Bluewater Gypsies: Fast stepping the Rest of Mainland Puerto Rico

After returning from Houston, Texas to celebrate Grandson Bryson's 6th birthday and Dad Moore's 90th birthday, it was time to get serious about heading south for hurricane season. As the official hurricane season begins June 1st, the rest of our trip through Puerto Rico was a scurry of "one nighters" to get to the US Virgin Islands. We skirted the rest of the coast of the mainland and headed for Vieques.

Salinas, Puerto Rico (May 25-26 , 2013)

Originally, we intended to stay a few days in Salinas; however, arriving in late May, we found the harbor very crowded as Salinas is a recommended hurricane hole and many were already anchored to wait out the hurricane season. This combined with the fact we kept dragging anchor inspired us to leave the next afternoon and continue our trek to the east end of the island.

Bahia de Jobos, Puerto Rico (May 26-27, 2013)

We would have loved to have spent more time here. As the sun set, we tucked Dulcinea back in the mangroves and spent the night all alone. It was as if the world was our own, not another boat to be found. The next morning, we pulled anchor and were off to Puerto Patillas.

Puerto Patillas, Puerto Rico (May 27-30, 2013)

As we had no internet here and only planned to stay overnight, we spent a pleasant day catching up on reading, doing a few boat chores and just relaxing. With such a short stay, we decided to leave the dinghy on the davits so we never got off the boat to go scouting, but instead just enjoyed all the beauty we could see from the bay. It was great! A manatee even stopped by to entertain us during happy hour.

Puerto Patillas - A great view from the bow of s/v Dulcinea

Yet another great view off our port side

Off our starboard side was what appeared to be a nice resort

As it is in most of Puerto Rico, the Flamboyant trees are gorgeous

We found Puerto Patillas to be a delightful stop. Even so, we had planned to only be there overnight; however, we would visit her twice as rough seas forced us to return and try again.

Upon departing Puerto Patillas, we made it as far as Punta Tuna when all hell broke loose so we decided it best to return to wait for better weather conditions. Although the second trip out was not much better, we were determined to trudge through it. Even on a good day, the seas are rough along the coast of Punta Tuna. For us, neither day was a good day for sailing, so we were ecstatic to get Palmas del Mar in our sights.

Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico (May 31-June 2, 2013)

Having been beat up by the weather once again, we decided to head into the Palmas del Mar Yacht Club. The worst I can say about Palmas del Mar is that it is a rolly harbor. Otherwise, this is a BEAUTIFUL place to be. The staff at the yacht club are phenomenal and the surrounding areas are stunningly beautiful. So beautiful, we decided to stay a few extra days.

Dulcinea in her slip

The view from our stern - This mansion was most beautiful when lit up at night

Two places we visited were outstanding enough to mention: Chihuahua Tex Mex Cantina and Yogen Früz.

We found the local food in Puerto Rico to be so bland we thought we were in Britain; however, the Chihuahua Tex Mex Cantina gave our tastebuds a whirl with a spicy jalapeno sauce atop chicken nachos. It was fabulous! To cool our tongues, we headed across the plaza to treat ourselves to a frozen yogurt with fresh fruit at the local Yogen Früz. Definitely a lunch to gloat about.

The Chihuahua Tex Mex Cantina

Yogen Früz

No longer hungry, we set off to see as much of the area as possible.

A view of the northern Caribbean Sea

Another Flamboyant Tree

Plaza Del Mar Resort

Time to head to the beach

Sea Turtle Nesting Area? We didn't see any turtles.

Jim beats feet to the beach...

and wishes he had brought his surfboard along

Palmas del Mar Yacht Club

We love it here!

This was even less comfortable than it looks

You know those pictures you don't post for fear of retaliation, one of those goes right here. Sorry, I'm not willing to take the chance by posting it, but I can laugh about it. [Jim gives me the evil eye]