Jan 1, 2013 - San Juan to Macedonia

I'm leaving warm San Juan and heading to cold Ohio. I'll miss the warm beaches, but I'm looking forward to spending time with my 2 year old niece and the arrival of my nephew! I'll be flying all day today, from San Juan, to Orlando, to Dulles, to Akron. I'll have my best friend with me until we split in DC. Cold northeast, here I come!

Mar 6, 2012 - Gustavia, St. Barts

Our 3rd port was Gustavia, St. Barts for which I could not get the map to plot its location. We tendered in to this small very French island with Swedish street names earlier days. The rich and very well-to-do come here with their outrageous yachts and to stay in their magnificent mansions overlooking the gorgeous peacock blue waters. The reddish orange roofs reminded me a bit of Santa Barbara, CA. We walked around town for a couple of hours. No sense trying to shop; could never afford the long strands of huge white and black pearls! or...

Mar 5, 2012 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our 2nd port - San Juan. Much prettier and inviting. Loved walking along the Paseo la Princessa to the fort, El Moro. The fort is huge; spent 2 hours investigating nooks and crannies and photographing the spectacular views. Amazing wall for many blocks, sometimes 8-16 feet thick! We walked over 4 hours today and got extremely hot and tired but happy to see as much as we did. The streets of the Old City are very narrow, many with cobblestones which were actually ballast stones from old sailing ships. Laughed to see a Ben & Jerry's ice cream...

Jan 12, 2012 - The Fermi Paradox Reformulated

My American Airlines twin prop aircraft flies in a straight line from Santo Domingo to San Juan and, once we have crossed the Caribbean Sea, the west coast of Puerto Rico comes into view. As the propeller plane flies low I can, with my guidebook map in my hand, easily recognise the features on the ground, as the island slowly moves from right to left under my window. A little bulge to the left on the east coast with the city of Rincon, then the main road #2 along the north coast to Arecibo. From Arecibo two roads, the 2 and the 22, lead to...

Jan 7, 2012 - Puerto Rico: Where Spain on the way down met the US on the way up

Apart from the breakfasts, I was happy to be in Puerto Rico(PR). It has much more of an American feel than I had anticipated and it starts right at the San Juan airport where you step into the enveloping humid warm weather, cross over the taxi lane and on to the second lane where an endless stream of car rental shuttles trawl by, just as in every other American city. After Cuba, which as you will have noted, I didn’t like that much, and the Dominican Republic, where I enjoyed the Zona Colonial and in particular the Alcazar de Colon, the...

Jul 30, 2011 - San Juan Viejo

Welcome Back - The last segment of the trip was a brief stopover in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I'd visited the island twice in the past but this was my first stay in Old San Juan. I was fortunate to find lodging at Posada de San Francisco, in the heart of the old city, just across from Plaza Colon. Old San Juan is a great place to walk, observe people, enjoy the architecture, drop into old cafes for a Mallorca and Cafe. Mallorcas are delicious sweet-bread pastries dusted with sugar. The coffee is brewed in an urn said to be over 100 years old....

May 19, 2011 - Isabel Segunda, VIEQUES

this is our second stop on the Island. Yesterday we anchored of the south western tip after 20 miles in the shelter of mountian tops and sand beaches, protected from the wind and waves. To day we headed out with light winds and a forcast for 15kn. With a reefed main and small stay sail we sailed tight to the wind and anchored just of the town of Isabel. The wind coming off from the shore and a slight swell from east,we were rolling at anchor again. Time to make use of all those boating magazine article readings. Why not try a bridle? With a...

May 17, 2011 - Another wet day

Up at 5 am, coffee brewing. Weather forcast called for no precipitation until 1 pm, ya right. The rain started coming down before the first cup was drank. House batteries were low so we ran the generator for 45 minutes to stabilize the refrigerator and freezer and charge the batteries while we watched the weather. Although we were anchored behind two shoals and close to the beach and town, we had had enough of rolling in the small swells broadside as the wind came from another direction. Anxious to get moving and relocated as the forcast...

May 16, 2011 - Tough to get moving

Funny is'nt it! you stop for a few days and then it's weeks before you get moving. This is what has been happening lately. We spent two more weeks in La Salanas after our friend Colin left. We thought it would only be four days as we waited for a replacement prop for our outboard dingy motor, thankfully we picked up a 4 hp spare way back in Indiantown FL. The replacement was delayed five more days and when it showed up it was wrong of course. During our time we made the best of it, Our inflatable/deflatable dingy got us back and forth to...

Apr 27, 2011 - Walking from Domincan to Puerto Rico with John & Deb

John and Debbie have asked me to write today's entry in their journal. I have been travelling with them for a little over 2 weeks now. For those who don't know, I am Colin Templeton, and I have been friends with John since we met at Cook's Bay Marina in Keswick, Ontario some 15 or more years ago, and with Deb since they met. We were power boaters back then, and although John has clearly adapted well to sailing, I am still having trouble adapting to the pace. The Whitby 42 has a hull speed of 7 knots. In layman's terms, it means that the...

Mar 18, 2011 - March 9, 10, & 11

Stopped in San Juan, Puerto, Rico, and, on March 10, in St. Johns, Antigua, known as the "Land of Sea and Sun." Cally waws our driver, who drove us to a place where we could swim with the sting rays. I was the lucky one who got "kissed" (bitten) by a sting ray. We were treated to Cavalier Antigua rum, 150 proof, afterwards. It made the bite feel a lot better. Friday, March 11, we were in Castries, St. Lucia. Went snorkeling at the "Bay of Pigs"--a local Marine Reserve. We were again treated to rum punch. The boat driver was Vernon and his...

Jan 27, 2011 - Day One

After a good nights sleep we were up and at it fairly early. We went off down the street in search of Starbucks and Walgreen's, they are conveniently located next to each other. It was a beautiful hot muggy day, we sat outside of Starbucks and had our coffee waiting for Walgreen's to open. It never did so we decided to go back down the other end of the street to the one that was open... sheesh. On our way we decided to detour to the beach, there was a geocache that we wanted to get as well as walk on the beach. Of course we couldn't find...