Salinas....our new home for awhile. We love it here and hope we get some visitors.  There is a nice marina with little hotel rooms, a pool, restaurant, and lots of sunshine and warm weather.  Salinas is located on the south coast in the middle of the island east of Ponce.

Snack bar at the marina were cruisers get free internet

On February 23rd we left a very quiet anchorage at the southeastern point of Puerto Rico called Cabo Rojo.  It is a working lighthouse that was built in the 1800's. It was remodeled in 1980 and painted the traditional grey and white.  We left at 4:00 am watching the guiding light turning around.  I imagined how sailors used to use this to guide them to shore before GPS.  We left early because the winds are very light in the morning and we made it to Guanica by 11:00 am.

Guilligans Island is located in Guanica and is a resort area.  The island is a natural park so no dogs are allowed.  We didn't want to leave Bentley alone, so we just enjoyed some empanadillas and a beer at a local watering spot.

We left Guanica at 2:30 am (again because of the light winds) and had a nice sail along the coast watching the mountains and the windmills from off shore.  We arrived in Salinas at 10:30 am and anchored by 12:30.  It is a small harbor surrounded by mountains.

On our first morning here I was in the cockpit playing games on the Ipad.  It started to drizzle, so I put the Ipad down and closed the hatch.  A large conch shell fell off the cabin top and landed on the Ipad.  The glass shattered into thousands of pieces.  Unbelievably, I was still able to use it and close out my apps.  I was sick.  We were able to find a place in Ponce.....a 30 minute car ride from Salinas, so we remted a car and dropped off the Ipad. It took two days to repair, so we re ted another car on Friday afternoon and picked it up.....$95. And I am out of the dark ages and back in the internet world.

Saturday we had till 3:00 to return the car so we took a road trip towards San Juan heading north.
The drive through the mountains was awesome.  We found a large store similar to Sam's but no membership needed.  We bought case lots of beer, seltzer, black beans, and paper towels.  Then back on the road heading south we stopped at a local roadside restaurant where there were four pigs rotating on spits.  The food was all typical Puerto Rican and it was enough for lunch with leftovers for dinner.

The neighborhoods here are all very much alike.  Colorful houses with lots of flowers and all with plenty of wrought iron gating.  The houses are very close together but clean and nicely kept.

We will be here for awhile so if you need to get away from the cold for a vacation, please come on down.  You can fly into San Juan and we will pick you up.  The marina motel rooms start at $95 and there are many cheap restaurants within walking distance.  We can even take you for a sail to one of the smaller islands with beautiful beaches and shells.