the bay of Culebra from a little hill next to the townthe bay on the other side of the town where the ferries approach the bay from the other (northeast) side D’s garden and another incredible sunriseIguanas were everywhere
Isla de Vieques, Bahia de La Chiva
Bahia de La Chiva and the two boatsdifferent parts of the beachthere were beautiful butterflies but they were also hard to catch, yet this one I caughtpelicans hunting beach horseso cute!!!super chilled that horsethe bonfire bbqain’t bad right?
Vieques, Sun Bay Beach
We had moved to this bay and took a long walk along the beach up to the town Esperanza. At the beach there was this … sun?
what is that?the beach was long and nice, looking east in the far back Altimatelooking west direction Esperanzadon’t know what the name of the islet wasthat was a natural bridge to get to this isletthat looked like a selfmade plane, watch the propeller with the small engine – cool!!!sometimes even El Capitano looks smallthe bay of Esperanza further westthe promenade of Esperanzawe walked through the village and found these guys in the shade of the house, sooo funnypretty x-mas decoration, well at least I thought it wasjust a pretty house with beautiful bougainvilleathe plane airborne , ok that was obviousand the sun rising behind the trees
San Juan – Puerto Rico, first day
the entrance of the bay San Juan with the “Castillo San Felipe del Morro”a ferry was approaching just after we had anchored, they looked crazy big compared to usa typical street somewhere in the historical towndon’t know what that meant but I thought it was worth a picso many colourful old housesPlaza de San Jose
Our second day exploring the modern areas of San Juan
We were strolling through the neighbourhoods to find THE waterfront.
somewhere in a township east of San Juan islanda park in town with a conch playground or whatever that wasa modern churcha beautiful tree full of pretty blossoms we reached the waterfronta nice town beach but where were the bars, restaurants and shops?if we ever live in a house again I want a palm lamp like thatmore beach no promenade🤷♀️that was street right next to the beachat least we found a big muralI don’t know what that was
The wall and fortress of San Juan
this fountain reminded me of Rome – the old town had such a nice European touch, I wonder if Columbus hadn’t invaded all the Caribbean island how it would look like todayIsabel de Trastamara, reina católica de Españaa part of the very thick and tall wall, rising 40m from the Atlantic shoreline with 5,5 to 7,5 m thick walls, pretty amazing San Juan Gate, it was the last remaining gate of former 5 gatesPlazuela de la Rogativathe bay of San Juan and the gate on the lefta crenel in the wall, here one can see how thick the wall waswe were already up the wall walking to the fortresswhat an unusual street signel Morroup high on the fort we had great views in all directionssunset sailing catand big ships leaving those ships are huge, the wall on this side was 40 m!!!that is the relatively small entrance of the huge bay ; it can get tricky for small vessels to enter or leave in rough weatherthe chapel of The Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery seemed to enjoy the last rays of the sunset the lady was sitting in the openings of the wall watching the cemetery and the seaPlaza del CuartelPlaza de San Jose Plaza del Quinto CentenarioPlaza del Quinto Ce is a modern square in Old San Juan inaugurated in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the European discovery and Spanish conquest of PR and the Americas and the first European settlement of San Juan; the square is bound by sculptures representing the Agnus Dei and the Lamb of God one of the symbols of San Juan ; I’m not sure one this wasThe main feature of the square is the ‘Teluric Totem’, the name popularly and locally used for the Plaza del Quinto Centenario; this sculpture represents the historic but violent first meeting between the original native inhabitants of Puerto Rico and the European colonizers.
Our last day walking the whole San Juan islet
But first we needed to walk to customs and boarder patrol to get our form CBP 1300. The building was actually very close to us just behind the cruising dock. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to dock our dinghy next to the big ones. That’s why we had to walk from the marina along the ugly busy street with no boardwalk. The walk was not nice but the officials friendly.
that was just outside of the marina, I wonder who that was?the pretty street and in the back somewhere was the officewe passed by Altimate and here one can see how narrow the anchorage was…or notan old church close to the marinawe were crossing over to the island San Juan; glad they had built another bridge, on the left in the back was the marina where we could leave the dinghythe neighbourhood CondadoLaguna del Condadoalready on the island Parque Del Tercer Milenio, San Juan, the view to Condadolooking westin the back Castillo San Christobalwe kept walking, here even on a nice boardwalkinbetween beaches El Capitolio de Puerto Ricowhen we reached the old town we had break and were craving for a nice lemon juice and then we got this??? we paid 8 dollar for a beverage in a plastic bag! why can’t they serve it in a glass ??? I hate it and the cafe seemed to be very proud of their way of serving🙈…well maybe its me who is crazyopti training in the open Atlantic!!! very brave kidsa sport field within the wall and a glimpse of La Perla in the back La Perla the colourful houses outside of the wall very close to the Atlantic shoreSanta Maria cemeteryeven at a cemetery …chicsthere were very big and old gravestonessome deceased were even watched by angelsa last pic from Old San Juan before leaving PRthe optics just came back from their training when we were ready to leave, they were so cutealmost at the entrance of the baybye bye San Juan
SY Altimate 