La Paraguera to Ponce

Cabo Rojo to La Parguera. December 30 - January 5, 2011

A short travel day again today, less than two hours, which is always music to my ears. We followed the coast and once again enjoyed magnificent views of the cloud formations cresting the mountain tops. As we approached La Parguera, nestled at the base of the mountains, we started to see the bright colors of the waterfront homes come into view.

One of the cruising guides states “a few years ao he town closed its borders to the bottle throwing students and the dykes on bikes crowd. These moved to Boqueron, and the adults came back”. Another author states that “Ask anybody who has ever spent any time in La Parguera and you’ll notice a smile spread across their face as they recall fond memories, such is the magic of this place. We certainly concur.

The anchorage is well protected by the outer reefs, yet the ocean breeze can still be enjoyed.

Once again we found that the economy and time of year saw many bvusinesses closed, but the super markets, some restaurants, hotel and post office were all open, as were the dive shops and boat rental facilities.

New Years Eve in La Parguera

It was time to get cleaned up and ready to party. Alan shaved his own hair, while Jan gave Tim a haircut on the bow of Lamb Chop.

New years eve was fairly quiet, with dinner ashore at Yolanda's, one of the only restaurant bars open that evening. The square awas deserted nd all the small vendors were closed. Yolanda's is owned and operated by a father son team, formerly from New Jersey.

Earlier in the week we had inquired about lobster for sale and they said they would get us lobster for New Year's Eve.We arrived for dinner about 7pm, which is early for Puerto Ricans, though I doubt there would be many diners after us, but the bar was getting busy.

Alan and Tim felt obligated to order the lobster, and an enormous Caribbean spiney lobster was served.

 They had to be about five pounds each, and these were the smaller ones. Jan had the camerones (shrip) and Susann had the snapper, the entire fish, complete with head, tail and eyeballs. It was a good meal and we did not leave hungry.

As a token of appreciation, a goofy ball cap was given to two goofy guys.

Upon our return to the boats at anchor, we danced and toasted the New Year with champagne and Ferrra Roche chocolates, even though it was not yet midnight.

Lights out is much earlier for the cruising world.

1-1-2011 Happy New Year

Just west of La Parguera is Isla Cueva, home to 400 monkeys. We did not see or hear any monkeys on our dinghy exploration, but we did cruise through the beautiful and tranquil mangrove channel that runs between the island and mainland. As we entered the channel, we were enveloped by an overhead canopy of mangroves. The water was crystal clear inside.

La Parguera is best known for its bioluminescent lagoons and this evening we took a boat tour to view the microscopic luminescent plankton that glow when the water is stirred up. This is best viewed on a moonless night and at $6 per person, we felt it was worth the trip. A swimmer entered the lagoon in total darkness and as he swam back and forth alongside the boat, the water lit up like a glow stick. It was pretty neat..

Gilligan’s Island and Ensenada

Another early morning departure bound for Gilligan’s Island. A small state park amidst the mangroves, where locals and tourists come by ferry to picnic and swim in the shallow clear waters. The picnic area was full when we walked through and the smell of bbq was certainly whetting our appetites.

The weather was partially overcast and a cool wind was blowing so we opted for a dinghy exploration to nearby Ensenada rather than a swim. The ride was somewhat lumpy, especially on the return trip. After searching for a place to dock in this small industrial area, we asked a local which way to town. What we saw of Ensenada indicated that it was not an area frequented by cruisers or visitors. After a 15 minute walk along a muddy, leaf strewn sidewalk, we arrived at what looked like a town square (Kioskos Touristicos) where the young locals gathered on the side street listening to the music booming from one of the two open kiosks. This was our introduction to empanadillas (meat or seafood filled turnovers) and Medalla, ice cold local beer. At $8 for four beers and three empanadillas, we knew that this was not an area frequented by gringos. By the way, the empanadillas were excellent and looked far less greasy than those we saw in Boqueron and the beer was partially frozen, but very refreshing.

Caja de Muertos/Ponce

This morning we were up at 6am to check weather conditions and up anchor for Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island) named because from a distance, it looks like a corpse with arms laid across the chest. This is another state park and reported to be one of the nicest beach areas around. The wind was much fresher than forecast and the swell much shorter period with some wind driven chop on top. All in all, conditions that rocked the boat and gave us all a good shaking, with spray coming up over the fly bridge. Upon arrival at Coffin Island, we found conditions in the anchorage very active and not comfortable, so we elected to head back six miles to Ponce.

Once safely anchored in the calm of Bahia Ponce, we took a dinghy ride and learned that the only place to tie up was next to the boardwalk, where we were told that we should lock the dinghy and notify the police (which we did). We called the Ponce Yacht Club after reading that we could leave the dinghy on their dock for $5 per person, per day, only to be told that this is a private yacht club and the cost to just tie the dinghy was $10 per person, per day. Needless to say we chose the first option. At this point we were thinking that Ponce is not boat friendly.

Ponce - second largest city in Puerto Rico
Weather conditions are still unfavorable for travel to Coffin Island or Salinas. After some phone calls, we located a taxi company that spoke English and for $8 would pick all four of us up at the boardwalk and take us into the historic area of Ponce.

The taxi dropped us off at the Parque de Bombas (fire station and museum) in Plaza de Las Delicias in the heart of historic downtown.
The red and black Parque de Bombas was built as a pavilion for the Agricultural Exposition Fair in 1882, and later became the headquarters of the municipal fire fighters. Today, it is a museum and Tourist Center.

Red and black are the colors of Ponce, and on the fire station, red represents fire and black represents the ashes.

We took a guided trolley tour of Ponce for $2 per person. The tour operator spoke both Spanish and English, although he was hard to follow at times because he spoke very fast and with a heavy accent. Still, it was great value and an enlightening tour of the lovely historic district.


It was 1:30 when the tour ended and we were all raveneous. The Thomas Restaurant and Café was recommended, and due to the holidays, one of just a few open for business. We enjoyed a great lunch, followed by a most informative guided tour of the Ponce History Museum, which surprised us with there being no charge to view this majestic old home or the guided tour, and no-one was looking for a tip!

Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe)
The cathedral is one of Ponce's treasures, located in Plaza de Las Delicias, directly behind the fire station. Unfortunately we were not able to view inside since it is only open from 9am - 1pm.

The two statues on the top of the cathedral were originally desined to fit in the two cupolas above the doors. Unfortunately someone somewhere goofed, and the statues were to large to fit into the designated spot, so the cupolas sit empty and the statues are mounted on the roof.
The sight seeing trolleys depart across the street from the cathedral.
Another must see in Ponce (as we have been told by many visitors) is the Art Museum, said to be outstanding. Unfortunately due to Puerto Rican Christmas (January 6th) most of these must sees were closed. Perhaps we can catch them on our return trip.




We walked among the many street vendors and stores, all promoting gifts for children for “Kings Day” a family celebration where the three kings bring gifts of candy and toys to the children on January 6th. Before going to bed, the children place balls of grass or hay in a shoe box and place it beneath their bed, offering nourishment for the king’s camels, similar to our tradition of milk and cookies for Santa.
Some of the store and street displays were unfamiliar to us, such as the row of mannequin bottoms displaying a myriad of jeans, which sparked Captain Koas’ interest, as demonstrated by the photo.

We completed our day with a treat of Chinese home made ice cream, and it was delicious! Our choices included vanilla, chocolate and Susann’s combination of passion fruit and coconut, which was heavenly and could easily become addictive. Our tour guide explained that it is called Chinese ice cream because the business is owned by a Chinese business man. It is worth a special trip to Ponce just to have that divine ice cream!

Another $8 taxi ride delivered some weary souls back to the dinghy.
An early night for us all: in preparation for tomorrow’s departure for Coffin Island or Salinas, destination dependent upon weather, wind and waves.