May5-10 Puerto Rico

Time to check into a new country! Boqueron does not have customs/immigration, so along with S/V Pacific Quest, we hire a driver (Raul) to take us to Mayaguez, about 30 minutes up the road. We do not pay to check into a US territory but it does take some time to grind through passports and boat documentation. Afterwards, we run by a large market to re-provision the boat. While Puerto Rico definitely has the flavor of the islands, it is nice to have the modern conveniences associated with life in America (read: grocery stores). Skip was able to secure a flight from Mayaguez to San Juan for his trip home to Texas. We have enjoyed his company and assistance with our passages! Craig takes Skip to the dinghy dock at 0530 to meet Raul to start his journey home. It is rainy and we spend a couple of days in Boqueron, doing laundry, jerry-jugging fuel to the boat and meeting other cruisers.

On Friday, May 8 we continue on our eastward journey along the southern coast of Puerto Rico, leaving at 0600 with S/V Falcon. We travel to a small anchorage at Gilligan’s Island (because it supposedly looks like that and a man who used to work there looks like Gilligan) arriving at 1pm.

The beach at Boqueron, and first light for our early departure:

On Saturday, May 9 we travel to Ponce (pon-say), the second largest city in Puerto Rico. It is fun to catch back up with S/V Pacific Quest who had left Boqueron 2 days prior. We pull into a marina and top off the tanks and jugs with diesel and decide to tie up in a slip for the night. Shore power and air conditioners!! The boat has barely come to rest in the slip before the cord is out and 22,000 BTUs are blasting away. It was like being in a meat packing plant but felt really good since it is 90F and for the first time during this adventure, I feel the sting of summer on my skin. I had also found some hair dye in Mayaguez and am anxious to color all the gray hair Craig is giving me. I did not want to do it on the boat for fear of staining fiberglass, and why jack up my bathroom when I can jack up someone else’s? Ultimately, the facilities were too far to figure out, so this was a dock and garden hose job. We took a cab into town on a quest and wound up at a mall. Well. All I can say is that it was just like being home in Dallas because there we were, in a crazy-crowded mall, surrounded by strollers, kids effecting the gangsta-rap look and people who don’t speak English, buying superfluous junk they neither need nor can afford. I gasped when I saw Anne Taylor Loft, and then realized there was nothing in there I needed or could afford either….We return to the boat and following sundowners, hit a local restaurant with S/V Falcon and Pacific Quest.

The stair lift at the Ponce Yacht Club Restaurant...girls have to do what girls have got to do:

Sunday, up early again to go to Salinas a small village with a large anchorage and marinas. Everything is closed for Mother’s Day, but Craig and I enjoy a walkabout. There is a town square and a small festival, complete with a salsa band. We are down to our last bottle of rum, a trial fifth recommended by aforementioned Raul as very good. It tastes like Raid. We will commence a search for Cruzan, our current favorite.

Not sure how it will turn out on the computer screen...this boat has royal purple canvas. It may fade in the unrelenting sun, but it sure looks good today:

A shaved ice vendor in the market square where a Mother's Day celebration was underway:

Local color and yard art from our walkabout in Salinas:

I am writing today from Cruiser’s Galley, a café and internet hot spot. We are leaving at 7pm tonight for a 45 mile run to the Spanish Virgin Islands. Neither of us have been there and are very excited. These islands are very remote, being accessible only by boat. We are very much looking forward to a week wandering around there and hope to get in some diving and lobstering. It may be St. Thomas, USVI before we can update, so keep checking in!