Left Ponce on Friday and spent the first night at anchorage in Salinas. It was sure nice to be cruising again!! We loved Ponce and the Ponce Fish and Yachting Club marina, but it seemed like we have spent the last month shopping!!!! Dan, the kids and I were ready to get back out cruising.

Leaving Salinas, Saturday morning, we were headed to Palmas del Mar to spend the night. Luckily we had an early start because when we got there, a new marina has taken over all the anchorages. On to Plan B, which was Green Beach Vieques, the Spanish Virgin Islands. I can’t say that I was disappointed as I was so looking forward to the Virgin Islands, even if we are only as far as the Spanish Virgin Islands!! Vieques, as you may remember, is where the United States used to hold bombing practice. That is over now, and what is left is a beautiful island, and major party place for Puerto Ricans.
The party was in full swing when we got there, late that afternoon. Dan and I were enjoying a beautiful sunset, when a dinghy, overloaded with 6 middle aged guys, circled our boat. These guys were well into Happy Hour and the mast on our boat was a great conversation piece.
“Look,” the dinghy driver said. “Their mast is bent!”

Our mast in not bent. Where other boats have a straight up and down mast, ours is raked back to give more power.

“No,” the very sunburned shirtless one in front replied. “It’s like that man.”
“No!”
“Ya!”
They were so funny. Their accent was somewhere between Cheech and Chong and a Minnesota accent!

“No!”
“Ya! I seen it before, man.”
“Ya?”
“Ya!”

They circled us again.

“Why’s it bent?”
“It’s not bent, man! It gives them more power. I’ve seen it before.”
“Ya? Where you seen it before?
“On a sailboat man”
“Ya,” the other one finally agrees. “I’ve seen them on a sailboat. Why’s that one bent?”
“It’s not bent, man! It’s a sailboat!”

Dan and I couldn’t stop laughing. I had to resist the urge to tell them it wasn’t bent. Later that night, we got to hear them all doing karaoke to “Hotel California” until late in the evening. I don’t know of any other boat that brings their own karoake machine to an island, but as I said, these guys know how to party!!! We love Puerto Ricans!!!!!

Tonight we are enjoying a beautiful mangrove anchorage in Ensenada Honda. Just us and the dolphins, (and really big jellyfish!). It is suggested to navigate Vieques in a clockwise direction, but we are headed counterclockwise. So far it has been fine. Tomorrow, we leave Vieques and head to Culebra and a harbor with the same name, Ensenada Honda. I am sending this update through the satellite phone. Hopefully tomorrow we will have internet service and I can update with pictures.

 Puerto Ricans love their holidays! According to our rental car agent, the party starts at Thanksgiving and keeps going til late in January!!  Today we attended the current party, the ThreeKings Festival, in the self proclaimed “Bethlehem of Puerto Rico”,  Juana Diaz.   Three Kings Day celebrates the arrival of the three Kings at the birthplace of the baby Jesus.  The night before, children leave out hay for the Three King’s horses and are rewarded with gifts in the morning.  We made the mistake of being in Plaza Las Americas, yesterday in San Juan, and the mall was packed.  Puerto Ricans love their parties, children, boats and love to shop!  The toy store there was nearly empty of toys.  I have never seen that before!

Today, we headed to Juana Diaz early, as we heard it gets very crowded.  It is just north of Ponce and took only about 20 minutes to get there, and it was already packed at 9:30 am.  People were parked everywhere and we were driving around looking for a parking space.  Of course, I drive the wrong way down a one way street.  The street is crowded with cars parked along it, so I squeeze over to an empty space, right under a “No Estacione” (no parking) sign to let the cars pass who ARE going the right way.  As I am waiting, Dan spots a policeman on a motorcycle headed toward us. 

“He’s going to say something to you about going the the wrong way on a one way street!”

But no.  He passes on.  I wait patiently, facing the wrong way, in a no parking spot waiting as two more cars and another policeman pass me.  Finally, I am thinking, I am just going to park here.  The police have already seen me, and maybe on a day like today they don’t care where you park.  I see a gentleman walking on the street toward the car and I roll down my window.

“Excuse me.  Do you think I can park here?”  I ask.

He looks at me, looks at the no parking sign, looks down the street, then says, “You are going the wrong way on a one way street.”

“Yes,” I acknowledge the obvious.  “But if I was going the right way, would I be able to park here?”

 He looks at me again, then steps into the middle of the road to stop traffic.  He guides me forward and back, in the crowded narrow street, helping me to turn around and repark the correct way under the no parking sign.  What a gentleman!

Leaving our fabulous, close to the action parking spot, we head to the festivities.  It is not as crowded as I thought as we make our way over to join the crowds lining the street for the parade.  The parade comes down the street with the Three Kings, then ends at the stage in the Plaza, where the Three Kings will join the priests on stage for a mass.  Anyone can join the parade if they are dressed as a shepherd.  We opt to just watch.  And what a parade!  No wonder it didn’t seem to crowded yet to me, as everyone was IN the parade!  We watched in the heat for over an hour as shepherds, and marching bands, and trucks blaring music from huge speakers, beauty queens, and babies, and baby Jesus’ and floats carrying Mary and Joseph went by.  And it was hot.  But it was great.  It got me to thinking that I don’t remember taking Tristan and Tessa to parades when we were in the States.  That made me a little sad, as both my parents and Dan’s parents took us to lots of parades when we were growing up.  But if you get to see parades, Junkanoo and Three Kings are certainly ones to see!

After the Three Kings on horseback passed us, we made our way to the park to watch them enter, under the archway, into the plaza and onto the stage/alter.  The Kings were treated like Rock Stars.  Everyone wanted to shake their hand or get a picture of them.  While Dan and Tessa stayed under the shade, Tristan and I stood next to the walkway where the kings would pass.   We were so happy when King Baltasar shook our hand!!    They really worked the crowds and it took another half hour just to get all the Kings on the stage/altar.  By now it was so hot, some people were starting to faint.  If we were smart, we would have brought umbrellas to keep the sun off of us as many of the people did.  By the time the Kings finally made it to the stage, we were very hot and thirsty.  After getting some water, we went through the vendor tents to see the beautiful artwork for sale.  We sampled some of the food, and even though the party went on until late at night with more music, by 2:00 pm, under darkening skies, we were ready to go. 

All the way home, the kids, expecially Tristan, couldn’t stop talking about it.  He kept saying how glad he was we went.  It was a great time.  It wasn’t tacky, it was tasteful, and festive.  The music was upbeat, and it was touching to see the older people smiling, shaking maracas and singing to the music.  Families, from the elder, to the youngest, enjoying time together, that was so great to see.  Can you tell we love Puerto Rico?

 The music system    Local celebrities

 Yesterday we spent the day touring San Juan.  Old San Juan is filled with beautiful old buildings, cobblestone streets, and people everywhere.  With all the cruise ships coming in, there are many more tourists than in Ponce, but it doesn’t feel like the city has sold its sole to the cruise ships.  We focused mainly on the forts, starting first with Castillo de San Cristobal.  The fort was built by the Spanish in the 1700’s to protect the city of San Juan.  It used to cover almost 27 acres and was effectively a wall around the city.  It stood strong through several invasions, finally succumbing to the United States in the Spanish American War, in 1898.  It is now a United Nations National Historic Site.          

After we finished with San Cristobal, we walked down to San Felipe Del Morro, another impressive fort.                                                    

Outside the fort was an enormous grass field, where people were sitting reading books, flying kites, or just sitting and talking.  Our kids couldn’t pass up the chance to roll down the hill.  It looked like a great place to pass the day.   Just outside the fort, hidden away on a small piece of ocean front land was the Cementerio Santa Maria Magdalena De Pazzis.  It was absolutely breathtaking!                                                                    The sorrow expressed by some of the statues was so apparent, and so moving.  Many of the graves were very old.  I am not sure it is used much anymore, but a plaque on the outside said that many of Puerto Rico’s most influential men are buried there.  It is a must see if you ever go to Old San Juan. 

After that, we walked around the city and back down by the cruiseship docks where we were parked (after a quick stop at Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream).  We were exhausted by the time we got there, and the kids conked out on the way home. 

Today we took it easy, trying to get the boat back together.  The cabin lights we ordered came in and Dan tried one of them out.  Hopefully they will make the place brighter at night.  We have a few more places we want to visit, and a few boat chores we want to get done before we get out of here sometime next week.  Our next big outing is the Three Kings Festival we are looking forward to on January 6th!