Last photos from Puerto Rico

                                            Culebra underwater!!! 

Dave is the expert swimmer/snorkeler, so these
are his pictures.

 

The results with the disposable camera were disappointing so we're shopping for a waterproof camera for our 2013 trip.  The messy green stuff is the grass turtles feed on. The turtles pictured were 2 to 3 feet long, the ray about 3 feet, not including the tail.  I told Dave that he should put his hand in the photo to show the relative size, but he said he would need 20 foot long arms to do that.  The last photo shows how rocky the bottom was, even right next to shore...not a sugar sand beach entry.

We plan to return to Puerto Rico next year, Culebra for a week rather than four days and either Rincón or someplace new.   Blogging has been such an easy way to keep track of our activities that I'm sure I'll give it another try.  For anyone interested in that trip, either check back in a few months, or send me your email and I'll let you know when we head for Puerto Rico.  Hopefully we'll have a new camera and better underwater photos to share.

Check back for future retirement adventures!  One never knows what opportunities might arise.

 Adiós!

                                      
                                        Home sweet home to Sugar Creek Road.

Home at last

We arrived back at the lake late last night, after a quick visit with our beautiful new baby granddaughter, Anne Elizabeth.

Dave dropped off the disposable underwater camera this afternoon and we'll have pictures in a week, so check back then to see the underwater shots of turtles, rays, and more.

Last Day on Culebra

This is our last night on Culebra and we are already planning a return trip.  We found two paved roads (we are allowed to take the rental car only on paved roads) on the map that we haven't yet driven down, so we need to come back to do that.  Tomorrow we fly back to San Juan, then Saturday fly to Minneapolis where we'll take a quick peek at our new grandchild, Anne Elizabeth, then drive back home---where the temp will be at least 75˚ colder than we are now accustomed to.  We're trading shorts, tees and sandals for Ugg boots ,jeans and turtlenecks.   What are we thinking!!!????  I'll blog again after we get the underwater pictures developed. 

Our morning started with breakfast over the water, visited by tarpin who fought over pieces of Dave's pancakes.

Then we headed for Flamenco Beach, one of the world's top 10 most beautiful beaches. The sand is sugar sand like I have never seen before, as fine as baking sugar.  Not only is the beach long, but there is an area for tent camping, swimming, food vendors, and the beach gets groomed daily.  The perfect place to hang out, catch some rays, and swim.

This is our favorite beach, Tamarindo Beach.  The sand isn't nearly as fine as Flamenco, it is rockier both out and in the water, lots of coral under water, and this is where we found the great snorkeling.  This beach has character.   But.....it also has sand fleas, which aren't fleas at all, but are teeny tiny crustaceans.  Mosquitoes love me, so it's no surprise that bugs here would love me, too.  I learned NOT to lay/sit on a beach towel, but to use a chair and get my body off the ground.  Most people aren't bothered much by the sand fleas, but of course my bites itch like crazy.

The Day of the Iguana:  While I was beach walking I watched a 4 foot long iguana climb out of the ocean, walk across the beach and into the woods.  This was a green iguana, others saw a purple one in the same area.

When we returned to Casa SuMarco, 

this iguana was waiting on our front step.

This next picture is a puzzle for Mox and Marty.  Can you find the iguana in the tree?  Look for his feet on the lower left-hand side, then he disappears behind a branch, and then you'll see his head.  Great camouflage!

We made a list of Dos and Don'ts for this trip.  The dos outnumber the don'ts so I'm going to start with the negative.  Do not:  sit on the beach on a towel, use a chair in case there are sand fleas.  Do not tell anyone about Culebra, we want to keep it just as it is.

Do on Culebra:  Ask Jerry for a nicer jeep next time, go hiking on Luis Peña Island, check out the paved roads we missed, get Betty in the water for more snorkeling (this may require serious pre-vacation conditioning), bring bug spray with deet for sand fleas, stay longer, go sailing

Do in Rincon:  Eat at the Lazy Parrot, take a guided tour inland-don't try to drive ourselves, rent a car in San Juan - we can drive just fine, take the Catamaran snorkel trip

Do for Puerto Rico:  bring more books or my Kindle, bring fewer clothes, and no long pants except jeans for the plane ride.

Goodbye from Casa SuMarco, Culebra.

We have found our perfect winter vacation spot....Culebra!  The vacationers seem almost as laid back as the locals:  no fancy "resort wear" or fancy jewelry, mostly shorts and teeshirts and walking sandals, even for dinner.  The homes and businesses are basic small Caribbean/Mexican/Central American concrete buildings, the area looks unkempt, the people are helpful and gracious and most speak some English, many are fluent. The weather is perfect; we wear shorts during the day and usually evening, unless we're outside in a breeze, in which case I grab sweater. Each day there has been a shower lasting about 5 minutes, we don't even bother to look for cover. 

Sunrise from our deck.

Breakfast for us has been:  day 1, French toast in a panaderia run by an American ex-pat, today breakfast in a panaderia that made me an excellent latte when I asked for café con leche, tomorrow we're breakfasting on a deck over the ocean where giant tarpin swim up looking for scraps.  All meals thus far have been super.  My diet starts the instant I'm back in Minnesota!

There is a U.S. Fish & Wildlife station on Culebra, which we visited yesterday.  They help coordinate a program that uses volunteers to record giant sea turtles laying eggs. I thought it might be fun to volunteer....until I found out the volunteer recorders start at 6:30 pm and stay out until dawn.  I'm just too old for such nonsense.  Here are photos of their office, logo, and one of several boats they use. Culebra is home to two endangered species of sea turtles (the largest turtles on earth), the Leather Back and Hawkbill, and two proposed for the list, the Loggerhead and Green sea turtles.

Yesterday we snorkeled in Tamarindo Bay, and what an experience!  Dave always scouts out the underwater sights first, and he was excited to see a giant sea turtle feeding on grass on the bottom. Dave swears he could see the turtle take bites of grass and chew!  Today we went back to Tamarindo.  I snorkeled a bit yesterday, but got panicky when I saw how far I was from shore, so sent Dave out alone - with lots of other people around.  He saw 20+ sea turtles, manta (or sting) rays, sea urchins, banded jawfish, angel fish, trumpet fish and other fish we don't know the names of.  He was absolutely thrilled with the snorkeling.  We're going back for more tomorrow.  Dave took pics with our disposable underwater camera, once we get those developed I'll add them to the blog.  

From the road this looks like a hill, but it is a tree covered with vines.

This is the road to Tamarindo Beach: count the potholes!!! Who says potholes are caused by the freeze, thaw cycle???? No freezing here.

 We love our Casa SuMarco, but might consider a resort/hotel next time, to try something different.  Directions to SuMarco given to us by a local:  take Hwy 250, when you pass the cement mixer for sale on the right, don't turn at that corner.  Then you'll pass a fire hydrant on the right, turn at that corner, go to the end of the block, it's the blue house on the corner.  Who needs a street address?  This is the view from our road.

Culebra has green leafy areas contrasted by dry areas:

cacti and mangroves 

Here are shots of the school and the playground.

Most of the homes are in the same pastel rainbow as the public buildings, very Caribbean looking.  Tomorrow I hope to get a good photo of Flamenco Bay, one of the top 10 beautiful beaches in the world, then I might wrap up photos until we get our underwater shots.

Culebra

Culebra is more like a Caribbean island than like Puerto Rico, since it isn't quite as lush and green.  It was about a half hour plane ride, much of it across the main island of PR.  The plane was small, loud, rackety, flew low, the wheels were down the whole time.  Because we flew so low, we could see houses, roads, everything we flew over, which was fun.  Before we took off the young pilot said, "under the window of the side door (beside me) is a handle, use it to get out in an emergency.  If that doesn't work, use the red handle on the window (again beside me).  There are life jackets under your seat."  That was it.  When we landed we flew between two low mountains, there was lots of turbulance, then the pilot cut the engine and we glided in.  Next time we come I'm taking the ferry! 

Our home for 4 days is Casa Sumarco, a great little Caribbean beach cottage.  Here are photos from today, lots more to come.

Our tiny plane-and 8 or 10 passenger.  Our Geo Tracker, pretty much a wreck, no air, too may rattles for Dave, no  power anything.  The roads are one pothole on top of another, which explains why this is where Trackers go to die. 

Casa Sumarco, the back porch, our welcoming gecko, the master bedroom.

View of Ensenada Honda Bay and the Caribbean from our back porch.

Rincon to San Juan

Our last night in Rincon we ate at the Lazy Parrot for the third time, clearly our favorite restaurant!  Our worst meal was at a sports bar, most other places were pretty good.  Amazingly we had great lasagne for $5 each at a pizza joint.  There are roadside stands all over the place, both in town and along the highways, selling fruit, simple lunches and breakfast mostly to Puerto Ricans.  We didn't try those, though we maybe should have. 

Here are a couple shots of Rincon, taken from the hills when we were exploring the countryside our last day.  It really is a beautiful area.  

We left Rincón about 8 am heading for San Juan.  The directions we had seemed straightforward, sure, we could drive this.  There are 'only' 3 million people in San Juan, and who cares if all the road signs are in Spanish (no English subtitles).  We just needed to follow Hwy 115 from Rincon to Hwy. 2,  take that into San Juan, then 26 to the car return.  We somehow got off 115 in Aguadilla.  (The highways go right through the middle of the towns, on very narrow streets.)  A very kind policeman got us squared away.

While wandering aimlessly around Old San Juan, we took a couple photos.  I couldn't resist the "cat on a hot tin roof."  The shiny car is reflecting so much light, it's hard to see the cat sound asleep on the roof with cars whizzing by and people all around.

The streets in OSJ are extremely narrow, with interesting and often colorful buildings packed together. 

Several times this week we have been saved by the kindness of strangers:  the policeman in Aguadilla, a woman in Old San Juan who noticed our confusion and gave us directions in perfect English, the desk clerk in San Juan who found us a cab driver to take us to Aguadilla our first day, the young man in our condo building who graciously showed us how to open the door (just hit the button, duh) and didn't make us feel stupid.

Tomorrow we fly to Culebra, rent a jeep from Jerry's Jeeps, and begin our second week in Puerto Rico.  Photos of our little house on Culebra coming soon!

Weather forecast for the foreseeable future:  low 67, high 85. 

Rincon has many little panaderias (bakeries) that serve pastries, coffee, juice, some will fry a couple eggs, some have lunch items.  Most of the pastries are fried, we haven't seen anything like a cinnamon roll.  Each morning we drive 2 blocks to a public parking lot.  We would walk, but we can't figure out how to get in and out of our super secure building's premises without using the car and remote gate opener.  Then we walk to the panaderia of the day, have one pastry (me) or two (Dave), coffee, and plan our day.

Today we spent most of our day on Steps Beach:  beach walking, snorkeling, and sitting in the shade reading.  Here's a shot of the coral on the beach.  It is rock hard, slippery to walk on, but I love the rivulets that wash the water back out to sea.

Above is a shot of Mona Island (on the left), which is 12 miles off shore and kind of hard to see without enlarging, also the "steps".

Throughout the area are Tsunami warning signs. 

A defunct nuclear reactor dome, for which Domes Beach was named.

Whitewater on Sandy Beach, where there is supposed to be good sea glass hunting, but it was too windy to do anything the day we were there.   

Many homes are brightly colored, but none as bright as this church! 

Another day in the sun!

We planned a drive to find a waterfall and hiking area inland, but only managed to get lost, so we headed back home.  We ran across a national park with this fabulous beach which is a sea turtle nesting ground later in the year. 

Surfers or artists or someone has created wonderful murals in town.  Here are a couple.  They're pretty neat if you enlarge them. 

The afternoon was spent on Maria's beach, a surfing beach, sitting in the shade reading and people-wataching.  We were definitely the oldest people on this beach and I may have been the only woman not wearing a thong bikini!  It's tough to be old.

This is Rincon's version of riprap we found in front of an elegant waterfront home.  This  was actually the only place we found something like this.  Most of the oceanfront area is pretty neat.  Well, except for the horse poop we walked in today.

Buenos noches!

First, some fantastic news!  Rachel had a baby girl last night, Anne Elizabeth!  She wasn't due until the end of March, but she is doing great.

Now the trip:  When traveling I like to try local specialties.  Last night at a very nice restaurant I decided to try the chicken and rice stew, prepared Puerto Rican style.  I was served a generous bowl of stew with a tomato base that was totally yummy.  As I was eating, I noticed there weren't a lot of chicken pieces.  Then I noticed an entire chicken wing, including skin, in my bowl, a joint of some sort, and bones with meat on them.  Not Minnesota style chicken stew, but good nonetheless. 

We're getting to know Rincón better. It's a laid back beach town with lots of surfers this time of year.  There are no chain restaurants, no chain hotels, and not one stoplight!  The streets are narrow, and as far as I'm concerned everyone drives too fast.  There are plenty of restaurants and bars, most pretty casual.  It's built into hills covered with green jungle (forest?), and quite pretty.  I'll try to get some good photos.

This morning we walked for about an hour and a half on a beach named Steps Beach.  This photo of Dave explains how the beach got its name, but doesn't explain how the concrete steps got on the beach! 

Dinner tonight was at a Mexican restaurant.  We didn't realize it was Tequila Tuesday until we were seated and told they were serving only bar food.  When we asked if there was anything else, the waiter asked what we might like and he would ask the cook.  I suggested enchiladas, he checked with her, and even though enchiladas weren't on the menu she would make 2 chicken with verde sauce and 2 beef with red sauce.  Those were the best enchiladas I have ever eaten.  The people here go out of their way to make tourists feel welcome.

Hola from Rincon, Puerto Rico!

As you can see, I wrote the first entry while at home, continued today in Rincon.  I'm new to blogging, so please be patient.  I discovered that for some reason the directions for blogging keep showing up in Spanish!  Which certainly doesn't help.  But here goes.

Friday, January 26:  Heading to Minneapolis today to catch the plane tomorrow a.m., direct flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We'll arrive in San Juan tomorrow about 3 p.m., spend the night there, then head for Rincon.  After Rincon, we are flying to the tiny island of Culebra...flying in a very small plane.  We are allowed 25 lbs. of luggage per person.  We are traveling LIGHT!  Here's a photo of our carryon suitcase (clothes), backpack (snorkel gear and books), and tote bag (computer and swim suits), plus camera bag....for 15 days!  Luckily our condo has a washer and dryer.

Puerto Rico is one of the largest Caribbean islands, 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. Culebra, on the other hand, is tiny:  7 miles long and 4 miles wide, population 2,000.  Culebra is about 17 miles east of the main island of P.R.     

Although Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, Spanish is the dominant language.  Dave has been studying Spanish road signs, I've been working on basic Spanish.  Hablo Espaňol un muy poco.  Tap water is drinkable, our U.S. car insurance and health insurance work and the money is the same as at home.  All nice!

Sunday:  We arrived at our condo, no problem finding it.  When we rented a car, a man who was also renting a car and owned a house in Rincon, offered to lead us not just to Rincon, but right to our condo building!  What a nice way to start a vacation.
The condo, in the Bahia del Mar building, is a nice vacation condo. Brand new everything!  including big screen TV.  But....we knew we were in trouble when we walked in and in the center of the coffee table were----4 remote controls!  So far, we haven't been able to figure out anything but the wireless internet, but that didn't need  a remote control.  We went on the requisite first drive tour of the area and took a couple photos.  More to come later.  We found a bakery, which thrilled Dave as he loves his vacation pastries.  I'm signing off now, time to decide where to go for dinner.  Hasta mañana.

Notice the 4 remotes!