Wednesday 28^th March 2012

On Sunday the couple from the boat next door, Tashi Delek, came over in their dinghy to apologise for parking rather closer to us than planned, and following a brief chat we accepted their invitation to get together later to exchange notes on Cuba (where they are going) and Vieques (where we are going).   We pottered around and did some boat jobs, and were then joined for coffee by the couple from Falarope who were anchored nearby and had come to say Hi to another British flagged boat.  It turns out that both they and Mike and Carol from next door are OCC members so we almost had enough members for a Rally!

We then went for a wander around ashore.  The little town of Salinas was buzzing with locals enjoying their day off.  For some bizarre reason, one of them was driving around in a car completely covered in seashells!

Not many of this model around!

On Monday we picked up the hire car – no shells, but also no paperwork, he just handed over the keys – and set off for Old San Juan on the north-east coast.  The main road there was either dual carriageway or motorway and in fairly good condition so we were there within an hour.  We enjoyed a day of wandering around the old forts and the streets of the old town. Unfortunately there was a cruise ship in so it was quite busy in the town, though not many of them made it to the forts.

Inside Castillo San Felipe de Morro.                                                                                          The view from its walls across to Castillo San Cristobal.

Yet another Capitol building.                                                                                                      A brightly tiled shop on one of san Juan’s streets.

El Girafo sculpture outside the Banco Popular                     and the Banco Popular art deco building                              A typical street.

As well as the cruise ship we saw a very large private motor yacht berthed in San Juan.  It was Le Grande Bleu and used to be owned by Abramovic but he gave it to one of his friends!  The motor yacht is 341 feet long and if you look closely you can see the 70 foot sailing yacht on its port side!  You can’t see the 65 foot motor yacht on its starboard side!

Le Grande Bleu                                                                                                                                                  with 70’ sailing yacht!

On Tuesday we used the car to get some jobs done i.e. dentist, hairdresser, shopping mall (Sears, Kmart etc), supermarket, autoparts (bits for boat, not car!) etc etc…

Yesterday was laundry day, and we managed to get the timing just right as the last of the washing came in off the line nicely dry only half an hour before the first downpour!

A good drying day!

Today we have finished the list of boat jobs and tidied the boat ready for sea again tomorrow.  Just as Steve finished getting the control panel for the bowthruster working again, the lights on the solar panel controller started flashing and within a few minutes it had died completely.  Such are the frustrations of running a boat – it’s almost as if she says “well ok, you sorted that one, but how about THIS problem?”  Fortunately it turned out to be a blown fuse and replacing it with a new one (with slightly higher ampage) seems to have restored it to its former self.

So we are all set for an early start again tomorrow to just slip along the coast a bit further before leaving Puerto Rico behind and heading for the Passage Islands, or as they are now more commonly known, the Spanish Virgin Islands.