In a nutshell we arrived in Puerto Rico with quite low expectations and we loved it! It has actually been on of our favorite destinations so far. To start with we had amazing friends living in the island, then the locals are extremely welcoming, Culebra Island is heaven on earth, most of the coastline has very little development and finally Rincon has some world-class surfing spots.
We keep learning that you can’t really find out much about a place on Internet. It is really hard to forecast and plan our route and timings because it is only when we arrive in a place, once we get to know the people and the spots, that we really know how much we should have stayed.
Our next stop in beautiful Puerto Rico was Rincon, but we decided to stop at Arecibo first, which was half way between San Juan and Rincon. We had a very easy and nice sail west and anchored inside a very protected bay.
After the boat was secured, we went to take Feijão for a walk and we tied the dinghy at Club Nautico Arecibo. We went to ask the manager if we could leave the dinghy there for a few minutes and we had another super pleasant surprise. We were welcomed like kings. Everyone wanted to know our story and we even had a member of the club, Alvin, giving us a donation and inviting us for dinner. How can we be so lucky?
We wanted to stay longer at Arecibo since the locals were so amazing, but we had to keep moving since a big swell was coming in and we wanted to find safe anchorage in Rincon. There, Greg Carson, a big wave surfer and owner of the local dive shop Taino Divers, welcomed us. He is a super cool guy who helped us a lot while we were in town.
To our surprise some friends we met in San Juan (Oscar, Say and Rey) came to visit us. Oscar and Say are super yoga instructors, they have a great energy and are super fun to be around. Rey is the nicest kid we have had on the boat so far, he takes care of a mega yatch in San Juan and is quite knowledgeable around boats, in addition to being a great photographer, flying his drone, editing and cutting images. We wish they had stayed longer and we hope to see them again in the future.
Feijão continues to eat and sleep like a champ. Here in Rincon there are lots of mango trees around, we picked up lots of them and brought to the boat, and now this fruit is quite close to bananas in Feijão’s list of favorite things to eat in the world.
The surfing in Rincon has lived to its expectations. The swell was bigger than I expected and the waves were perfect. There weren’t that many people in the water and the locals were super friendly.
Suddenly I saw the future in front of my eyes… A guy was ridding the waves with a prototype of a foil board that runs on batteries. It felt like the most amazing thing on earth. I hope he is successful on his venture and that his baby takes over the world. I would have loved to have tried that thing!
Now it is time to move forward. Sarah and I will cross the much-feared Mona Passage and then sail three days all by ourselves all the way to Turks and Caicos. At our last sunset in Puerto Rico Feijão and us watch the sun drop right behind Desecheo islands, an amazing diving spot we may check on our way out tomorrow.
