Old San Juan

While our boat sits at anchor, we have taken many opportunities to rent a car with other cruising friends.  One of our favorite places is Old San Juan.  The streets are narrow and filled with beautiful
colorful shops and houses.

   Beautiful murals along the street

 

Narrow streets

Finding a parking garage near the old fort we walk along with the soldiers.  Castillo San Felie del Morro, "El Morro"  The Spainish started building the fort in 1539 and it took over 250  years to complete.  It is located and the northwestern tip of Old San Juan and has a sister fort that was built in
1608.

Below is an elaborate statue outside the grounds of "El Morro"  We could never figure out what it represents as all the plaques are in Spanish.   

A massive cemetary is located south of "El Morro" with beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Selfie with a History Museum guide....she didn't speak English or Spanish

The jail had marvelous views of the Atlantic Ocean also

view from the jail

Cannons were everywhere

Turbulent waters below the fort's walls

This picture reminded me of growing up in Charleston SC.  Fort Sumter was no where the size of  "El Morro" but it did have cannons.  My parents wanted to take a pictue of their five children sitting on one of the cannons, but my brother Bill was too scared to get on it.  

Another interesting statue in one of the many squares

 

                            There is an upside baby at the top of this statue

These are real trees.  They are called rainbow eucalyptus trees.

If you ever get to take a cruise ship to San Juan or sail here on your sailboat, you can see these sights and hundreds more.   I could have spent a week in Old San Juan.

Horse Day in Salinas

The Christmas season in Salinas extends way past Christmas Day.  The Feast of the Three Kings also known as the Epiphany takes place every year on January 6th. It is an intricate part of Puerto Rican folklore. Traditionally, this day is very important, especially for children, for it is on this eve that they will receive their gifts. Children collect hay, straw or grass and place it in boxes or containers under their beds. This gesture is a gift of food for the Kings' Horses while they rest in between deliveries. Note:(There are noCamels in PR). If a child is good for the past year he will receive candies, sweets or toys. If the child was misbehaved or naughty he would instead find a lump of dirt or charcoal in his box. This tradition is much older than that of Santa's visit on Christmas Eve.

                                             Three kings on a rooftop in Old San Juan
On the Saturday after January 6th all horses descend on Salinas.  We happened to have a car that day and returned to the marina inching through the crowded streets.   There were estimated to be over 1,000 horses attending the celebration.

Salinas, Puerto Rico.....feels like a home away from home.  We arrived yesterday after some fun stops in St Thomas and Culebra.   Here is how our trip went.

I arrived in St Thomas on December 22nd on time and claimed by baggage.  The airport was so close to where Will and Bentley were anchored, I was able to walk along the beach till I spotted them.  Back in the dinghy with luggage and off we go to Varua.

                                           Our anchorage next to King Airport, St Thomas

The next day we left Emerald Bay and sailed over to the cruise ship harbor so that we would be able to provision.  It was exciting to see the huge cruise ships come in and leave constantly.   We saw over six cruise ships in the two nights we stayed there.  We spent two days here celebrating Christmas by shopping at the grocery store.  Everything is open when the cruise ships are in.

I didn't take this picture, but it shows the cruise ship harbor at Christmas

Life boat practice

 Three cruise ships lined up 

We sailed to Culebra the day after Christmas.  Culebra is a small island that is part of Puerto Rico, so we were able to check in.  On our way there we were treated to a pod of dolpins swimming along with us.

                                               A dophin swims along with us

Culebra is full of expats and tourists this time of year.  We were unable to rent a golf cart as they were all taken so we did lots of dinghy rides and walking.  We were always tired at the end of the day.  We were able to snorkel, swim, eat great tacos at Zaco's Tacos, and even a walk to the grocery store by the airport.  They were small planes constantly taking off all ours of the day and night.

                                                      Welcome to Culebra

                                            Carved statue of maybe jolly ole nick

                                             We couldn't figure out what he was throwing

    

                                            Lots of little bungelos right on the water.

                                                 Lots of fun places to eat and colorful too

                                                     This says it all about Culebra

The walk to the grocerty store was almost 2 miles, and Bentley walked the entire way there.  However, he enjoyed his ride back in our canvas bag.

                                              This is the way to travel doggy style

We left Culebra and had an easy sail over to Green Beach, Vieques arriving just after the sunset.  We stayed on board promising ourselves that if we ever get this way again we would stay longer and explore this island.

Off early in the morning on New Year's Eve day we plan to stop at Bahia Jobos, Puerto Rico at 2:45 in the afternoon.  We had visited this lonely but large anchorage last year after running into a couple of crab pots.  We celebrated with a bottle of champage in our new pewter tumblers that were a gift from our friends Susan and Jon.

The next morning we got the dinghy back down off the bow and motored over to a little whole in the wall beach.  Not much there but a great view from the bow.

Sailed away at 11:00 and anchored again in our home away from home Salinas