Travel Tips

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El Morro and the Coast Guard boat

The lady who gave the port talks said that San Juan and El Morro made the most dramatic entrance of any harbor in the Caribbean and we should be sure to see it when we came in because it would be dark when we left at 9pm. So I made sure to get up and out on deck by 6:45 for that.

As soon as I got out on deck the lens of my camera fogged up because there was so much moisture in the air and it was so much warmer than the interior. But I finally got the lens dried off, and was able to take some pictures. I took pictures until it started to rain.

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Royal Caribbean boat across from us

Because originally we were to arrive at 1pm and only have the afternoon and evening in San Juan, and I wanted to see both the El Yunque Rainforest and the forts in Old San Juan, decided to make arrangements with a licensed guide instead of taking the ship's tours which were at the same time for both places. The person I contacted was Marian Balbin. I got her name from Juan Carlos Ortega on the San Juan AOL travel board as he has taken passed the test to be a guide but won't be licensed until after the first of the year.

She was to pick us up in her van at the ship and either visit the fort(s) first, and then drive to the rain forest or v.v. Apparently the problem with getting out to the rain forest and back in time before the forts opened would be a traffic problem.

When the captain decided to skip Great Stirrup Cay, that made the time in San Juan much more comfortable for doing both venues. Fortunately, I foresaw that there might be difficulty with phoning, and got her email address, and emailed her the change of plan.

So after I took my pictures of coming into the port (we were at pier one right next to the ferry dock in Old San Juan whereas the Royal Caribbean Jewel was across on the other side of the harbor), and we ate breakfast, we walked off the ship.

There were people at the entrance offering a city tour for $10 (way cheaper than the boat tour). I asked the first one if he knew Marian, and he did, and said he would wave to us when she arrived. I thought this was quite decent of him since we weren't taking his tour.

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Square or patio next to the ship dock with Bob

So we went and sat in the little park about 8 and after a few minutes Marian's brother drove up in her van and came out with a sign with our name on it but the other guide had already signaled us so he didn't need to get it out. Marian picked up another three passengers at hotels which brought down our price to $45 @ for the day which was much cheaper than the ships tours.

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Old church

I sat in the front of the van, but the reflections were sometimes a problem. Also I had a smudge on my lens which I didn't see right away and it makes and out of focus area in the middle.

Marian is actually from NYC, but has Puerto Rican parents. After her children were grown, and her parents moved back to PR, she followed them. So while she has an accent and of course speaks Spanish well, her accent was easy to understand.

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Art or grafitte

She explained that the name Puerto Rico (rich port) was originally applied only to the port and not to the whole Island. The San Juan name for the port came from San Juan Batista (St. John the Baptist) which I think was originally the name of the island.

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Beach on the way to the rainforest

After we picked up a guy from the Philippines who is now living in Trinidad (and who was caught in Miami in a hotel with no electricity during Wilma after he got off a cruise ship) and a couple at another hotel, we drove out of San Juan along a pretty beach. It was about 9:00

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Rio Grande

Half an hour later, we crossed the Rio Grande River (which Marian said was one of the larger rivers in Puerto Rico).

Next - visiting the El Yunque rain forest