You really can’t judge a city by its Old Town. Old Town is where the tourists flock. It’s typically a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which means it has to be kept in good repair and all the buildings’ paint colors have to be chosen from the UNESCO-approved pallet. Security is typically better than elsewhere in the community. It’s in everyone’s interest to keep things in tip-top shape.

Having said that, Viejo San Juan is a fine example of a nice old town. The streets were clean(ish), the buildings in good repair, people seemed friendly and, as the photos will show, typical Caribbean/South American color schemes predominate. The city proper, seen in the distance, and the route to the airport supported the idea of a fine city.

Of course, San Juan and Puerto Rico are not without lots of issues: problems with the economy, poverty and failing infrastructure, all exacerbated by hurricane damage. Puerto Rico’s future political status is always a question mark. Independence from the USA? Statehood? Status quo?

Whatever, Judy and I thoroughly enjoyed our day in Viejo San Juan.

The Hotel Decanter proved to be a winner. It’s old, but modernized, and right across the street from the cathedral, which we could see from our second floor room’s balcony. We walked a block to the recommended restaurant for breakfast (9:30 AM; lazy) but opted instead for a kiosk in a plaza across the street that served pastries and iced coffee. The guy who waited on us was born in San Juan but grew up in Worcester, MA. He has lived in San Juan for four years and loves it. He’s bilingual and speaks English with a perfect Worcesterian accent.

We peeked into the cathedral to observe the Sunday Mass that was in progress. It’s a pretty typical Spanish cathedral but in apparent need for repair. Old big building, weak economy and ebbing attendance is the curse of many religious establishments everywhere these days.

It was a 20 minute walk or so the Castillo san Felipe del Morro – El Morro. It’s history spans more than 400 years, starting in 1539 when Spain established a military presence at San Juan, the first significant land reached when sailing to the New World. It therefore became a control point for the Caribbean and South America region. England’s Queen Elizabeth I tried twice to wrest control of the island, failing both times. Sir Francis Drake was defeated outright. Later George Clifford succeeded in defeating the Spanish defenders but was driven off after a few days by dysentery. The Dutch faired no better in their attempt in 1625. Each attempt spurred the Spanish to improve and expand the fortifications, bringing El Morro up to state-of-the-art design and making it even more impenetrable.

It wasn’t until the end of the Spanish world empire in the late 19^th century that the U.S., winning the Spanish-American War, finally dislodged Spain for good. The U.S., while promising to lift the yoke of military occupation imposed by Spain, operated the island as a military base through WWI and WWII. In 1961 El Morro became a National Park facility.

We clambered up and down El Morro and then, for good measure, hiked 30 minutes up hill to the other fortress, Castillo San Cristóbal, that the Spanish built to defend against land invasion from the rear. Judy wins the Suffering Spouse award for putting up with my single-minded determination to see it all.

But a two minute walk from there brought us to the Luna Café restaurant where Judy had a beef stew recommended by the helpful waiter and I had a whole red snapper. That means the head was still attached and the poor thing looked at me with a disapproving eye for the entire meal. But its ultimate sacrifice was not made in vain. Rice and beans and sweet fried plantain sides plus a three-milk cake and mojitos completed the meal.

From there, another 15 minutes brought us back to the Decanter. We retrieved our bags, ordered a taxi and, after dodging heavy traffic in Old Town, made it to the airport. We had to clear not only TSA but USDA inspection. Apparently there’s something about Puerto Rican pigs that’s a no-go on the mainland. Our bags went through a huge machine that must, I presume, listen for tell-tale oinks if someone tries to smuggle un cerdo in their luggage.

So that’s it for this trip. We’re an hour into our three-hour trip to Tampa. We’ll be home by 1 AM. It’ll be “home” for only another 9 days, with doctors’ appointments and four dinner outings, including a Cinco de Mayo party at our house. Maybe a round of golf; who knows? Then we’ll be on the road to Melrose, stopping at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC for two nights.

Our next trip is in early July when we’ll travel with our twelve-year-old granddaughter, Esme, to Hawaii for surfing and snorkeling. It’s a Road Scholar trip for grandkids and grandparents, similar to what we’ve done with Reagan and Carter. That’ll leave only  Griffin, who turns 10 in September. After his trip we’ll be plumb out of grandkids.

Thanks for coming along on this trip. See you again in July!

 

Judy has put together her thoughts on this trip. Here you go:

Sailing trip

I had a wonderful time on this trip with Captain Jeff, Carter and Jon.  Some of the highlights for me:

Having Jeff as our Captain. He is an excellent sailor, very patient teacher, and encouraging manager of his inexperienced crew!  

I learned a lot about sailing and was able to handle the winches and keep the wheel on course by the end of the week

Being with Carter is always a pleasure.  We played some cribbage during our sailing and we played swoop, bridge and skyjo during the evenings with all of us.  

Carter took very good care of me as I got on and off the boat and dinghy.  When snorkeling he also made sure I was all right and helped me when I needed help.

Carter is a wonderful dinghy driver! He did all of the driving and always found the best places for me to get on and off the dinghy. I really appreciated that.

Jon made us French toast and pancake breakfasts.

Jeff arranged for dinners at many wonderful restaurants.  They were all interesting and each different so I was not at all bored by the food or atmosphere.

British Virgin Islands are beautiful and compact so we could travel from one island to another easily.  There were many opportunities to snorkel and we had a nice hike to Bubbling Pool, which was fun.

The catamaran was wonderful, just perfect for the four of us.

This was definitely a wonderful vacation!  It was very different from any other trip we have had.  One the the reasons it was so special was that we were traveling with Jeff and Carter and having Jeff as our captain!  He is very competent sailor!

We’re sitting around the table in the saloon of the Casbah III, munching on popcorn, eating ice cream and ice cream bars, trying to kill off as much food as we can before abandoning ship tomorrow. Game 4 of the Stanley Cup playoffs is on the iPad; it’s 4-3 Bruins in the third period. We’ve played Swoop and now are doing Skyjo. Earlier in the week it was bridge and four-handed cribbage. We’ve slid downhill from brain games to games emphasizing luck rather than skill and strategy. That’s what sitting out in the sun all day on island time does to you, I guess.

The day started in what has become the usual habit: up at 8, french toast and bacon, ready for mooring drop/anchor up by 9 AM. And as usual, rather than heading directly to and through the Thatcher Cut, we detoured slightly. Our planned route went from Jost Van Dyke around the west and south sides of Tortola toward Pelican Island and the famous Indian Rock snorkeling site. But the breeze, running 6 to 8 knots, as it has on several occasions sang its siren song and we spent an hour or more just sailing for the fun of it. The wind was directly on our nose when pointed up the Cut so tacking back and forth was the order of the day. We eventually bowed to the inevitable and fired up the motors to help. We arrived at the Indian Rocks about noontime.

The Thatcher Cut is an interesting passage since the U.S. – British border runs down one side. That meant that our tacks to port had to be made just before crossing over into U.S. territory. It’s as close as any of us will come to being undocumented wet backs, I’d guess.

Arriving at the Indians, did we jump in and start snorkeling? Of course not. Hot dogs, chips and fruit first and then over the side.

The snorkeling was fantastic. Hugely interesting coral growths and a plethora of colorful fish. You can see the results in the pictures. The camera system is working well and I’ve experimented with processing in Lightroom to do color correction and exposure compensation. Those with more snorkeling experience may not be impressed but for us newbies it was a really great experience.

Back at the boat the guys, as has also become tradition, jumped back in for a quick dip, this time jumping off the port pontoon forward into the 24 feet of water beneath our keel. Then off we went for the Bight, an anchorage on Norman Island, a trip of maybe 30 minutes under power. On the way, Carter and I swabbed the aft deck to get rid of sand that had accumulated during the week. We hauled up buckets of sea water to wash down the deck and swept it with the ship’s brush.

We found a close in mooring at the Bight, a pleasant anchorage with a nice restaurant, the Pirate’s Bight, where we had our farewell dinner. For indeed, tomorrow we’re going back to Nanny Cay to refuel the vessel and turn her back to Horizon.

Our adventure won’t be completely over though. Our flight – we’re all flying together to San Juan – doesn’t leave until 8 PM or so and that gives us the afternoon to explore Tortola by land. From San Juan, Carter and Jeff will catch a red eye flight to Boston, arriving home Sunday morning at 5 AM. Judy and I, being retired slackers, will stay overnight in Old Town San Juan and do some site seeing before we head back to Florida Sunday night. I’ll try to continue blogging for the next two days to record whatever turns up.

And bummer – the Bruins just lost 5 – 6 on an open net-goal with 20 seconds to play in their third period.

 

Good news: no museums, cathedrals, battlefields nor cultural landmarks to report today. Just some really nice sailing this morning, a fun lunch, a hike to the Bubbly Pool, a quick dip and then a quick motor segment to our overnight mooring (actually, anchorage) in Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke island, the easternmost island in the BVI.

Breakfast was another go on the French toast at 8 AM. Our original plan was to get to Jost Van Dyke immediately upon leaving Cane Garden Bay this morning. But the winds were favorable so we opted instead to turn to a beam reach and sail on a north-north-easterly course for half an hour. Jeff assigned Carter to tend the rigging and me to take the wheel so I got some good experience handling the boat, holding a course, tacking and jibbing. The weather, as usual, was perfect.

We finally made it to Little Jost Van Dyke island noonish and decided all hands would be well served by a bite to eat. The dinghy, piloted by the ever capable Carter, brought us to the B Line Beach Bar, a sandwich and bar shack with picnic tables. We all had cheeseburgers, one of three menu options, one of the other being hamburger.

Next a dinghy trip across the bay to Jost Van Dyke island proper for a 30-minute hike up and down the side of a hill to Bubbly Pool. For those who’ve been to Mount Desert Island, ME, think of Thunder Hole, except in this case there’s a pool where the incoming waves break with great force, but without the boom for Thunder Hole. Carter did body surfing every time a big wave made its appearance. Great fun. Back on board, the guys opted for a quick dip to wash off the trail dust we picked up. Judy showered.

It took maybe 45 minutes to get to Great Harbor, motoring all the way. Winds were light and our interest in setting sails, only having to lower them was equally light.

All mooring balls were occupied so we opted to anchor instead, which worked out fine. On the way, Judy and I squeezed limes (14 of them) and lemons (2) while the simple syrup boiled so that, upon arrival, Jeff could make up his homemade margaritas. Great tasting and powerful. I took a brief nap on the fantail while others did I know not what.

Then off to dinner ashore at Foxy’s, a fairly large establishment, all outdoors, with loud island music and pretty good food. Service was “island time” slow, so it took us over two hours without hitting the desert menu. But it was fun anyway. Jost Van Dyke is a party island – lots of 30 and 40-somethings in fairly large groups (6 to 10) having a wild time. There must be a whole lot of grandparents watching the kids most of them probably left behind.

Back home, we played a few hands of Skyjo and Swoop but it’s been a busy day in the sun and everyone is tired and ready for bed.

Not gonna tell you much about the history of the BVI in today’s blog posting

Not gonna tell you much about the biology of the ocean we went snorkeling in today

And the science behind sailing? You’re on your own tonight

I will tell you that you have to go a long way to find anyone with a British accent in the BVI.

But I will tell you we all love sailing under the tough but benevolent Captain Jeff on the Good Ship Casbah III. What a wonderful world it is!

Tonight’s posting, after that silliness, will be mercifully brief. It’s all Cap’n Jeff’s fault. He gave all hands double rations of rum at the Indigo Beach House. To recap the day:

• We had a pancake breakfast on board this morning, using the flour, baking powder and syrup we purchased yesterday on Anegada
• We sailed – ok, motor sailed – to Monkey Point, just across the water from Tortola and not far from our Windham hotel from Friday night. The winds stayed in the 5 to 10 nmph range. Our boat really needs 10 to sail with any vigorish.
• We moored at Monkey Point and had sandwiches on board for lunch. We donned flippers and mask to snorkel in the bay for an hour or more. I got my camera act together and got a few shots of the underwater formations and plant growth but few fish – only a few shy little ones. But it was great fun nonetheless.
• We then motored on to our overnight mooring spot in Cane Garden Bay. We’re actually on Tortola proper, on the east coast almost directly across the island from Nanny Cay where our trip began.
• This evening we dinghy-ed in for dinner and are now playing our usual round of bedtime games – Bridge (Jeff and Carter barely escaped humiliation by eking out a 100-point victory) and now Swoop (see us at Onawa this summer for instructions)

Yesterday’s pictures are now on line. The cell network on Anegada only produced 1mbps, remenicent of the good old dial-up days. You can find them on the Day 5 blog. Here are today’s pictures: