Where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic

The town of Ricon is a surfers paradise. This part of the island has very high waves and a vast open ocean.  Our place for next two nights is a house on the hill setup with 3 studios and 2 one bedrooms which overlooks the sea on one side and the mountains on the other.  The owner lives on the third floor. 

Unfortunately, we never had a good sunset.  Jason the owner let us check in at 11:00 because he had no one staying here. This was great for us and just about gave us another day instead of the usual 3:00pm check-in.  So we brought in our stuff and headed to the beach. We were planning on going snorkeling but Elenita was not comfortable with the waves. So we headed to a beach Jason recommend by a hotel. We spent about 1 hour and 30 minutes and then our stomachs starting asking for lunch. So we went searching. Funny thing happened by accident we found a place that Frederick recommended the day before. It was a little pricey but we had two wonderful New York style deli sandwiches. We came back and enjoyed our place until dinner.  Believe it or not we actually discovered a very good Thai restaurant with a great view of the stars and the night sky. 

Tuesday morning was relaxing with the views and having breakfast on our terrace. This was a day of exploring the coast where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic Ocean.  Our first stop was at a city beach in the town of Aguadilla. The beach was called Crash Boat beach. Elenita was on a mission to find a bathroom. She stopped and asked a lady in Spanish sitting on a bench who told her she didn't speak Spanish but she thought the bathroom was up the hill. After the bathroom stop we came back to thank her. We discovered she was from Indiana visiting her son. We talked for a little while with the two of them. Her son (I forgot his name) told us of a beautiful road to take along the ocean toward the town of Isabela where he lived. There were restaurants along the road overlooking the sea. Using Yelp we found a wonderful place with a fabulous view called Sonido del Mar (sound of the sea). Elenita ordered mahi mahi in a garlic sauce and I had octopus in a garlic sauce. We both had mofongo as a side. Here is a photo mine. 

It was a wonderful meal and the waitress was very nice and friendly.  

We went searching for the famous old train tunnel along the ocean we read about in Lonely Planet. We drove along the coast until the road took us a little inland. After stopping at a little park and getting some directions we finally found the tunnel walk.

 

There was also a trail through the tunnel and along the ocean. 

At the end of the trail we were rewarded with a view of the big open sea. 

 

We walked back through the tunnel and decided to go back to Ricon and enjoy our place.

On Wednesday on our drive back to San Juan we decided to stop and visit the worlds largest radio telescope in Aricebo.  This is where the 1995 James Bond movie Golden Eye was filmed.  I have to admit it was very impressive.

 In San Juan we spent the night at a hotel near the airport before our flight to Panama for our next adventure

Observations: The island of Puerto Rico is about 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. This island is packed with an immense diversity from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. With mountains, rain forests, and Spanish colonial towns. There are modern highways and US strip malls with Burger King, McDonalds and Walgreens drug stores on about every corner. For the most part the majority of the toll roads were in pretty good shape. There are a lot of small winding roads through the island especially in the mountains and along the coast. Many of these roads were also very narrow. Puerto Rican people for the most part are friendly and warm accept behind the wheel of a car. They are not the nicest drivers. They block intersections, they do not stop at cross walks for pedestrians, they will not let you enter the road from a side street or a driveway. They also for no reason stop in the middle of the street without concerns of who is behind them. It appears to be that in the car they have there goal and no one will get in their way.  Speed limit signs are in miles, distances between towns are displayed in kilometers, gas is priced in liters, products in stores are sold in pounds. 

Memories:

Walter the juice maker at ocean park. 

Diana and Gabriel the daughter of a friend if ours from San Miguel.  Having Elenita's son Jason here for Christmas. 

Frederick from Ponce and the American and his mother at Crash Boat beach.