Day 3: Beach and stars

Date: 03.03.2014

Today we had an off day from diving. When we got our asses off from the bed - it took some time, because I was resting my leg outside, drinking coffee and watching the geckos to do their things and the guys joined me. After that we headed to Esperanza to see the "tourist town" which is basically few beach side bars, small souvenir stores, and a large beach. There is a pier one one side, and it's filled with fish, so it's a great place to snorkel. The guys snorkeld for a while, and I staid at the beach underneath the coconut trees trying to get some sun on my white as... well, everywhere.

Unfortunately they did got bored pretty soon and Eerik wanted to rent scooters. He only got one and after a quick math, I offered to take the taxi back to our apartment and hang there for a while with my scraped knee.

The guys went to see some bunkers with the scooter. The marked road was really an overgrown dirt road, and they came back to the apartment complaining how they didn't feel their balls anymore (yeah, thanks for the info, and I loved to share that info also with you  ;) ), I'm pretty sure the suspension was dying underneath them, poor suspension.

After lying around for a while, we wanted to go to the biolumincent bay to see the glow. Getting a taxi back there wasn't possible, the dispatcher was force feeding me the bio tours and saying that the taxi cannot go nearer than in Esperanza, but fortunately they really could take us to the parking lot where the tour groups met. From there, we started walking (me and Timo) and Eerik played with his scooter.

Unfortunately the bay was pretty silent, except the lights and people around in their kayaks. We decided to head back and take some night pictures of the sky from the Sun Bay, before heading back to Esperanza to visit Carlito to get my Diving log book and temporary diving license.

Taxi service stnz as your service

We sat down at Lazy Jack's and I had a short chat with Carlito what to do next with my longer plan as a diver, before getting a taxi back to Santa Maria and heading back to bed.

Debriefing at Lazy Jack's (by stnz)

I found a 10cm moth, I placed it somewhere dark and safe after admiring it for a while

Day 1 in San Juan: El yunque

Date: 25.2.2014

On the first day in San Juan we went to El Yungue, a national forest in northeastern Puerto Rico.
Driving there without a breakfast was a little tense, last night we tried to find something to eat, but we only found a Burger King and a 24/7 gas station, with little to none real food. The gas station was cleaner and newer than any other we've visited during our trip, but the reminder where we were was obvious when we got to the cashier - they are behind a thick glass window, and scan the goods through it. You give the money with a slider, so there's no chance someone could grab the cashier and rob the place. Fun.

Well back to the park. You drive through it by car, and there are parking lots where you can leave your car - there can be a trail of some sort, or something to see near the road. First stop was a long waterfall right beside of the road after we got something to eat from the first place open inside the park. We also spotted one Geocache near it.

After the waterfall we skipped the tower next and went to a trail which leads to a waterfall where you can swim. The hike was only 1,4km long, but it had much descents and ascents. On the trail there were information boards about the nature in Puerto Rico, which told us that there aren't so many animal species around. We heard a lot of noise from different kind of birds, but didn't have the chance to see them. We only saw spiders and the guys saw a lizard I managed to miss.

The waterfall was very crowded and there was somewhere around 20 persons swimming in it for a time, but fortunately in a large area so the waterfall itself was pretty spacious place to go. The guys went there first, I just watched them from a more calmer pool and took photos of them and some random nice stuff I saw with my camera. Using fivefingers was a good idea, so I could really walk in the pool of water without falling and ruining my camera..

After that I also went try the waterfall, it was violent and cold, so I don't know if I won anything by trying it. The most gain I got by fotographing some of the people without them noticing, and getting some good shots of them (the internet in Vieques is bad, so sorry no DSLR-pictures this time :( ).

After that we hiked back, and went to eat some food which was made outside in the grill. Unfortunately I was feeling pretty cold, and using the thermometer back at our apartment told me that I had ~38C fever.

For that reason, the next day (26.2.) I staid inside, resting, while the guys were visiting Arecibo Observatory.

View from the balcony of our San Juan apartment, this came pretty familiar to me on Wednesday  while riding the mystery fever