 07:00 and motored out of the anchorage. The wind had not died off entirely overnight as it usually does, and was blowing straight from the east. Once clear of the island, we were riding a three foot swell with the wind right on the nose. Although it was not a particularly comfortable ride, it wasn't all that bad. We measured the degree of discomfort by how many times the bow slammed down in the trough of a wave. It only happened six times in three hours, so that wasn't bad. On our last few overnight passages we were slamming several times a minute.
We are going to stay at the Ponce Fishing & Yacht Club. This is a private yacht club, but according to the cruising guides, they welcome visiting cruisers when they have slips available. Our friends on Perseverance and Caribbean Soul have already been here for a week, so we are looking forward to hooking up with them again. We hailed the Yacht Club and arranged to stop at the fuel dock before going to our slip. We were met at the fuel dock by the dockmaster who was very friendly and spoke pretty good English. We filled up and then waited to help Sol Y Mar dock in front of us. After we were both fueled, we cast of first and headed for our slip. The slips are made to accommodate sixty foot boats. They have a short finger pier and two pilings way out at the end. The challenge in this type of slip is to get lines around the outer pilings as you pass them, since once you are all the way in the slip, you can't possibly reach them, even by throwing the lines. Barb was ready on the windward side of the boat as I slowly came in right next to the outer piling. She easily got the line around it and then ran to the bow. She threw the two bow lines to the dockmaster and Richard from Perseverance. She then came back to the stern and as we drifted sideways to the other side of the slip, she was able to throw the other stern line around the other outer piling. We then slowly powered forward until our stern lines were as far as they could go and secured the bow. It was probably the best we have ever done at getting into this type of slip.
After Sol Y Mar was secure in their slip, Richard & Harriet produced a sign they had made welcoming MoonSail and Sol Y Mar to Ponce. They had a Texas flag on one side and a Puerto Rican flag (which looks very similar) on the other. That was very cool of them to welcome us like that. After some catching up, we headed up to the office to check in. We had been told to bring our registration, passports, and insurance. As we got to the office, the girl who spoke the best English was just leaving for lunch. She told another girl, who spoke no English, what to do with us and left. I filled out a long form while the girl made copies of all our paperwork. She then took digital pictures of both of us and made us ID cards which are needed to enter the premises. All in all, the place strikes me as way too formal. I don't know if this is a cultural thing, or just a yacht club thing, but there is way too much structure here. The office girls are all dressed in business suits as if they were in a bank. There is a counter separating the customers from the workers, and the gate which allows access behind the counter is locked. Every time an employee comes in, they have to be buzzed in by one of the girls. The whole huge form and copies of everything and ID cards is also very formal. We had been looking forward to staying here partly because of the amenities we had read about in the cruising guides. Alas, we were told that guests were not allowed to use the pool or exercise room.
Now that we were legal, we went next door to the small informal restaurant and bar. There is a large open pavilion that is used for large gatherings, and back in the corner is a counter where you can order light food all day. We ordered burgers and beer and relaxed. Even though our welcome to the club seemed cold compared to what we expected based on the cruising guides, we were glad to be somewhere where we could do some inland touring an have the boats secure.
After we ate, we went back to the boats to get our computers. One of the other things we had been told to expect here was free wi-fi. On the boat I picked up a strong signal and connected to it, but it had no connectivity to the internet. We were told that another network was available if you sat at the pavilion, so that's what we did. Sure enough, that one worked well and we caught up on some internet browsing and phone calls with Skype. While we were there, two Customs officers came from the dock area, and asked if the owner of Sol Y Mar was there. Pat was just walking up, and we ratted him out. They asked if he had checked into the country He assured them he had and offered to go get his clearance number for them. They said that wasn't necessary, but kept asking him questions about where and when he checked in. I volunteered that we had been together through the process. They said ok, although they obviously still had some question. They never really were clear why they singled Sol Y Mar out, because they didn't seem to care at all about us. They sat down at a table near us with their laptop and got online. After ten minutes or more, they hollered over to Pat and asked his name. He answered, and that seemed to placate them that everything was ok. They packed up their computer and left.
We had three packages coming to us here, and I got all three. One came Friday, and the other two came today. So now we have three months worth of mail, and the parts I need for a couple projects while we're here. We ended up spending most of the afternoon drinking at the pavilion and decided to eat dinner there too. There was a very limited selection, but what we got was quite good. We retired to the boats for an air conditioned night of sleep without any worries of the anchor dragging.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 18. Total miles 8843.
Apr 3
We started the day as usual, but then again not usual at all. I tried to listen to the SSB weather and Cruisehiemers net and could not hear anything. The SSB radio is a very unpredictable animal. We have in the past had bad reception in marinas due to electrical interference, and some days it has to do with atmospheric conditions. Today there was nothing but static and background noise. After giving up on the SSB, I decided to go up to the pavilion and try the Internet. Well, there was no signal from the wi-fi either. I learned from the other boats that it wasn't my problem, so I went back to the boat and got e-mail via the sat phone.
I thought I ought to do at least one boat project today, so I replaced the voltage regulator. It is one of the simplest things on my list. Unplug a few wires, two screws, reverse the process and try it. Being plugged into shore power, it's hard to test if the new one has solved the problem, since the old one hadn't failed entirely. It was just acting unpredictably. But a quick test indicated it seemed to work. I packed the old one up to ship it back for warrantee credit.
After getting together with Pat & Dori, we decided to take a taxi to town and see what there is. We had the office call us a cab and rode to the city center. It was a $10 cab ride, which seems to be the minimum rate for four people. The taxi dropped us off at the square in the center of town where there is a Catholic cathedral, a large fountain, and the tourist office. It was lunchtime, so we walked around the square to check out lunch options first. We are definitely back in the US, because we have Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Subway all within sight of each other. We chose Taco Maker, which best we can tell is still fast food, but a Puerto Rican chain. We had a good cheap lunch which we order by picture since the overhead menu was all in Spanish.
Once fed, we went to the tourist office and bought tickets for the trolley tour of the city. The charge was $8. That's $8 for four people, not each. Well, you get what you pay for, but it was still a good place to start. The trolley, a typical tourist town motorized replica of a San Francisco trolley, took us around town with the driver pointing out historical buildings by yelling from the front in Spanish, then poor English. There were a few stops along the way. The first was at the Puerto Rican Sports Museum. We all got off and went inside where we looked at photographs of Puerto Ricans who have made it big in various sports. There were a few names we recognized, like Roberto Clemente, but the big fun was figuring out the sport names in Spanish. Some of the photos were obvious, because if the guy had a bat in his hand it was Beisbol. But a lot of the photos were just portrait style head shots, and we had to guess the sport based on the printing below the picture. We continued on the tour and crossed the Bridge of Lions. The city of Ponce has a connection to Ponce de Leon, as does St. Augustine. I would love to find out if there is historical connection between the two Bridge of Lions, but since we have no Internet today, I can't. We continued on the tour with a stop at an old marketplace where there were a couple dozen small booths selling various crap. None of them sold beer. We almost stopped at the base of a hill where Castillo Serralles is. Serralles and Bacardi are the only two rum distilleries left in Puerto Rico. While there are many brands of Puerto Rican rum, the basic rum comes from one of these two distilleries. Castillo (castle) Serralles was the home of the original still and is open for tours. The current modern distillery is unfortunately not open for public tours. Further along the trolley tour, we saw several other American brands. Western Auto, Marshall's, and others. It's kind of odd to suddenly be back in America, even though a few days ago we were still in a island frame of mind, on the same island.
After the trolley tour, we were back at the square in the city center. We were really wanting to find a place to just sit and get a beer. You wouldn't have thought it would be such a quest, but we walked many blocks before we found a cafe that served lunch and beer. We enjoyed a cold Medalla each and then went back to the square. We toured a few large tourist trap souvenir shops and resisted buying anything. We stopped at Cafe Paris, which we probably should have in the first place, and had another beer. We decided to head back to the marina, which involved walking a few blocks to where our tourist map indicated the taxis should be. We passed a perfume shop where Dori wanted to stop first, and she and Pat picked up some fragrances. Just outside the perfume shop, a taxi came by and we hailed him. I don't know if this is the way it's supposed to work, but we got our ride back to the marina. At the marina gate, we waved a couple of our fancy ID cards and were waved through. There was no verifying that everybody had a card, nor the expiration dates on the cards. So much for security.
At the marina, we met up with Nick & Deanna from Caribbean Soul at the bar. We were then joined by another couple, Rick & Sue, who just bought a 70's vintage Morgan Out Island 41. They had seen our boat on the dock and mentioned that they had considered one like it, but couldn't afford it. Turned out the boat they considered was Double Jeopardy up in the Chesapeake, which we were on the hard near when we had our rudder problem. After several drinks, we decided we needed food and walked around the marina to the maleceon to see what booths were open. The maleceon here is a modern boardwalk with a building every hundred feet or so that houses four small businesses each. We have heard that most of them are only open on the weekends, but a few are open every day. We found few open and made our choices. It is very common here to find vendors selling empanadas, which is a circular dough folded in half with something in the middle and deep fried. We got two with beef and two with seafood, and a couple of rum and cokes. Some of the other folks got other things at other booths, and we all met at a table in between. After eating, we walked back to the marina with a similar response from the guards at the gate. As long as card or two was flashed, we were allowed in with no real check.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 4
The morning started slightly different today. I awoke at 06:00, trying to decide if I should go back to sleep or try listening to the SSB. About the time I thought I'd go back to sleep, there was a knock on the boat. Caribbean Soul is leaving this morning, and the wind has moved around such that they could use an extra hand to get out of the slip gracefully. I went above and handled their bow line as they backed out of the slip with no problem. Once awake, I tried the SSB with similar results as yesterday - a lot of background noise and little intelligible reception. I did hear Caribbean Soul clearly check in with Cruisehiemers though, which leaves me thinking that just being in the marina is the problem. As Caribbean Soul left, they gave me a bosun's chair which the rigger they had inspect their rig yesterday had left on their boat. They asked me to try and get it back to him. After 09:00 when the office was open, I took the bosun's chair up there. I explained to the office girl what happened and was given a "what do you expect me to do about it" story. I finally convinced her to put it under her desk and have the dockmaster call the rigger. I was dismayed at her response.
I next went to the pavilion to see if the Internet connection was alive. It was not, so I went back to the office. I was again greeted with a "what do you want me to do about" attitude. I was told that the marina did not provide wi-fi, and any signal I was receiving was not theirs, and it was not their problem if it didn't work. I asked why I was given a code to use the marina's wi-fi when we checked in, and got a "I don't know. We don't have wi-fi." I am really wondering what the cruising guides were talking about when they said this place was cruiser friendly.
Back at the boat I tackled one of our projects. The oil leak. The first thing to do is get the oil out of the bilge and stop the water leak that makes the oil overflow the pan under the engine and get into the bilge. I took the two oilsorb pads out of the bilge and replaced them with new ones. Then I took the leaking hose off the heat exchanger to try and figure out how to seal it. With the hose off, I could see the nipple it goes on was not round. It was more an oval shape. I took pliers and gently squeezed it to make it round. I reconnected the hose and opened the seacock to let the water flow again. I could hear a hissing sound and looking closely I could see where the air in the system was seeping out of a crack in the heat exchanger casting. The hose wasn't the problem after all. I sent an e-mail off to the Westerbeke distributor where I bought the new heat exchanger last year. If you recall I just replaced the heat exchanger a few months ago with my spare. We'll see if it is covered by a warrantee or not.
We talked to Pat & Dori and Richard & Harriet, and decided to get a taxi to the mall. The mall is an honest to goodness American mall. It is anchored by J C Penny on one end and Sears on the other. In between there are lots of American brands like Old Navy, KB Toys, Radio Shack and more. The first thing we did was have lunch. There was a large food court with lots of recognizable names, but also lots of noise. School is out the week between Good Friday and Easter, so the mall is packed. We elected to go to Sizzler Steakhouse which is separate from the food court, in the hopes it would be quieter. It was, but not by much. After lunch we agreed to meet at the entrance we came in two hours later. We actually found several things to buy and met up with every body else at the appointed hour.
Pat & Dori and us needed food, so Richard & Harriet took a cab back to the marina while the rest of us walked across the street to the Pueblo supermarket. The Pueblo is a large, clean, well lit store like you would expect to find in the States. But it had a very odd layout. Things you would expect to be grouped together were spread out across the store. The other odd thing was that while the stock was spread on the shelves in the States, there wasn't a bunch of each product. There might just be a few of each item. But, we managed to find everything we needed, and spent $250. As we were checking out, we asked the store manager to call us a taxi, which he gladly did. We got out front and waited. After fifteen minutes, I went back inside and had them call again. It was another fifteen minutes before our cab got there. Not good for our Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
At the marina, we went to get a dock cart or two to take the groceries to the boats. We found that they were locked to the railing at the head of each dock. Apparently if you are a member, you have a key, but this is but one more thing we don't get to use as guests. So five trips later, everything had been carried to the far end of the dock where transient boats are.
After getting the groceries put away, we all met for a little happy hour on Perseverance. We ended up chatting there until 21:30, when we came back home and crashed.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 5
The wi-fi that apparently doesn't belong to the marina is working good today. So, after the morning radio nets, I spent several hours catching up on news and e-mail and web browsing that I haven't been able to do for a couple days. I spent some time reading the boat logs of some other friends that I had fallen behind on, and made several Skype calls to friends and family. Next thing you know it was afternoon. While I was playing with the computer, Barb was cleaning rust stains off the boat and polishing the exterior stainless steel. The afternoon was spent writing logs and reading.
For dinner we were invited over to Sol Y Mar. Day before yesterday, Dori had been walking down the dock in the evening and saw a sportfish boat who had just come in with a lot of fish on board. She stopped and asked what they had and if she could buy some. They just gave her a huge filet of mahi-mahi. It was enough fish that six of us are eating half of it tonight and half went in the freezer. We enjoyed a nice dinner on Sol Y Mar along with Perseverance.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 6
Happy Birthday Brother Bob! My brother, Bob, is in Europe for ten days, so I can't call him, but I can record it here so there's proof I didn't forget. The wi-fi is alive and well for a second day, so I spent a good part of the morning once again surfing the net and taking care of business online. The marina is officially closed today since it's Good Friday, and it is very quiet. I knew the office and yard were going to be closed, but I'm surprised there aren't more boaters here taking advantage of the three day weekend.
When I came back to the boat from using the Internet, I found Barb still polishing stainless. I guess I better do some boat chores too, so I don't look too bad. The dinghy still has the crap that grew in Luperon on half the bottom. In Luperon I had scraped off the half I could reach, so today I lowered it, turned it around and re-hoisted it to scrape the other half. It all came off easier than I had expected. Maybe since it has been dry for a while, the critters died and lost their grip. Since I had to put the dinghy back in the water to turn it around again, I took the opportunity to float around the perimeter of the boat and scrape the growing fringe off the waterline again. Since we are in warmer tropical waters, and our waterline fully loaded is a couple of inches higher than the anti-fouling bottom paint, we continuously grow an algae fringe at the waterline. One of the things we plan to do while in Grenada is repaint the bottom and raise the bottom paint line a few inches.
Around happy hour time, the six of us met on Perseverance to plan our road trip inland next week. We plan to rent a mini-van for a week, go to San Juan for a couple of days, visit the rain forest, and see what else we can see.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 7
This morning, Richard, Pat and I went to pick up our mini-van. The rental company picked us up at 11:00 and took us to their office. No, it wasn't Enterprise. It was Popular Rent-a-car, which is obviously related to Popular Bank, as they have exactly the same logo. We had worried about who's name the rental should be in since Pat is the only one who still has car insurance in the States. We were hoping not to have to pay the exorbitant insurance rates that rental companies charge. We decided to just be quiet and see if they asked about if we had insurance before making an issue of it. As it turned out the rate they quoted us for the week includes full coverage, so we worried for nothing.
On the way back to the marina, we stopped at the Cash & Carry store, which is like an independent Sam's Club. It is mostly case lots, although not entirely. We just browsed around to see what they had and left. We also stopped at the marine supply store near the marina to check it out. As we had been warned, it is pretty useless unless you have a small fishing boat on a trailer.
While we were off doing all this, I was developing a stiff neck. It was bothering me more and more as the day went on. I might attribute it to sleeping soundly last night and not moving around as much as I normally do, except that it didn't hurt when I got up. It started a couple hours later. So, when we got back to the marina, I took some Advil and laid down to see if it would go away. While I napped, Barb and the rest of the gang went back to Cash & Carry to get few things. I napped for a couple of hours, and didn't really feel much better when I got up. I found that we had several new neighbors though. One is another Manta catamaran like Perseverance, named Alize. We have not met them before, but have heard them for the past month talking to Chris Parker, the weather guy, on the SSB as they made there way south. Another is a sailboat that has been in the charter business in the Caribbean for years and is now being taken north by it's owners. They are French Canadians and are taking the boat up the East Coast and then over to Europe. The third new neighbor is a wooden boat from France. It is just a little larger than MoonSail, but it has five times the rigging, all rope, and five sails. It has wooden blocks and looks to be quite old, but in pretty good shape. I'm sure it's a lot more work to sail than I'm used to.
With my neck still stiff, even after the nap, Advil, and an application of Icy Hot, we just relaxed aboard for the evening. The maleceon across the way is hopping tonight, with a loud band and more people than we have seen all week. We were listening to a replay of an old Jimmy Buffett concert on Radio Margaritaville and thought it was funny that he broke into a medley of La Bamba, La Cucaracha, and another Spanish song, competing with the music from across the water.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 8
We were up at 08:00 today for our first land voyage. We were actually underway at 08:00 headed for the Arecibo Observatory. The Arecibo Observatory is the world's largest radio telescope. It is jointly operated by the National Science Foundation and Cornell University. This was of interest to me since Cornell was my mother's and my high school best friend's alma mater. It is located near the city of Arecibo on the northern shore of Puerto Rico, almost due north of where we are. The island is about thirty miles wide at this point, but to get from A to B requires many miles on let's say less than interstate quality highways. We started off leaving Ponce on PR 52, which is just like an American interstate. We went east five or six miles to PR 10. PR 10 runs north/south, from the eastern edge of Ponce to Arecibo. Unfortunately, there is about a ten mile gap in it, and the Observatory is not right in the city of Arecibo. So we went about ten miles on a nice four or three lane road. (Three lanes meaning uphill you had two lanes and downhill you had one.) This took us to the town of Adjuntas, where the nice road ends. We had not had breakfast, so we thought we would stop here and look for someplace to eat. We drove through the town, but being Easter Sunday morning, not much is open except the Burger King we passed on the way into town. So Burger King it was. The croissant sandwiches were just like in Texas, and the Jugo de China tasted remarkably like orange juice (it is). From Adjuntas, the road was a two lane, twisty turny, narrow mountain road. Did I mention that Puerto Rico is mostly mountains? Ponce sits on the southern shore, on a large coastal plain. But once you are five or six miles inland, you are climbing into the mountains.
The vegetation as we started up the mountains was scrubby brush. Not desert, but not tropical either. By the time we got over the first crest and into Adjuntas, that all changed. Once we were on the two lane road, we were in a jungle setting. The road never went more than a few hundred feet without a sharp turn. Close on one side would be a rock embankment. Close on the other would be a drop off of hundreds of feet. There were guardrails is most places, so it wasn't particularly dangerous, but a heart stopping view nonetheless. The vegetation was amazing. There was lots of banana plants, palms, and bamboo trees a hundred feet tall. It was all very lush and green. Unfortunately, the road offered no place to stop to try and get a picture of the vistas. As it was, we were holding up local drivers because we were not accustomed to driving at all, let alone on this kind of road. The very few chances we had to pull to the side, we did and let the parade of cars behind us pass. I'm not sure I could have gotten a picture to do the scene justice anyway, since the vegetation was so thick right up to the road's edge.
We eventually got to where we could have rejoined PR 10 to the city of Arecibo, but the Observatory itself is not in town. It is in the middle of nowhere about halfway between where we are and the city of Arecibo. So we continued on several more two lane roads, each narrower than the previous one. We did have a map, and eventually got close enough that there were signs to the Observatory, so we knew we were on the right track. Finally, after the last few miles of narrow road up and over hills more like a roller coaster than a highway, we were there. We parked in the visitors parking lot and read the warning sign about the walk to come. It said that the visitor's center was about five hundred steps uphill. Since at the base there was a staircase, we thought the literally meant five hundred stairs. What they apparently meant was five hundred paces. At any rate it was a good climb. We learned on our way out that if you were unable to walk that steep a climb, they would come down and get you in a van.
Just as we reached the visitor's center we heard a PA announcement that the video presentation in English would start in five minutes. So, we hustled to get our $5 tickets, blew through the exhibits in the visitor's center and into the small theatre to watch the video. The video told the story of a day in the life of the Observatory. In addition to the regular staff of operations, maintenance and engineering people, there are visiting scientists who are here to use the equipment. There is a cafeteria to feed all these people, since you don't just buzz into town for a sandwich at lunchtime. There are accommodations onsite for the visiting scientists. Since this is a radio telescope, not a visual one, it's work goes on 24/7. It does not need to be a clear night as a visual telescope would require. Once the movie ended, we exited to the platform overlooking the telescope itself.
I will try to describe the actual telescope, but you may have already seen it in the movies. A James Bond movie, Golden Eye, and a Jodie Foster movie, Contact, featured the telescope. If you didn't see those, as I have not, I'll try to describe it. Imagine your home Direct TV dish. Now lay it on the ground like a bowl. Now imagine it covering twenty acres. That's the dish. Now, on your Direct TV antennae, you have the little thingy in the middle that catches the signal as it reflects off the dish. That part of this antennae is a huge apparatus suspended over the dish from three towers that are about two hundred sixty feet tall. Now imagine that the whole thing can be rotated and tilted to point at any place in space above it to a millimeters tolerance. Check out the pictures if you still can't imagine it and maybe the words and pictures together will make sense.
After we had marveled over how this thing physically hangs in the air, we went back inside to see the exhibits we blew past which explain a lot more about how it works and what it does. We spent another hour inside reading about the machine itself and the astronomy that it has helped explore. Barb, ever the QA person, found an interesting error in the displays. We had looked at one that laid out our solar system. Each planet had stats listed, like how long it takes to rotate around the sun. (For the scientifically impaired, that would be a year for Earth. The others were represented in Earth days.) The display for Mercury said it took 88 Earth days to make a trip around the sun. Then, in a different display that focused on the physical building of the telescope, they mentioned that the very first thing they did when it went online in 1963 was to determine that Mercury's "year" was really 59 Earth days, not 88. Barb went back to the first display to confirm what she thought she had read, and then reported the error to me. Since she wasn't QA'ing software that I wrote anymore, there was nothing I could do about it.
Once we had all the science we could stand for one day, we got back in the van and continued north to the city of Arecibo. We found it with little problem and then started looking for a place to have a late lunch. On the somewhat sketchy map we had we saw there was a maleceon and a lighthouse on the beach just east of where the road we took into town hit the coast. We wandered through the downtown of Arecibo and found it to be all closed. We found the coast road and went east towards the lighthouse. We got caught up in traffic going to the beach, but eventually got free of it and headed down a road where we had seen a sign promising a restaurant. We spotted a bar and restaurant and parked. Inside, we found the kitchen closed and just the bar open. Across the street was a sandwich shop, so we decided to give it a try. The gang walked as I went to move the car across the street. As I got to the car door a wrinkled old man sitting on a bench in front of the bar with a beer said "Hola!". I politely returned the greeting as he got up off the bench. Thinking I was going to get hit up for a handout, I kept opening the car door to leave. He said something to me in Spanish, and before I could say I only spoke English, he switched to English and asked what we were looking for. I said we were looking for a place to eat. He told me not to go across the street, but rather just a little further down the road. He either said the place belonged to his family or was across the road from where his family lived. I'm not sure which. I yelled to the gang to catch them before they got in the sandwich shop, but they couldn't hear me. So, I ran across the street and got them out of the sandwich shop before they ordered anything. We all got in the van and went just a quarter mile further down the road to find Salitre.
Salitre was a very nice restaurant with a full parking lot. We parked in the overflow parking field next door and went in. We found a nice inside dining room, and a large outdoor patio overlooking the ocean. The hostess said there was a forty minute wait for a table, but we could wait in the bar. A little further discussion revealed that we could eat in the bar if we wanted to. Eat now - no wait - OK. We sat at a table right at the windows overlooking the ocean, so we probably had a better view than if we had waited for a table. We placed our orders and enjoyed the view with a beer while we waited. A smiling man we assumed was the manager came by and greeted us, asking where we were from. We explained that we were traveling on sailboats which were in Ponce. He said how great he thought it was that we were out living our dreams. He gave us each his card and it turns out he was the owner, not just a manager. The place remained packed all afternoon, probably because it was Easter, so it took a while to get our food, but it was very good.
When we left I took over driving responsibilities from Pat. Since we are in the city of Arecibo now, we can head south on the northern third of PR 10 which is complete. This was again a good three or four lane road. Eventually we got to the missing piece and did the ten miles of two lane again. As we went over the mountain this time, we went through the typical afternoon rain showers. Once over the top, we could see that Ponce was in sunshine and it was clear why the vegetation on the south side is so different. The afternoon showers almost always come from the north and drop the rain as they rise over the mountains, leaving the south side dry.
The trip back was much quicker than going up, because so much more of it was on the good road. Once we were back we took our computer up to the pavilion to check mail and do a little research for tomorrow's trip. We found that both boats on our side of the dock who came in yesterday have left today. Guess they're making tracks north as fast as they can. We got ready for heading to San Juan tomorrow.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 9
We are leaving on our multi-day road trip today. The first stop will be the El Yunque Rain Forest. At 09:00 we headed out of Ponce on PR 52, which is US Interstate quality. The island is only thirty-five miles across, so in about thirty minutes we were in Caguas, south of San Juan. We took a circuitous route off PR52, to PR 30, and off the first exit to a McDonalds. The only thing I ever liked for breakfast at McDonalds was their burritos. Well, we were in luck, because they had "Nuevo Burritos". The breakfast burrito has apparently just been introduced here, and it is just the same as in the US.
Once fed, we continued north to the southern edge of San Juan. From here we will go east on PR 3 to El Yunque. We are navigating on a combination of maps gleaned from magazines and brochures. I have a Rand McNally atlas that contains the US, Canada, and Mexico. Apparently, they didn't get the word that Puerto Rico is part of the US. On our cheap maps, PR 3 looks like it should be a freeway style road. In reality, it is a multi-lane city street with a signal light every eighth of a mile, and businesses packed on both sides. Interestingly, the southern side of the road has every American brand you can think of - Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Block Buster, and every fast food chain. On the northern side of the road, there are as many businesses, but they all have Spanish names. We recognize a few, like a Pueblo supermarket, but most are foreign to us.
About the time that we started to wonder if we were going the right way, we spotted a sign for Forest Service road 191. The brown Forest Service road sign was familiar to me from years of camping in northern Arizona. Seeing it here in Puerto Rico was another one of those incongruous things about being in a foreign country that is still part of the US. We followed FS 191 to El Portal, the official visitor's center for El Yunque. We found a very nice visitor's center at El Portal. As we walked up to the information desk, the woman there informed us that the English version of the movie was starting in just a few minutes. We hustled to the theatre and watched the fifteen minute movie. We had to think a minute about the voice narrating the movie, but then realized it was Jimmy Smits. After the movie, we walked around the El Portal displays. One of the things that struck us was the orchids hanging everywhere. I had not realized that orchids are "air plants" and not potted plants. Check out the pictures to see many of these beautiful plants. In particular, one has a root system spreading out across the ceiling from it's original mounting.
From El Portal, we headed south. As we came to each place to park and see something, we found parking lots full. So, we ended up going all the way south to the Palo Colorado Information Center. Here you can get a ranger to give you a guided tour, or you can head out on your own on one of many trails. We elected to wander around on our own. First we went across the highway and up to the Bano Grande Pool. This is an area that used to be used as a swimming pool when the park was being developed, but is not anymore. From here we hiked a gentle trail that took us through the forest a little. We only saw the bare minimum of the actual forest, but it was still cool.
From here we went back north to Yokahu Tower. This tower was built as a lookout tower. The Mt. Britton tower is at the very top of the mountain, but the view from this lower tower is spectacular as well. I was the only one who climbed the tower. At the top, about a hundred feet above the base, I found a different world. Of course, there was a cool breeze blowing which was blocked by the forest at the bottom. The other big difference I noticed was the sounds of the birds. At the bottom, we heard many birds in the trees, which were above us. From the top of the tower, there was no other human noise, and the bird sounds reverberated from the canyons below with quite an eerie sound. I took a number of pictures from the top, including one of Pat taking a picture of me on top.
Our next stop was La Coca Falls. La Coca Falls are just off the highway and rise eighty-five feet. Since there has not been a recent heavy rain, the water flow over the falls looks like just a trickle from the bottom. The large rock surface that comprises the falls is all wet, but there are just a few small streams of water coming down the face. At the base of the falls were many large boulders that had fallen over the years. Dori and I climbed over the rocks so we could stand right at the base of the falls. Even though there is only a very small amount of water coming over the edge, the view from right at the bottom is quite different. Looking up from the bottom, the water comes over the edge and spreads out into individual droplets. They look like they should be falling on us, but they rejoin the water on the rocks before they get to the bottom.
We leave the park from here, and are quite thirsty. Just outside the park boundary, we find a small bar and restaurant where we stop for a beer. The funny thing about this place is the dog on the roof. The building is built into the hillside so the residence is above the street level restaurant. The restaurant roof is at the same level as the residence ground floor. The dog has a house on the restaurant roof and is on a chain just long enough that he can come to the edge and look over but not fall. He has a dog house up there to shield him from the sun, but he seemed much happier to greet the people below and paid no attention to his house while we were there.
We left the rain forest late in the afternoon and headed for the Condado area of San Juan. We don't have a hotel reservation, but are hoping to wing it when we get there. We found the Condado area with little trouble and then looked for our first choice of hotels. The Wind Chime Inn is our first choice, and after a wrong turn or two, we find it. We need three rooms for two nights, and it turns out that is exactly all they have. The rooms are normally $149/night, but they cut us a deal of $99/night. We unload all the luggage, and then I found a place to park within a block of the place.
After getting settled in our rooms we all met for happy hour at the hotel bar. We had Mojitos that were less than wonderful, and then decided to walk somewhere nearby for dinner. A few blocks away were several recognizable brands like UNO Pizzeria and Fuddrucker's. We chose Fuddrucker's since a good slab of USDA medium rare beef was what we all needed. We were not disappointed as the burgers and onion rings tasted just as I recall them from long lunches in Houston.
With very full stomachs, we stumbled back to the hotel. We enjoyed the cable TV, where we could watch the American networks that we haven't seen in a while. Interestingly, they treat Puerto Rico differently. NBC and CBS, clearly identify themselves, as NBC/Puerto Rico, and CBS/Puerto Rico, but carry the New York local news and weather. ABC and FOX, also bill themselves as Caribbean, but don't offer "local " news. They run other shows in the news time slots. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Today show in the morning when they talked about 27 degrees in Newburgh, NY, near my brother's and daughter's homes, while we suffered with 75 degree lows.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 10
We all met at the hotel bar for coffee before heading out for the day. We left the hotel at 09:00 and drove into the heart of Old San Juan where we found a parking garage. The Waiter at the hotel had told us about a place for breakfast that was very old and good. We had walked a few blocks and were standing on the corner looking like lost tourists when an older gentleman asked if we needed help finding something. We told him we were looking for the old bakery and he said to follow him. We did and he took us about half a block to the place. Of course he wanted a tip for that service. It's hard to tell the people who just want to be helpful from the ones who are trying to make a buck. Bakeries here serve a full menu of food in addition to having a case full of baked goods. They are much like what we might call a coffee shop or diner in the States. Breakfast was good, although I'm not sure what made this place any better than the next.
After eating, we walked a couple blocks to a visitors center where we picked up a map and asked about the trolley that runs around town. We were directed to the trolley stop just up the street. There are two trolley loops through Old San Juan, and it is free. We caught the trolley that made the loop past the two forts we want to see. We got off the trolley at San Cristobal. San Cristobal was started in 1634 and completed in 1780. It was built to protect San Juan from an attack by land and a large part of it comprised the wall to the city. It is a very large fort and is remarkably good shape today. It is run as a historical site by the US National Parks Service, and they have done a good job of maintaining or restoring things. Unlike several forts that we have toured in the US in the past couple of years, this one is almost entirely accessible and there were many good exhibits. As we were standing up high on the grounds of San Cristobal, we saw a cruise ship approaching the harbor entrance. We had a clear view of it as it entered the harbor and came around to dock. We watched through binoculars as the captain brought it up to the dock and saw a Coast Guard escort boat chase a small private boat away when he came too close. Once we had seen all of San Cristobal, we hopped the trolley again and went to El Morro. El Morro is the fort that actually guarded the harbor entrance. It is not as big as San Cristobal, but it had more cannons and is typical of a fort on the point of a harbor entrance.
By the time we were done with El Morro, it was early afternoon. We walked a few blocks to a bar and had beer. After resting our feet and quenching our thirst, we walked back to the waterfront near the cruise ship docks. We found a different visitors center here and went in to see if they had anything more than the other one. Well they sure did. They had a bar giving away free rum drinks. It is there to promote Puerto Rican rum in general, and all the brands were represented. We all enjoyed a drink and were each given a airplane sized bottle to take with us. While in the visitors center we met an American couple who have retired here. They bought a house right in Old San Juan, just a block from San Cristobal. They know the guy at the free bar and come down to visit him once a week or so.
From the visitors center, we waked a block to Puerto Rico's only micro brewery. We sampled several of their beers and ordered appetizers. From here we cruised a few blocks of the street that seemed to have most of the restaurants on it. We checked out menus and eventually settled on a local place instead of a name brand like the Hard Rock Cafe. After dinner we went right across the street to where we parked and headed back to the hotel. I let everybody out at the hotel and went in search of a place to park. I went several blocks with no luck and then circled back towards the hotel. On my second trip around a several block area, I spotted a space that had been vacated right across the street from the hotel bar entrance. It was a tight fit for a mini-van, but I got it in on the second try. We had thought about going to the hotel hot tub, but once we were back there, everybody decided they were too tired and we all went to our rooms.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 11
This morning we all met for coffee at the bar and then checked out of the hotel. We loaded our stuff into the van, but left it there and walked three blocks to a French Cafe for breakfast. After eating we walked back to get the van. I was hoping one of the cars that I parked between would have left by now, making our escape easier, but they hadn't. It only took two wiggles to get out and we were on or way. Our first destination today is West Marine. There are two West Marine stores in Puerto Rico, and we plan to hit them both today. The first is in San Juan. I studied the location on Mapquest last night, but didn't have a way to print the map, so I'm winging it by memory. We took a circuitous trip through city streets and eventually found it. Other than one little loop through a neighborhood that came as a result of a wrong turn, we actually did it almost like we knew what we were doing.
We found the West Marine to be a large store. I had a whole list of stuff to get and grabbed a cart on the way in. I have only actually used a cart in West Marine on a few occasions. I got almost everything on my list, but topped $500 doing it. Pat & Dori and Richard & Harriet got their share too. After loading all the goods in the back of the van, we headed east to Fajardo. Fajardo is on the northeast corner of the island. The ride took less than an hour and on the way into town, we found the other West Marine. We stopped again and got the few things we had missed at the San Juan store.
We had thought we would spend the night in Fajardo, but upon studying the tour books we have on the way there from San Juan, we decided there really wasn't that much to do there. So we thought we'd find a place for lunch and then drive on back to Ponce this afternoon. We found the waterfront where the ferry dock is, and saw a small bar and restaurant right across the street. We parked around the corner and walked to the bar. They had a sign out front with today's specials on it, which included conch and mahi-mahi. Once inside, we saw the whole menu of burgers and sandwiches on a chalk board behind the bar. We ordered beers from the bar, and then were informed that the only food they had was ham and cheese sandwiches. So, we enjoyed our beer and decided to go elsewhere to eat. The Fajardo Inn is just back up the hill a few blocks, and their ad says they have a Tex-Mex restaurant. So up the hill we went. After twisting around a tight driveway we found a parking space. We walked around the grounds and did not find the restaurant. We finally asked at the front desk and they directed us to it on a lower level. We went in and were the only customers. It was about 14:30 by now, so that didn't surprise us. We ordered drinks and food and got a basket of chips and salsa. The drinks came and then the lady in the kitchen called our waiter from across the room. They had an animated conversation and then the waiter came towards our table. He apologized and said they had no beef. Three of us had ordered beef dishes. Shouldn't he have known if they were out of something before we placed our orders? And how does a restaurant run out of beef? I can see if you run out of a special, but beef? When beef or chicken are in pretty much every dish you serve? We were miffed by the fact that we had already waited before being informed of this, so we cancelled our food order entirely, paid for the drinks and left. We decided to head back to the main highway where there had been lots of American name-brand restaurants. The first we saw was Pizza Hut, so in we went. As the manager led us to a booth, we joked with him and asked "You aren't out of pepperoni are you?" He barely spoke English and didn't get the joke, but he assured us they had everything. The waitress came to take our order and Pat ordered a Bud Light. She indicated they didn't have Bud Light, so he ordered Medalla. It was then it became clear they had NO beer. It was on the menu! This is too weird. First no food, then no beef, now no beer. We were to hungry to keep looking, so we ordered pizzas and water. We never did get an explanation why they didn't have beer, but we suspect they must have lost their license or something. We asked if we could go next door to the gas station and buy some to bring in, but were told no.
We finished eating and were on the road at 17:30. The big road that goes south from Fajardo along the coast is not complete to Ponce unfortunately, so we went south to Humacao where we then went northeast on PR 30 to Caguas, and then south again on PR 52 to Ponce. We were there in about an hour and a half. At the dock, we found we had two new sailboat neighbors. One was a Benneteau 461 like Sol Y Mar, and the other boat was flying a Texas flag. It was already dark, so we could not read a name on the Texas boat.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 12
This morning I walked up to the showers and on my way back, I saw that the new Texas boat was Dream Ketcher. We met them back in Georgetown, but on somebody else's boat, so I wasn't that familiar with what their boat looked like. Gene was on deck so I said hi. I had forgotten that they were going south also, so it was a surprise to see them. My second surprise of the morning was finding out that we were going touring again today. I guess the conversation took place as we were walking down the dock last night, and Barb and I didn't hear it. So, we quickly got ready and we were off by 09:00.
Our first stop today is Castillo Serralles. The Serralles family started farming sugar cane here in Ponce a hundred years ago. They purchased many smaller plantations and ended up with several thousand acres of cane fields. They built a factory to process the sugar and a distillery to make rum. Today, although there are many Puerto Rican rums, there are only two distilleries - Bacardi and Serralles. The Serralles brand of rum is Don Q, and Don Quixote is the symbol on the bottles. Serralles also makes Captain Morgan, although it's a Seagram's brand. Any other Puerto Rican rum companies buy the raw rum from Bacardi or Serralles and then flavor, age, and blend it to there specs. Unfortunately, the distillery is not open for tours. But Castillo Serralles, the family home is. The family sold the home to the city to make a museum with most of the contents included. The word castillo means castle in Spanish, but the tour guide was quick to point out that this is not a castle, but just a mansion. I'm not sure what the distinction is, but it was a beautiful house. Castillo Serralles stands nearly at the top of the hill overlooking the city of Ponce. From here you can also see quite a bit of the land where the sugar cane was grown. The distillery itself, which is big and ugly is conveniently around the corner of a hill where you can't see it. The view stretches out to the Caribbean Sea and beyond. I was very impressed with the condition of the house and the interior displays. Since all the furnishings came with the house, it looks like the family still lives there. I was more impressed with this tour than by most of the mansions in Newport, RI.
On the same grounds as Castillo Serralles is La Cruceta del Vigia a.k.a. El Vigia Cross. This is a concrete cross about six or seven stories tall with an observation deck at the cross level. You take an outside glass elevator to the observation deck where there are signs pointing out landmarks, and a tour guide gives you a little spiel. By the time we were done here, it was getting to be lunchtime. The tour guide recommended a couple of places right in the city, but we were leery of going there since parking would be impossible. So instead, we went north toward Tibes, our next stop. This will take us to PR 10, a major road, where we hope to find a place to eat. When we got to PR 10, there was nothing at all around the exit. So we got on PR 10 and went back towards Ponce looking for restaurants. We were all the way around to the south side on Ponce near the marina and still hadn't found anything. Since we were on this side of town now, we decided to go near the mall. Our thoughts were there would be restaurants near the mall, like we would expect in the States. But we found nothing around the mall, so we went inside the mall and ate at the food court. Our luck with finding lunch lately has not been good.
After lunch we went back north to Tibes to the Indian Ceremonial Center. This location was home to Taino Indians about five hundred years ago. They left, and the nearby river had apparently spread and covered the whole area under several feet of silt. The river receded over the years and the land was used for grazing cattle. In 1975 a tropical storm came and caused the river to flood again. Three feet of earth were washed away during the flooding. When the person who owned the land came back he found all these rock formations that had not been there before. Archeologists were called and the land was purchased to be preserved. Many digs later, they have determined that this was a Taino village. They found burial grounds, ceremonial grounds, ball fields, etc. They have built a nice visitors center where you view a movie about the site and see several exhibits of things they have found here. Our tour guide, Salvatore Mas, was an interesting guy from New York. He has retired here and has a keen interest in studying various cultures. His talk as we walked the grounds centered on how the Taino culture was affected by time and events. He also mixed in his obvious feelings about our current culture and the conflicts between different cultures around the world.
We finished the tour after 16:00 and headed home. We had leftover pizza for dinner and turned in relatively early.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.
Apr 13
Today is boat work day for me. Everybody else is making a run to Sam's and Wal-Mart, and several other errands. The first thing to fix was the battery monitor. This is a new problem that we just noticed today. It was totally blank when we got up. I checked to see if the fuse had blown, and found it to be ok. When I put it back in the holder though, the monitor came on. Perhaps there had been a little corrosion or something causing it to not make a good connection. I can hope it was that simple. Next I tackled installing the new heat exchanger that was delivered while we were gone. It turned out to have a one year warrantee, so when I send the cracked one back I should get credit for it. The heat exchanger is not incredibly hard to install, but not a piece of cake either. I got the new one in after a small struggle and hooked all the hoses back up. I opened the seacock and watched carefully, and had no leak. With the water leak stopped, I was now able to attack the oil leak. I am pretty sure the leak is from the drain plug. The drain plug has a hose on it so that I can use a pump to drain the oil since there is no room for a pan under the engine. Not being able to see down there, and not being sure what parts might be plastic, I had ordered all the parts I might possibly need before ever touching it. I didn't want to make the problem worse without having the parts in hand. I got my hand down to the plug and removed the wire seal that is supposed to keep the plug being able to come loose. Then I grabbed the plug and it turned freely in my fingers. That's probably all that was wrong, the plug was loose. As long as I have the parts though, I went ahead and replaced the plug, the hose, and the two washers that seal it all. Doing this required laying on my back with my arm twisted under the engine and my hand in the salt water, antifreeze, and oil mixture under the engine, while getting the threads on the plug started Of course this was all done by feel since I couldn't see while in this position. Eventually I got the new plug and hose installed and filled the engine with oil and antifreeze. I changed the oil filter and fuel filter also. Now came the big test, to start the engine and watch for any leaks. I washed my hands and went above to start the engine. When I pushed the started button, I was greeted by the sound of the starter spinning but not engaging the flywheel. I tried over and over to no avail. To say I was a little upset would be putting it mildly. I went below and tried to jump the solenoid on the starter, but got the same result. The good news is that the starter is on the accessible side of the engine, so it's easy to replace. The bad news is I don't have a spare. It was after 15:00 at this point, and Friday. I got on the phone to the Westerbeke distributor in Norfolk that I have dealt with to see if they could have me a new started here by Monday. They didn't have one in stock, and it will have to ship from the factory. The factory doesn't ship after 13:00, so Monday won't happen. I went back to removing the starter to see if maybe I could fix it. As I pulled it out, I saw one of the wires to the solenoid wasn't connected. Maybe that's the problem. I put a new connector on the wire, hooked it up and reinstalled the starter. Barb was home by now and went up to see if it would start. Unfortunately we got the same result. So it looks like we won't be leaving Monday, and I'll be getting a new starter shipped overnight.
I was tired and sore as well as discouraged after working on the motor for six hours and then having a new problem. I guess I should be thankful it happened in a marina where we can get shipping easy, and not some remote place. I went and showered while Barb put away all her booty from Sam's Club. Later in the evening, Pat & Dori and Daniel and Patrick our new neighbors on Mo Cushla joined us for drinks and snacks. We chatted well into the evening.
GPS N 17-57.886 W 066-37.011 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8843.