Monday, February 20, 2012

2/18/2012 BEATING A PATH TO SAN JUAN BEFORE THE SUN RISES

02/18/2012  SALINAS, PUERTO RICO

SATURDAY

30 NM TRAVELED

ANCHORED OFF PUNTO POZUELO JUST EAST OF SALINAS, PUERTO RICO

SUNRISE: 6:52 AM

SUNSET: 6: 29 PM

Talk about “0’dark:30”! Leaving the marina before 3:30 this morning, just after the Friday night partiers at the nearby cantinas gave it up at 3:00, afforded us no traffic. Dan did have to pay close attention to those few cars that were on the road, most likely some of those late night partiers.

Heading east then north to get us up and over the interior mountain range brought us to San Juan in under 1 ½ hours. We did discover that the compliance of a red light’s command to stop seems to be optional at that time of the morning and it took both of us, at full attention, to watch the few cars on the road. Robert and Steffi were lucky to get on the ‘red-eye’ JetBlue flight from JFK at the last possible moment when some poor souls missed their connection. The original plan was to fly into Ponce’s airport on the lightly booked flight but those liquid plans changed several times during the day as late bookers decided they must to Puerto Rico’s southern shore for the holiday weekend. However, they did make it and we were so glad to see them.

Stopping for a 6:15 breakfast at our little local hole-in-the-wall café, we were all pumped up with coffee and sated with omelets. Back on Quest Robert and Steffi unpacked and settled in before Robert began assisting Dan in his attempt to get the Wirie up and running. Out of pure frustration at my inability to hook to the marina’s Wi-Fi, I headed to the office with hopes of some advice. Good thing! It seems that their Wi-Fi system was down and under scrutiny for its wayward performance during the last few days. Whew! At least now I could quit beating myself up trying to get it going. They kindly hooked me right up to their office line and I diligently worked on posting my delinquent blog. Meanwhile, Dan and Robert were successful in setting up the Wirie but still unable to hook up due to no Wi-Fi. Oh well, maybe later.

WE'RE ALL FAT AND SASSY AFTER A GOOD BREAKFAST

With all our work done we brought in our power cords, water hose, ramps and ropes. Time to set off for new places.

With lovely sailing conditions Quest lazily headed east. There were a few short naps taken along with some sunning on the deck and a little light reading. By 2:30 we were anchoring east of Salinas and ready to tender back to the town for some exploration.

The lovely Salinas appeared to have a strong middle class population. There were several beach side cantinas geared towards the tourist trade, small but tidy homes and a nice little resort with a marina. On our way back we managed to mostly stay out of the pounding rain but were rewarded with a rainbow. I guess that is the sign of a really good day.

HANGING OUR WITH THE FISHERMEN IN SALINAS

RAINBOW OVER THE BAY


Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment