Castillo de San Felipe del Morro!

The rugged Puerto Rico coastline on the way to Old Town San Juan

We hopped on our bikes this morning and went over to the Old Town of San Juan, built on the point of land overlooking the east entrance to San Juan Bay. Inside its walls, there are over 400 restored buildings, museums and churches from the 16th- and 17th-century Spanish Colonial period. It's only a three miles away from the marina, and perfect for bicycling! The area is steeped in history, with a fascinating mix of ornate architecture and colorful storefronts sitting along narrow blue-glazed tile cobbelstone streets with a charming, old-world atmosphere. The first settlement in Puerto Rico was founded by Leon Ponce de Leon in 1508, and San Juan was settled shortly thereafter. Such history! Very cool.

Part of the wall of Castillo de San Cristóbal that surrounds
the old city of San Juan

There are actually two forts over in the Old Town, one being the Castillo de San Cristóbal, and the other, Castillo de San Felipe del Morro. Castillo de San Cristóbal is the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World. (Shades of Martin Harvey here, from Captain Ron!) Finished in 1783 as a defense against land-based attacks, the fort covered about 27 acres, with walls that wrapped around the city of San Juan. Double gates ensured control of entry or exit for hundreds of years. This was the first fort we encountered as we cycled out along the shoreline road, and its walls were immense!

The other castle, "El Morro" is Puerto Rico's best known fortress, built as a defense against sea-based attacks. Spanish troops fortified this 'morro' (promontory) starting in 1539, with further construction and fortification going on for the next couple of centuries. It was primarily built to keep seaborne enemies out of San Juan, and served its purpose well! Sir Francis Drake unsuccessfully attacked El Morro in 1595, getting a cannonball shot through the cabin of his flagship for his efforts. The Dutch attacked, the British attacked repeatedly, and even the U.S. Navy attacked in a day-long bombardment in May of 1898, during the Spanish-American War. 

As we biked towards El Morro, we went past the Cementerio de
Santa Maria Magdelena de Pazzis on the right, resplendent with its
many white tombs overlooking the Atlantic 

The place was fabulous to explore; it was uncrowded and open, and the history was staggering. We only saw a small part of it and we were there for a good couple of hours, climbing around the ramparts and looking over the breakwater below. The sentry look-out towers called garitas, are on the corners of the walls of El Morro. They are unique and distinctive; so much so that they are landmarks of Puerto Rico, even pictured on their license plates. The lighthouse atop the fort is still in use; we saw the large Fresnel lens rotating away inside. So much history, both Ron and I sat back and imagined how it must have been back in three hundred years ago. To imagine what it was like to sail in under its ramparts...mind-boggling!  

View through one of the gunnery posts

The coat of arms overlooking the entrance to Castillo Del Morro 

A view through one of the lookout points

The lighthouse -- still in use today

Checking out the view to the east, from under the lighthouse

This was an unexpected stop, but one we are really enjoying! It feels so Spanish and European after all the small islands we've been on...even Provo, with all its amenities, is not on this scale, and we are enjoying being in a cosmopolitan city in a Caribbean setting. Being aboard, we are getting more of the local flavor -- no fancy resorts, our home for the moment is just a working marina on the water. What cruising is all about!

 

Landfall: San Juan, Puerto Rico!

After two months of relaxation and fun in Provo, Turks and Caicos, we have moved on! We used the weather window we were given -- not as beautiful as some of the others we let go past, but our guests who came aboard or were visiting on island were our priority! Happily, on Sunday morning, we had a pretty fair window for departure -- as fair as it gets in December. We were up early, heading south to French Cay and points beyond just after South Side's Cruisers' Weather Net that morning. Initially, our contingency plans were to stop at Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic if we needed an out, but the main focus was to go non-stop to the US Virgin Islands. 

Of course, being aboard a boat, there is always the unexpected to deal with! We weren't  underway more than 10 minutes when our port engine alternator started to overheat, which Ron discovered during his second engine room check. (He always does one pre-departure, and one immediately post-departure.) So, barely out on the Caicos Bank, we shut down the port engine immediately and did damage control. We disconnected the alternator from both its external voltage regulator and the Centerfielder (the unit that monitors and adjusts the voltage between the two engines' alternator outputs to balance charging needs), making sure there was no resistance to generate heat. Once the bad alternator was off-line, we decided to go ahead and proceed on the starboard engine’s alternator, since we also have other battery charging systems (24-V DC Trace Battery Inverter/Charger  and 12- and 24-volt DC Dolphin Battery Chargers) that we can use. (Gotta LOVE redundancy!) We will have an electrical technician check the port engine alternator to determine where the issue is: bad alternator or bad centerfielder? Either way, we already have a spare alternator aboard, so that is a step in the right direction, and will get it corrected!

Sunny skies and light winds started our journey

From there, it was a pleasant cruise for the next 36 hours....we went off the Caicos Bank and took a rhumb-line to the USVirgins. The sun was shining, winds were light, and of course Ron had the fishing lines out! Not that we caught anything -- nary a bird or a weed-line in sight, but we tried! We debated briefly about stopping in Samana Bay, DR to spend a few days to see the whales there, but opted to push on and take the weather window while we had it! We knew there was a chance that the winds would kick up a bit, but all the wx forecasts indicated that seas wouldn't get horrendous -- seas of  6’ or so -- and a better weather was in store thereafter.

Unfortunately....we had to cross this thing called the Mona Passage. You may have heard of it? Yep, thought so! Called "The Thorny Path" by sailors, it's one of the most feared and most difficult passages in the Caribbean. It's an 80-mile stretch of sea between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea. Wind and waves are forced to squeeze between the two land masses just where the Equatorial Current flows through, moving west. Adding to the chaos is that the waters from the Atlantic Puerto Rican Trench push up from depths of 28,232 ft (the deepest point in the world, called the Milwaukee Deep) to ascend and accelerate into the Mona Passage, where the bottom quickly raises up to several hundred feet -- in some places to less than 100 feet! This means that the waves in the Mona Passage have to dissipate a lot of that energy as the water is stacked up, by means pushing and crashing, and make this one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world. 

Wikipedia map of the location of the Mona Passage

I'd like to say we cruised across the Mona Passage without any issue, but....we were just one of the many boats who have made the passage and encountered Mother Nature's, um, unpleasant side! Let's just say it wasn't fun. As Equinox was about to start across the passage, I was coming on watch at midnight to relieve Ron, who wasn't feeling well from a pulled back muscle. Unfortunately, it proved to be an ugly night at the helm! The waves were cresting ever higher, pushing and jolting the boat about with no apparent rhyme or reason, although most of the waves seemed to come on the nose, causing the boat to climb the face of the waves, dive over the tops to slam down awkwardly, then lurch upwards or sideways, only to do it all over again. Relentless! It's an amazing experience, but one I'd rather not repeat through the wee hours of the morning! 

The next morning wasn't much better, since the entire north coast of PR abuts that lovely deep trench -- meaning once again, the wave action had no where else to go but up! Can I say that there was never a landfall so meaningful, and beautiful, as San Juan? 

The mountains of Puerto Rico layered beyond the coast in the hazy sunshine

However, the best surprise of the Puerto Rico coastline was something entirely unexpected! Ron shouted from the helm: "Whale!! Whale!!" and indeed, he meant it! There was a whale breaching and tail slapping the water maybe 100 yards directly ahead of Equinox! We slowed immediately, drifting and lurching in the waves to about 100 feet away, but she wasn't about to move out of our way, no way! Immense and majestic, the whale was as large as the boat, so we moved out of her way, and gently let her continue her tail slapping and showing off! How cool was that?? 

Welcome to Puerto Rico!!

Waiting on the Weather...

Stark beauty of the Caicos Bank with rain storms on the horizon

...but only for a day! We sat out the rainy day aboard; winds were whipping up the waves on the bank so it was sloppy and nasty out. We took a rainy day rest day -- no boat projects either. (Ron isn't very good at "rain-enforced inactivity", so we tried to fill the hours to avoid his going stir-crazy by the end of the day!) We just read, checked weather forecasts, slept, watched it rain, did puzzles, listened to music, did laundry, watched it rain, made dinner, watched a (bad) movie -- we didn't go anywhere, as we didn't even want to think about getting into the dinghy! So...a quiet day. we hope to be on the move tomorrow!

Weather windows

Windows open, windows close, and...windows slam shut! How quickly things can change! We'd optimistically hoped the weather would cooperate as initially forecast to allow us to head farther south this weekend, but .... no. The weather window was merely a mirage! Oh well! We'd coordinated everything, from clearing out with Customs to having a good-bye luncheon on the shores of Chalk Sound at Las Brisas with Lisa and Tim. They are scheduled to fly out tomorrow, and we will miss them both dearly after the fabulous time we've had this week! From wining and dining to swimming and snorkeling, we've enjoyed being together. As Lisa said, it couldn't have been a better time if we had planned it! Serendipity rules again. 

Lisa and Ron on the bow of Equinox

We used the afternoon's high tide to move out of the marina and out into Cooper Jack Bay, where we are currently anchored. We did so in anticipation of moving on, but that didn't keep us from taking the dinghy back in to South Side Marina for another fun cruisers' cookout. There were a lot of folks in attendance! Besides the dozen or so folks currently at South Side and and folks off the boats anchored here in Cooper Jack Bay, there were locals in attendance, as well as other cruisers who came by car from the anchorage in Sapodilla Bay. The rain squall that rolled through at sunset couldn't dampen the spirits, and everyone enjoyed themselves. It was a fun evening meeting new folks, chatting and hearing new stories, and sampling the various dishes people provided (loved the lobster salad provided by Simon and Charlyn!). Post-prandial activities included everything from ice cream to a bit of guitar music: all thoroughly enjoyed and all fun! 

It was a fitting send-off....or so we thought! However, by the middle of the night, I knew that we weren't moving on. The winds piped up, blustering along at 25-30 kts, torrential rains pounded down...not exactly the hoped-for adventures in paradise! Thus, we are staying put, looking ahead for the next window of opportunity. While it's not much fun to be waiting on the weather, it's infinitely better than pressing on in poor conditions!! And since we are not on any time schedule, we will simply hang on the hook and enjoy being where we are.

Family time again!

More family fun this week, as we have Ron's sister Lisa and her friend Tim on island visiting for a week. It was a bit of serendipity that they'd made arrangements to vacation here, since we'd each made plans to be here independent of one another: when they made their reservations, they didn't know we would be here this winter, and vice versa! We were delighted to discover the coincidence though, and have been enjoying the time together immensely. We rented a car for a few days so that we could show them around the island, and once they'd recuperated from their exhausting travel day from the northern midwest, we started off our time together with a delicious dinner at Coyaba Sunday evening. The past couple of months, Ron and I have had the chance to sample a few of the numerous restaurants that dot the waterfront of Grace Bay, and Coyaba is one of our favorites. We were delighted to introduce Lisa and Tim to the place, and we all enjoyed fresh island seafood, including simply grilled Turks and Caicos Wahoo, presented in a variety of delicious presentations. 

My scallops ceviche appetizer, delicious as it looks!

Monday was a day full of activity as well. Despite somewhat cloudy and breezy skies, we enjoyed an outdoor table at Da Conch Shack for lunch. Yes indeed, we feasted on conch, conch and more conch: conch salad, conch creole, curried conch, accompanied with the Da Rum Bar's signature rum punch, of course! It's such a pretty place under palms trees right on the beach, and definitely offers more authentic island local flavor than anything found at the fancy resorts. We introduced Lisa and Tim to Moses, the shell entrepreneur on the beach with his gorgeous collection of conch shells and horns, as well as to some of the friendly and cheerful waitstaff at Da Shack. After lunch, we took Tim and Lisa around the rear of Da Conch Shack for a lesson in cleaning conch.

The beautiful assortment of shells for sale, from the ubiquitous
queen conch to the rarer flame conch.

A pair of conch, freshly harvested and awaiting cleaning

After cracking a hole in the shell between the third and fourth spiral
from the center, the conch is able to be pulled out of the shell.

Conch, out of the shell and ready for processing. Lisa was glad she waited
until after lunch to see how conch salad is prepared!

Cutting off the claw, stripping the orange mantle and dark skin to expose the
edible white muscle. The heavy mallet on the cutting block is for tenderizing the
conch muscle when making cracked conch. 

The final bit of cleaned conch muscle, ready for dicing into conch salad. Yum!!

The afternoon was spent in the waters of Grace Bay, teaching Tim how to snorkel and checking out the reef life along the shoreline coral heads near the entrance to Turtle Cove Marina. Despite being rather uncertain about it beforehand, Tim took to snorkeling like a fish! He was grinning from ear to ear, and we were delighted that he enjoyed it so much! We lingered in the water for as long as we could, until we all got too chilled to enjoy it further. After warm showers and a bit of cleaning up to get rid of the salty sand, we hosted them aboard for a grilled lobster extravaganza later that evening. A great day in the islands, to be sure! 

Cruising is a social life....

...it's been busy here at South Side Marina, with boats in transit heading both south and north. Today we didn't do a whole heck of a lot but hang out, enjoy the sunshine and mild weather, while preparing for the cruisers' potluck dinner tonight. Ron and I did ridiculously small boat chores, from another morning bicycle ride to the IGA (for hamburger buns needed for the potluck dinner), to lubricating the bicycle gears, to replacing a lost silicone pad on the cockpit table leg, to adhering the fly-away parrot horn to my bike. 

How the parrot horn looks when new

The parrot horn repair is the one task I'm most happy to have completed, too! Horns in the islands, as you may or may not know, are essential! They are always used to say hello, sometimes used to flag down a friend or a ride, and only occasionally, used as a warning. The few main roads here are paved, with one is even a "dual carriageway" -- a divided two-lane highway -- that runs the length of the island. But many of the other side roads -- noted as "improved" on the maps -- are not paved. Basically, "improved" means the dense scrubby foliage has been scraped away down to the existing limestone beneath, and voila! It's now a road! Needless to say, the limestone surface of said "road" is often deeply rutted and pitted, with a light dusting of gravel and sand just to make it a slippery challenge in spots. Thus, my poor parrot horn has suffered, as the parrot would be flung right off its bell perch every so often whenever I'd hit a pothole or a stiff bump. (Which was often, of course!) I'd tried to fix it twice before by gluing the poor bird in place onto its handlebar mount  -- neither silicone caulk nor 4200 worked, just so you know -- but Ron managed to pull its base down over the existing ridge where it was sitting before. Now it's riding a bit lower on the handlebars, but hopefully the new placement will work to keep it from flying away!!  

My parrot, a bit battered from numerous falls onto rough limestone,
now sitting lower on the handlebar mount.

Other than that, we spent a bit of time trying to help some of our cruising neighbors whom we've met here at South Side Marina. Ron loaned out our drill and drill bits to one Australian fellow who needed to correct some repairs made to their boat's autopilot, and we spent some time making phones call in an effort to help out some Canadian friends as well.  Their sailboat was having engine trouble when they arrived, and after many futile attempts to diagnose and repair it (chasing down one false lead after another) the mechanic finally determined it's a faulty fuel injector pump. Unfortunately, it's a 21-year-old Yanmar engine that no one stocks parts for any more, and our friends were told it would be a 5-week wait until a new one could be shipped from Japan! 


Apparently, new pumps are extremely expensive (~$1800!) and it costs half the price to rebuild the units. Of course, everyone opts to rebuild rather than order a new one, but as a result, replacements are as scarce as hen's teeth to find! Nevertheless, in true cruiser fashion, several folks from other boats in the marina, Ron included, went to bat! We all contacted service folk back in different parts of the States to try to track down an old, overlooked spare that might be lurking on a shelf somewhere. So far, no success, but we're trying. Indeed, the cruising life is a social life, and it's reassuring to see how readily folks lend a hand when someone is in need!

New Year's Interlude Stateside

Life has been moving at an extremely fast clip the past two weeks! Lots has been going on -- my dad has been ill, so I've been focusing on family rather than the minutia of the blog. Thankfully, he is now recuperating  -- slowly -- but it's been a stressful time. It's not as if we were aboard either, since Ron, Ally and I were stateside briefly, as Ally has now transferred to the University of Denver. We flew out together to get her moved in and get settled in over New Year's weekend. Thus, no Bahamian New Year's Junkanoo this year; while the ball dropped for New Year's in New York, Ally and I had just arrived at Denver International and were in the process of getting our rental car. (A rather sad celebration of New Year's, but we had our own celebration later!) Needless to say, the 1 degree temperature that greeted us was a bit of a shock after the even 70s of the Turks and Caicos....I'd forgotten what it was like to see my breath in the frigid air! (Not having forgotten my Wisconsin roots, I managed well by staying bundled up in a ski jacket and a pair of Uggs borrowed from Ally, looking like Nanook of the North!) And after a whirlwind couple of days of moving, orientation and registration, Ally is now happily ensconced at DU, a fabulous university that is a great fit for her. We are looking forward to hearing about her new adventures there, be it fun times with her new roommate or unpleasant struggles with calculus. (Hopefully, not the latter!) In any event, I hope no one was feeling ignored while I took a hiatus from blogging!

Now....Ron and I are once again back on the limestone rock called Providenciales. We didn't miss much weather-wise while we were gone apparently, since the seas were up and the winds were still piping along briskly. But since our arrival, the weather has been gorgeous! It would've been a great weather window to head farther south aboard Equinox, but as we are awaiting the arrival of Ron's sister Lisa next week, we aren't on the move yet. Instead, we used the morning to take a good 15-mile bike ride around the island (the Turtle Cove to Leeway-Going-Through and return loop) with a stop at the IGA to restock the fresh vegetables and other necessary provisions. The afternoon was used for odd jobs of correspondence, boat clean-up, laundry and passage planning for the upcoming jump to the Virgin Islands in late January. It felt very productive, even if it wasn't exciting or adventurous! Who knows what tomorrow may bring? I can't wait to find out!