Surfers, the Beach and the End

-The last day on the island was all about beaches. We wanted local flavor, so we turned to this exit, with the great stone carving, to Isabel.

-A nice little place on the beach.

-Michelle and I....

-...really liked the beach.

-These were some great sea birds to watch. I'm still trying to find out what these are...Magnificent Frigatebirds???

-They hung around the fisherman quite a bit!

-Just down the way was a lagoon where people swam and giant crashing surfer waves.

-Sandy was very excited

-We found this little sea urchin type thing while wading in the water.

-It was pretty neat since the waves would crash, but you were totally safe from them...like this little fishing boat.

-Sandy and I walked down the beach (and got sunburned) and found one lone surfer. Time to try to find others.

-After some food and cooling down with flavored ice, it was off to Maria's beach in Rincon.

-We watched the surfers for a long, long time. It was really great.

-It was a nice beach, too.

-Okay, now watch this guy - up the wave.

-And then right over!

-Not going to take the credit. Sandy took this great pic.

-One more surfer picture. The island in the back is Isla Mona. It's pretty wild and you need to plan well in advance with a guide to go over there. Some people have died of dehydration trying to explore on their own. There's wildlife and one description said something about crawling through a cave and finding yourself at a 100 foot drop at the light at the end. Wow.

-Playa Maria's is THE surfer hangout.

-And here's Rincon's lighthouse.

-The local fast food. There was a huge potential storm and we couldn't find any roadside stuff, so we finally stopped at The Tacomaker. Giant avalanches, hump trays and slow service. It was quite the experience.

And that's the end of our trip. It was quick, but fun. The heat from the sunburns lasted for a long time!

Arecibo

While Michelle and Peggy stayed at the hotel, Sandy and I went to explore Arecibo and the universal truths, string theory and SETI. First, we saw a horse tied up on the highway.

-We saw this first thing, after the long and winding road, that they had a scale model of the solar system, which is hard to do because of the outer planets.

-Sandy's next to Tierra, or Earth. The sun is on the parking lot level.

-As we walked up we hit the other inner planets and then way up Jupiter. But what we were here for was the radio telescope.

-Arecibo has the largest in the world, the ear to the universe it's sometimes called. It's known as 'El Radar' in PR. It's a 20 acre dish set in a sinkhole. If you saw the movie Contact, you kind of know about this telescope (cool movie, by the way). It's discovered info on Mercury (hard planet to do so), got the first image of an asteroid and non-solar planets and works with the SETI program.

-The towers holding it all up took 60 hours of pouring concrete to construct. Slightly shorter than the Mackinac Bridge towers.

-On the fence where Sandy is, it had this plaque about the scale model of the solar system.

-This is Saturn and if you click on the picture, you can probably see Uranus on the pole. Mind-boggling.

-Very hilly, very picturesque, which made for a fun ride home (see youtube).

-But first some icy drink (pina colada, strawberry daquiri - non=alcoholic, of course).

-And saying goodbye to our lizard friend.

Around the Resort

-Our hotel in Dorado was beautiful. Especially the balcony. Michelle and I headed out. It was a bit warm to really enjoy it much though.

-Sandy did, too.

-Sunrises...

-...and more sunrises.

-Relaxing under the palms.

-And getting wind blown under them.

-Checking out the hotel from the breakwall.

-Did I mention there were palms?
-We got to be on the top floor (7th) and the hotel looked pretty good up there.

-You know, it's Puerto Rico. You have to enjoy some rum, too. It's their thing.

Old San Juan and Bioluminescent Bay

-We went to Old San Juan for the day. Easy driving and easy parking...wow!

-Well, maybe not the best person for Puerto Rico, he put it on the European map. Peggy, Sandy and Michelle (still taller than Sandy) point to Christopher Columbus.

-First we went to Fuerte San Cristobal. It is the second oldest fort started in 1634. This is in the dungeon where there are drawings of five Spanish ships, probably done by Spanish prisoner held captive before execution for mutiny.

-Many tunnels to various places around the site.

-It was a hot day, but nice and windy. The view of the blue ocean helped, too.

-The main plaza where drills took place.

-Three flags over the fort -San Juan, Puerto Rico and the U.S.

-Part of the walled city and El Morro in the distance.

-Finally the gals got all together for a picture - Michelle, Peggy, Katie and Sandy.

-Ahhh...the beautiful sentry boxes.

-Just a little picturesque street in Old Town.

-The green between town and El Morro is a great public space. The kids must have been out for Holy Week. So many kites and happy kids!

-Now to the older fort - El Morro. Started in 1539 and at the tip of the peninsula.

-Cannon with a view.













-And some strong women with the cannonballs.

-Aww...cousins...

-...very excited to be at the fort (don't worry, more jumping pics to come)!

-Another of the sentry boxes.

-And going down, down, down to the tip of the peninsula.
-It was a long way down.

-It was hot and we did a lot of walking, so we went to eat (see my food blog for more) and got a little Sangria. Thanks to Sheryl for "hosting" my drink! Isn't it pretty?

-And we got food and Cana...

-...with our great waiter, Antonio Luna Diaz, or Mowgli for short.

-Catedral de San Juan Baptista. I was really surprised there weren't more Catholic churches in PR.

-The cathedral is where Ponce de Leon is buried. I guess he didn't find the fountain of youth.

-We went to the Puerta de San Juan, the sea entrance to the walled San Juan. This is the only door left (tunnel dates from 1630s) and the city was gated and closed up for the night until the 1860s. Sandy's still trying to get in, but doesn't know Latin.

-Calle de Cristobal...a nice little street.

-We drove to Fajardo, El Faro, with TONS o' directions to go on the kayak tour to the bioluminescent bay. Unfortunately, pictures wouldn't have turned out for us, but trust me, well, worth it!


-And here we go! I really feel I need a kayak now.

-I'm using this picture on the web - microorganisms living in the bay sparkle like gold flecks. When you move through them with a kayak or hand they light up blue-green, kind of like a firefly would. There are only about a dozen places in the world that have conditions that support this, the Carribean has five, and Puerto Rico has three. Unfortunately, because of gasoline boats, oil and other factors one of the three is basically dead. I would definately do this again, if only for the kayak ride through the mangroves to the bay. Sandy and I played around, paddling fast and then back paddling to sweep up giant waves of blue and green. It was really, really cool.