1/17- Caught a 7:30 flight out of Atlanta and landed in San Juan around noon (lost 1 hour en route). No rental car this time. I simply took a taxi to my condo, right on the beach at Isla Verde. I found that there were several sit down and fast food restaurants within walking distance plus a CVS and convenience store, so no car is needed if you plan to stick to Isla Verde.
I got a quick burger at a nearby restaurant then put on my suit and hit the water. The water was a clear emerald green with light brown sand that almost bordered on golden with plenty of tall tropical palm trees. Very nice as expected. This was my first time below the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 18.5 here). Temps were in the low-mid 80s and quite humid away from the coast but the water temps were just about 80 degrees, which is just about perfect. Cool enough to be refreshing but not nearly cold enough to be uncomfortable. There were a few passing rain showers but none lasted for more than a few minutes and often, it was dry just a few hundred yards further down the beach. Days often dawned overcast, so I never got very good sunrise pictures, but it usually turned sunny by the afternoon.
As for the language barrier, Spanish is not necessary in tourist areas. Almost everyone can speak English well. When I did speak Spanish to locals, they could understand me but usually answered in English. However, I have heard that if you travel off the beaten path in Puerto Rico, you will be expected to speak Spanish and comprehension of English may be limited. The island was hit by several recent earthquakes around 6.0 on the Richter scale but there was no apparent damage in the San Juan area. Areas further south may have been a problem.
In terms of wave action, it was interesting. Isla Verde, where I stayed, is separated from Pine Grove by a rocky corner. On each side, the farther away that you got from the rocks, the bigger the waves became. That’s good for everyone. Families with small children could stay near the rocks while more adventurous folks caught the big waves. I experienced 1 knock down, several head shots and plenty of good long rides to the shore.
Unfortunately, on my last day, my inflatable boogie board deflated after just 1 hour. I figure that I must have punctured on a rock of hard sand. Too bad. I still managed to have fun that day though.
This was the weekend of the San Sebastian Festival in Old San Juan. I had planned to take a bus to check it out briefly but after waiting for about an hour at a stop no bus came by. Oh well, it was probably better. This festival is rumored to be on par with Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It would have been a total zoo scene with little chance of meeting a friend. I ended up stopping for beers at a Mexican restaurant where I enjoyed a conversation with a younger guy from NYC who also shares my passion for travel.
Final thought:
All in all, it was a good trip but given the short amount of time, I would have opted for Cancun or the Dominican Republic if I had it to do again. Puerto Rico has so much more to offer and you just can’t do it justice in a long weekend. Word is that Rincon in the west has epic surf conditions and there is a really nice rainforest (El Yunque) with mountain hiking trails plus the obvious tourist spots in San Juan. I’ll be back.
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