We three buddy boats had a lovely cruise from Caja de Muertos to Salinas on April 22nd. Caretta even put up sails for a while. We were anchored in the spacious bay by 10:30am. Although our boats were anchored in the bay for six nights, we were onboard for only four of those. The other two nights we spent in San Juan.
Salinas Bay is surrounded by lots of small restaurants and local shops, including a small marine store, all within easy walking distance. There are three marinas around the bay, the largest being Marina de Salinas. This area is really the outskirts of the town, which is about 1.5 miles away. Salinas is one of those stops cruisers make because it is a large bay with easy access to provisions and other boating needs. The marina is friendly and for a $50/month “bay membership” from Marina de Salinas, cruisers may receive shipments there, as well as use the facilities (though not the pool). Being centralized along the south coast of an island that is not particularly large, it’s also easy to rent a car to travel to other parts of Puerto Rico while one’s boat remains safely anchored in the bay. The three of us buddy boats took advantage of all of this. We enjoyed use of their showers, dinghy dock and dumpsters. Our friends had their new Starlinks shipped to the marina office. Our last night there, we enjoyed dinner and some fabulous live music at the marina’s restaurant. The live music was the playlist from every middle and high school dance I ever attended. We were all singing along. So much fun!
The best part of our stop in Salinas, however, was that we rented cars for a trip to Old San Juan and El Yunque National Park.
Monday, April 24th, we all piled into two rental cars and headed north for Old San Juan. The drive was easy and just over an hour long, and the mountainous scenery was beautiful. Once in Old San Juan, it took us 20 minutes to find parking, which we eventually did, three parking garages later. It was past lunch time by then, so we took care of that first. Then we started wandering around the cobblestone streets of the old town enjoying the architecture and lovely colors of the buildings.
Eventually we found our way to the northeast point of San Juan Bay and El Morro (Castillo San Felipe del Morro), which is now a National Park. Dave, Barry, Andrea and I toured inside El Morro, while Mike, Victoria and Ocean explored the substantial grounds; they don’t allow dogs inside. This was the second fort build in what is now Old San Juan, with construction lasting from 1539-1790, resulting in a six-level fortress. It was under Spanish rule until 1898 when the United States won the Spanish-American war and Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S. (along with Cuba, Guam and the Philippines). From then until 1961, El Morro became part of a larger U.S. Army post called Fort Brooke. The U.S. Army retired the fort in 1961, turning it over to the National Park Service to preserve as a museum. In 1983, the Castillo and city walls, many of which are still standing, were declared a World Heritage site. It’s expansive and the views from the highest level are amazing! We didn’t have much time to read placards, so this little history lesson comes from Wikipedia and the National Park Service.
We continued our fortress tour by walking over to Castillo San Cristóbal. In 1625 the Dutch took San Juan by land. This takeover only lasted two months before they were driven out, but it prompted the Spanish to construct a fortress for protection of San Juan by land. They constructed a tiny redoubt in 1634, but it wasn’t until 1766 that the current structure was started. This one only took 17 years to build. It was even larger than El Morro, but in 1897 a large portion of it was taken down to allow the city to expand because it had been busting at the seams. We toured what’s left, but even faster than El Morro. This structure had cisterns for water storage; clever. Otherwise, it was like most fortresses we’ve visited from that time period. It was part and parcel of the larger fortress system in San Juan, so its timeline after the Spanish-American War is the same as that of El Morro. [Wikipedia][National Park Service]
Tuckered out from walking around in the heat, and being almost 5pm, we decided it was time to check into our hotel. Actually, we had booked in at the San Augustin Apartments about ½ mile from the eastern end of Old San Juan. The apartments were very nice and reasonably priced when booked through bookings.com. There were two bedrooms, one twin bed and one queen bed, plus a pull-out sleep sofa in the living area. The smallish bathroom had a very nice shower. The living/dining area had the pullout sofa, a TV and table/chairs. There was also a kitchenette with a ¾ fridge, 2-burner conduction stove, sink, coffee maker, and everything you’d need to make and eat your own meals if you felt so inclined. Except the food, of course. They even have parking about half a block down the street. The apartments are gated with a code, so it felt safe. It’s in a blue-collar part of town, not pretty, but friendly. Most of the inhabitants work in Old San Juan, where it is too expensive to live. If I ever go back for a longer visit to Old San Juan, I would stay here. At any rate, we showered and rested and then went in search of dinner, which we found about ½ mile away and on the water. It was beautiful and delicious.
The following day we went to El Yunque National Park, but that deserves its own blog post, so I’m skipping it for now. Moving on…
Our final morning in San Juan, Wednesday April 26th, we walked to the edge of the old city to a waffle/tea house. They had waffles topped with anything from eggs benedict to granola and fruit. We ate heartily. Our waitress is a part time singer. When she learned we were staying in Salinas on our boats, she told us about a musician we had to try to listen to if we had the chance. His name is Manolo Mongil. Guess who provided the live music I mentioned above, that we rocked out to our last night in Salinas. None other. Small world.
After breakfast we checked out of the apartments, bundled into the cars, and commenced with the shopping. We hit West Marine, Wal Mart, Costco, Petco, and an auto parts store in a huge shopping plaza just outside of San Juan. With our trunks packed full, we headed back to Salinas to unload our purchases onto our boats. Then we bundled back into the cars and headed to the nearby Econo Supermarket to finish off our provisioning, which for Dave and I was for the final portion of our trip through mid-June. It was already late when we got to the supermarket, and we all smelled the rotisserie chickens they cleverly placed at the front of the store near the checkouts. Guess what we all bought for dinner that night? It was a long, tiring, but productive day for us all.
The following day was low key. Then we went ashore to the marina restaurant for drinks, dinner, trip planning, and that awesome live music by Manolo Mongil. This wrapped our stay in Salinas, as we would depart early the following morning for the Spanish Virgin Islands.
My next post will circle back to our trip to El Yunque. I took so many pictures that I need to sort through first before putting together a slide show, and El Yunque definitely warrants a slide show. So next week El Yunque and after that, the Spanish Virgin Islands.
Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!
Life on Lady 
Thank you, quite intriguing. My daughter’s fiance is from Puerto Rico. They both visit his family there from time to time. Someday I will do the same.
LikeLike