17:57.98N 66:37.18W   Ponce, Puerto Rico

 

After a quick overnight in Boqueron, we rounded Cabo Rojo and moved down the south coast of Puerto Rico to Ponce. The watermaker was giving problems, so we stopped in at Gilligans island for Mike to do some checks, but it was very rolly and so we did not stay long.

 

In Ponce we anchored inside the port area, bordered by the very private Club Nautica Yacht Club;  the fishing co-operative and the La Gauncha boardwalk. We could now see a lot more evidence of the damage caused by the hurricane. This part of town, is about 5ks from the city, built with a large park and strip of bars and restaurants (La Guancha). Sadly the boardwalk is so badly damaged that is completely fenced off. So the “walk” is now on the edge of a dusty parking lot. But that does not stop the restaurants and bars – and the music .... and in Puerto Rico, they like it LOUD.

 

Mike has discovered that we need a new circuit board for our watermaker – once again we have been lucky in being able to get parts easily and quickly.  A  call to Village Marine in Ft Lauderdale & a large credit card transaction, had the part with DHL later the same day. Our “friend” Jose from Marina Pescaderia, suggested that we have the parts delivered to him, and he would have someone bring them to us in Ponce.  He also made an appointment for Mike to go to a local Dermatologist ...more on that later.

 

We parked our dinghy at the fishing co-operative and tried to call an Uber to go to town. There seem to be a very long delay, so we started walking ... hot... dusty... and soon Mike put his thumb out. We were picked up by a man from the fishing co-op who in typical hospitable PR style took us to an Auto parts store where Mike wanted some boat bits, before delivering us to the middle to the tourist area in the city. Ponce is the second biggest city in PR, but not that big at all. The old city is a small area with a few  significant buildings around a small park. The most striking is the red & black the firehouse – which is now a museum. The modern big box stores and modern shopping centres are on the outskirts of town, which we skipped.

 

 

 

 

 

We then strolled around town, had lunch and headed to the art museum. We were not expecting much, but how wrong we were.  This modern building, houses is a wonderful collection of traditional 1600 to 1800 European art, as will as a visiting collection of more modern work. We thoroughly enjoyed this visit. Sadly ... no photography allowed.

 

Using Uber for the rest of the stay we were able to get around efficiently and cheaply.  We did a little “boat parts” shopping and Mike got to see Dr Villa , or as he is now know on Time2 as “The Butcher of Ponce”  Fairly regularly Mike has bits of skin cancer – bumps that grow quickly and are painful. He was hoping the doctor would just burn them off with some liquid nitrogen – but no – he used what Mike describes as, a double sided Minora blade. He bent the blade and used it to gouge out 3 areas, leaving 1cm diameter holes.   (Good news is, that they are healing well.)

 

Saturday evening our watermaker part was delivered and we could head out in the morning for our 100nm trip to St Croix.