Bluewater Gypsies: Boquerón, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico

Boquerón, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico (April 7-14 , 2013)

We found Boquerón to be a quaint beach village engrossed in the tales of the legendary pirate, Roberto Cofresi, known as "El Pirata Cofresi." Legend tells that Cofresí shared some of his treasure with his family and friends and hid the rest in a cave just south of Boquerón Bay.

Boquerón Bay

We found no treasure in the cave; however, we did find a treasure in Boquerón. It was a striking little village with great shops, restaurants and bars as well as friendly locals and sailors. I came away with my own treasure, a beautiful pair of diamond earrings.

We frequented Galloway's Bar & Restaurant, where we enjoyed several dinners with our friends, Les and Jeremie, while feeding bread to the tarpon. That was until we found our new favorite hangout, a street side bar with $1.00 Medalla's. People watching and a few beers made for lively chatter and lots of laughter.

Boquerón seems to only come alive on Friday and Saturday nights, so we rented a car and headed north for some sightseeing. It was exciting to see paved roads and civilization again.

Somewhat dazed from snaking our way through the mountain roads, we stopped at The Mirador Piedra Degetau and climbed the observation tower to find a great panoramic view of the ocean and The Mona Passage. To the north, we could see as far as San Juan and to the south all the way to Ponce. One of the most beautiful sights was the Cordillera Central mountain range.

View from The Mirador Observation Tower toward Boquerón

Back on the road, next stop Maria's Beach in Rincon, a surfer's paradise.

SURFER X-ING

Jeremie and Les checking out the surfers
Sunglasses...Incognito

Les was most likely checking out this one in particular
Jim was obviously taking a closer look

Jeremie was probably checking out the one on the right

Domes Beach in Rincon was home of the first "World Surfing Contest" in 1968 and today is still visited by surfers hoping to ride "the big one."

Quite a few surfers on this day

A few guys on paddle boards

And then there was this chica, rocking the breaks at "Maria's Dogman!"

All the way to shore...you go girl!

Looks like a few others might join them

Time for some t-shirt shopping

Cool entry tile to the Calypso Tropical Bar

Once again, we were on the "Road to Paradise"


Only to catch sight of this sign...REALLY?!!!

Rincón was the site of Puerto Rico's only nuclear reactor in the 1960's, the BONUS "Boiling Nuclear Superheater" Reactor Facility, which was eventually closed, decontaminated, found to still be contaminated and thus cleaned several more times. It is rumored the plant plans to reopen as a museum. Hmmm...might have some glow in the dark visitors.

Our next destination was The Punta Higüero lighthouse, a historic lighthouse located in Rincon. The original building, built in 1892 by the Spanish Government, was badly damaged in the 1918 earthquake and was later demolished. In 1922, the U.S. Coast Guard rebuilt the structure you see today. The town of Rincón later built the beautiful Lighthouse Park, known as El Faro Park.

The Punta Higüero lighthouse, also known as Faro de Punta Higuer

Backside of the Lighthouse

El Faro Park

"The Guys" at El Faro Park
Les, Jim and Jeremie

A glimpse of Dome's Beach

The Mona Iguana

Hang in there baby, Friday's coming!

Jeremie overlooking Domes Beach

Moving on!

Desecheo Island, located off the west coast of Puerto Rico, across the wicked Mona Passage is a popular diving spot; however, the island itself is closed to the public due to unexploded military munitions left behind from when it was used as a bombing range in World War II.