San Juan, Puerto Rico

From Isla de Culebrita, we sailed about 65 miles west across the north side of Puerto Rico, to San Juan. Typically, cruisers prefer to sail along the south side of Puerto Rico, where there is more protection from the northerly swells and sketchy weather. But in summer months, beginning in April, the winds are down and the seas are calmer. It's also a more direct route for us as we head to the US.

San Juan off our port side and Kent at the helm 

Sails down and approaching San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico and the white marble-domed capital building makes it quite visible from the water. Isla San Juan is on the left as you enter the harbor. Old San Juan sits on Isla San Juan and the old fort there, Castillo del Morro, makes it hard to miss the entrance to the harbor. San Juan Harbor is a busy commercial harbor, with all kind of large vessel traffic, including huge cruise ships. But when we sailed in, no cruise ships were in town that day, and there was little traffic.

Old San Juan on Isla San Juan, the old city wall and La Fortaleza
overlooking the entry to the harbor

Jerry, keeping watch for vessels in San Juan Harbor

The San Juan Harbor Marina, where there are mostly
power boats and only a few sailboats

We had some difficulty docking at the marina. One of our engines failed and even though we have another engine, it makes it difficult to steer. Kent worked on the engine while we were under sail earlier in the day, but still couldn't get that warning light to go off before we arrived in the marina. Luckily, we had help from three men, two of which were fishermen. One volunteered to use his own dinghy as a tugboat, easing our boat into its space at the dock, while the other two men secured our lines. Thankfully, we were able to easily park ourselves at the dock. Without their assistance, we would have had to anchor out in the harbor. Kent has since maintained the engine, fixed the minor problem, and stocked up on extra parts at a nearby ship chandlery.    

Harbor lights at dusk

A panoramic view from our dock space in the marina after supper

A walk down the dock

A sticker on a nearby power boat, indicating that
it's been seized by Customs and Police

The seized boat docked across from our boat

We have a great view of the sailing school across from our dock space.
The children here in Puerto Rico are out of school for the summer season
and are enjoying their sailing lessons on Optis and Bics. We are
entertained as we drink our morning coffee and watch them
 as they work on their skills and sometimes capsize!  

The airport is just across the harbor and the planes and
helicopters roar across our boat beginning at 6 a.m. Great.

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to exploring Old San Juan.