18:01.360N 067:10.751W

We did two day-sails to reach the very charming town of Boqueron on the west coast of Puerto Rico.  By sail, I mean motor really.  The sea was the flattest we have seen since the occasional day in the Med only this time, because the water is so shallow, you can see the bottom.  We did have one afternoon of perfect conditions and the most glorious sail that made up for it though

We stayed one night en-route in a very quiet anchorage tucked in behind a reef and were joined by three dolphins when we were about to pull up the anchor.  The first time we have seen them so close to the boat when we were not moving.  We had ten minutes or so of gentle lolloping through the water before they set off in the opposite direction.

Boqueron, on the west coast of Puerto Rico, was small, friendly and provided a few more adventures.

We were anchored some way from the dingy dock which was easily spotted as near the wobbly house…..

Safely ashore we found the chandlers and engaged pretty much everyone in there in finding the particular spark plug that we needed.  Phenomenal service that included several telephone calls and another local customer chipping in ideas.  We got chatting to two other couples, one American, the other Canadian.  We all left together in search of more bits and pieces from the ironmongers and ended up buying papayas from a man who accosted us from his neighbours garden and then making ourselves at home in the bakery over coffee and cinnamon rolls.

What we didn’t find was anyone who wanted to hire a car to us.  A taxi ride to the next town was required and this was a bit of a challenge in itself.  With the help of the receptionist in the ‘yacht club’ we found a taxi and sat down to wait, and wait.  Fortunately Carol was entertained playing pattercake with a small girl keen to engage the strange tourist in conversation and counting games.

As we headed out of Boqueron we drove smack into America.  Highway, shopping malls, baseball stadiums and traffic jams.  Ghastly, and not what we had expected in this part of Puerto Rico.  Car was duly hired from a delightful couple running the Avis concession and we set off.  More traffic jams and it was becoming clear that we were not going to be enjoying an extensive tour of the island. 

We headed for the hills and found nothing terribly interesting on our way to a coffee hacienda that we thought would be worth a look.  By coffee hacienda it turned out they meant hotel with a few artefacts from the coffee days lying around.  Good coffee though and we had an entertaining time talking to a parrot while waiting for the rain to stop.

Next job – checking out.  We found the Customs House; an attractive old building in downtown Mayaguez.  We were made very welcome while someone was found to explain to us that we needed to be somewhere else.  The ferry terminal.  More slow moving traffic but we got there and were checked out with less pain than we checked in.  Quick shop and we took the car back in time for another tortuous crawl by taxi along the highway back to Boqueron.

No such thing as a fuel dock here because the water is so shallow so it was jerry cans in the roadside garage….

The garage had a small grocery store which sold tinned mussels, tinned tomatoes and imitation vinegar. Yum.