Awesome t-shirt.
After a short motor sail across the channel to Puerto Rico we arrived on the island of Culebra. It’s a small place with only one village but it has daily access to the mainland and some of the best beaches in Puerto Rico. We are currently hunkered down on Culebra while we recover from our busy week with my sisters and try to catch up on our sleep deficit.
The highlights of the week were: 1) Flamenco Beach on Culebra. It is billed as one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico and prior to the 1970’s it was used as a live firing range for the US Navy. Two tanks were left on the beach and have stood up surprisingly well to the saltwater. 2) Culebrita island. It is a small, uninhabited island with a large wildlife refuge and nesting grounds for sea turtles. We hiked to the top of the island’s abandoned lighthouse, body surfed down the waves at the beach, and explored the tidal pools. 3) Hiking in the El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico’s tropical rainforest. El Yunque is located on the mainland so we hopped a ferry and rented a car to make the trip. We swam in the freezing waterfall on the La Mina trail and looked for parrots as we hiked. While walking along the Big Tree Trail we spotted something that looked like a ferret or weasel which seemed not to be afraid of us at all. Later we discovered a poster indicating that it was actually a small Indian mongoose which, apparently, is the main carrier of rabies on the island. The poster strongly cautioned everyone to avoid contact with it; in hindsight we were lucky that it ignored us when we tried to lure it closer. 4) The trip to Old San Juan. We toured around the city on the trolley, explored one of the many forts, and Adam even got to jump aboard a replica of a Spanish galleon ship from the 17th century. We also went out for pizza (surprise, surprise) and Adam was thoroughly impressed with his selection. 5) Our truly awesome souvenir shirts…
We will spend the next two weeks hopping along the south coast of Puerto Rico as we head toward the Dominican Republic and our reunion with Daniel.
The highlights of the week were: 1) Flamenco Beach on Culebra. It is billed as one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico and prior to the 1970’s it was used as a live firing range for the US Navy. Two tanks were left on the beach and have stood up surprisingly well to the saltwater. 2) Culebrita island. It is a small, uninhabited island with a large wildlife refuge and nesting grounds for sea turtles. We hiked to the top of the island’s abandoned lighthouse, body surfed down the waves at the beach, and explored the tidal pools. 3) Hiking in the El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico’s tropical rainforest. El Yunque is located on the mainland so we hopped a ferry and rented a car to make the trip. We swam in the freezing waterfall on the La Mina trail and looked for parrots as we hiked. While walking along the Big Tree Trail we spotted something that looked like a ferret or weasel which seemed not to be afraid of us at all. Later we discovered a poster indicating that it was actually a small Indian mongoose which, apparently, is the main carrier of rabies on the island. The poster strongly cautioned everyone to avoid contact with it; in hindsight we were lucky that it ignored us when we tried to lure it closer. 4) The trip to Old San Juan. We toured around the city on the trolley, explored one of the many forts, and Adam even got to jump aboard a replica of a Spanish galleon ship from the 17th century. We also went out for pizza (surprise, surprise) and Adam was thoroughly impressed with his selection. 5) Our truly awesome souvenir shirts…
We will spend the next two weeks hopping along the south coast of Puerto Rico as we head toward the Dominican Republic and our reunion with Daniel.