Sailing Baby Blue

Days 2, 3 and 6 of our little road trip were spent in Rincon, and two of those days ended at the Rincon Beer Company where we had our first good beer since Florida. Jon rented a long board and had much more success riding a few waves before switching back to the biggest-size-that-fits-in-the-boat shortboard. I paddled out for awhile one day to try the longboard but only managed to get to my knees. Try as we might to get there early to catch the best waves and the 9am yoga class, we never quite managed it with the 2.5+ hour drive. I did get to catch the 12pm class one day, and very much enjoyed the outdoor space with views and sounds of the waves. One day I saw a whale breaching off in the distance in the Mona Passage while Jon was in the water.     Jon is out there somewhere. There he is, paddling away. On our way to Rincon we passed by Yauco. We did buy some coffee, but have yet to try it. All the houses on the hill were so colorful, but this picture doesn't...

On the first day we found ourselves with a car at our disposal for the first time since September, we decided to head to the most obvious destination, Old San Juan. We were amazed at the beauty of the architecture. Every street had its bit of charm and interest, and we were able to take a peak at some of the interiors and courtyards by visiting the art galleries. The settlement dates back to 1521, and subsequent expansion, building, and remodeling has mostly maintained the Spanish colonial style. We spent all day wandering up and down as many streets as we had the energy for, and I took about a hundred photos of cute houses. Cemetery near Castillo San Felipe del Morro   The huge sandstone seawall, was constructed in the 1630's and once completely surrounded the old city Castillo San Felipe del Morro Cobblestone streets Paseo de la Princesa Castillo San Cristobal     This reminds me of The Wizard of O...

We arrived in Boqueron to a stream of jet skis flying in every direction. A very nice woman at the yacht club gave us information on clearing in, which we would need to do at the next town up the coast we'd just sailed down. Whoops. We received conflicting reports that either there was currently or there had never been a public bus that could take us to Mayaguez, but after wandering around looking for a bus stop for awhile we eventually gave in and paid $30 to Eddie, a transplant from the Bronx who served as the unofficial taxi for cruisers. If he hadn't told us he was from New York, we might have guessed it from his driving. It worked out that we were able to share the ride with another cruising couple and we enjoyed getting to know them over lunch back in Boqueron after we'd checked in. Boqueron We learned that we had arrived just in time for Holy Week in Puerto Rico. We landed on the Monday before Easter, and the sleepy village of Boqueron seemed to be slowly ...

There's no other way to put it, our passage from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico sucked. It wasn't particularly dangerous or anything, it just sucked. We weren't leaving with a great forecast, just a predicted lessening of the trade winds that might be slightly less terrible to motor into. And there were times when it was slightly less terrible, but it was two nights and three days of discomfort and lots of wishing we could stop or turn back. But having cleared out of the DR and without permission to anchor anywhere else along the country's shores, we didn't have a lot of good options but to continue on. We were going as slow as ever, bashing into every wave, unable to sleep, and trying to keep the mainsail full by tacking up the course while we burned up our fuel. We were hoping to make it to St. John in the US Virgin Islands, then we were hoping to make it to San Juan on the north coast of Puerto Rico, then we ended up retracing about 20 miles in fav...

Boats in Luperon. Our dinghy will look a little more at home here than she did in the Bahamas. Bobbie, after her makeover. Still afloat! Motorcycle #1. It handled the dirt roads well enough, but we started to think it might not be a great idea to venture too far when the chain started falling off and then the clutch quit working. $2 for a giant beer to share. This is the short story of how we fell in love with Luperon. You never know what you're going to see around the next curve in the road. Luckily this car cleared a path for us. Just a girl, running through her field, whipping some livestock. (She might not have had a whip actually. But I know I saw one somewhere.) Some lovely murals at the museum La Isabela. Wait, what is going on with this one? Cows having a relaxing day at the beach. One of many brightly painted houses along the country road. Samana Motorcycles and a motoconcho in Samana. We rode in one ...