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February 07, 2004
San Juan Revisited
If I still didn't have a bit of a sunburn, swollen lip and all, I would think our sun and surf filled days in San Juan were a distant memory already. Whoa, what a difference a few degrees in latitude make.
The photo below was taken on the beach in front of our hotel looking west toward Old San Juan and the harbor where all the ships come in. Apparently there was quite a stir the day before we got there because the Queen Mary was in port for a day.
San Juan is on the Atlantic side of Puerto Rico so it was pretty windy...I did my best to spend my days on the beach holding down the towels and turning the pages of my book only when I wanted them turned. Speaking of book; I highly recommend The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Granted, I almost gave up on it but Greg convinced me to persevere and I'm glad I did. I'll be shipping it off to the "southern" Johnstons, since I'm sure they will all like it. OK...who wants it first?
So as I was saying...I held down the beach everyday. However, on Thursday, I went on a day long sail/snorkel trip to Paradise Island. I love snorkeling; there were only 14 passengers on our 50'catamaran; the water was warm enough and the fishes and coral were pretty darn good. After spending time at a "secluded" beach area ( only 3 other catamarans were anchored in the area), we then moved on over to a reef not far from there where the Atlantic and Carribean Oceans meet. We were advised to stay on the Carribean side of the reef. Very cool. It always amazes me though to find someone on these adventures who doesn't swim at all and finds themselves in trouble drifting away and panicking....why do they get in the water? We basically motored our way to our destinations but sailed back to port...what a beautiful ride! I could do that all day everyday .... for at least a few days, anyway.
Puerto Rico in general and San Juan specifically was not terribly impressive. Maybe once we got our of the urban areas ( of San Juan) it would be more tolerable but even the hour drive to the port of Fajardo brought us through more crowded areas than I'd like. There's also something to be said for a place where all the windows have bars on them...albeit decorative. They are still bars and they aren't meant to protect one from hurricanses, ya know.
Sun and surf are great...home is pretty darn good too. Now where is that aloe....
Posted by frani at February 7, 2004 09:29 AM
Comments
It sounds liek you had a wonderful time!!!
Posted by: Risa at February 7, 2004 08:57 PM
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