Puerto Rico
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The spanish speaking island of Puerto Rico lies on the north edge of the caribbean sea, just east of Hispanola. It is a US territory, but there is some controversy about that. For at least the last ten years there has been a movement to have Purto Rico become another US State, with about a 50 % backing, and a movement to have Puerto Rico become and independant country, again with about a 50% backing. The island has beautiful beaches as well as tropical rain forests. Its main tourist attraction are the casinos. I have no idea what thay are like, as I do not enjoy giving my money away to dealers. It is home to the Bacardi distillery and the embarkation point of many caribbean cruise to the both the eastern and western caribbean.
We have been to this island 5 times to embark on cruises aboard the Carnival Lines Festival (twice), and Tropical, aboard the Norwegian Lines Seaward and to connect on a flight to a Windjammer Barefoot Cruises aboard the Flying Cloud.
We have not spent much time on this island, unfortunately, but we did once take a shopping tour of Old San Jaun. People keep tring to tell me you can by gold cheaply in San Jaun as well as in other places in the caribbean. I have not seen it. Gold is a world wide commodity and basically sells for one price around the world. If you find a bargin in gold, I would question its origins and/or purity. If you go to San Jaun, you really should tour the Bacardi facility.
We did have quite an experience leaving the island our first time there. Just before the TWA L1011 (a 310 passenger jet) 10:30 AM flight, fully loaded with passengers and 7 days worth of luggage and souvenirs, rotated, the left engine overheat light came on in the cockpit. We made an emergency stop at the far end of the runway, burning up the brakes in the process. The captain told me later he would rather have slide into the ocean than to have been on fire in the air over it. I agreed with him. After waiting for an hour or so at the end of the runway to fix the brakes, we taxied back to the terminal. Another hour later and we were back in the terminal. The problems started about 6 PM. We had not eaten since breakfeast, the maintainance crews working on the plane (Eastern Contract Mechanics, not TWA) went home with the plane still broken and the terminal operators (not TWA) closed the TWA terminals and turned out the lights, with 310 of us still there. The airplanes crew were in the same plight as the rest of us. They finally broke open the flights meals and passed them out to the waiting passengers. About 1 AM they found us a place to stay over night. About 2:30 we finally got to bed, but had to be up at 7:00 to catch the 8:00 taxi back to the airport for a 10:00 departure. Back at the airport, the Captian and First Officer told me the plane had not been completed yet. TWA had flown mechanics in from Florida and they had worked on the plane all night. The were testing the engine and it would take awhile. Some people, realizing it was the same airplane they would be boarding, opted not to get aboard and found other methods home. It turned out to be a heat sensor opening cooling flaps and indicating hot when there was really no problem. It was just hard to track down. Many people were angry at TWA, but their employees did all they could do. The problems the passengers encountered were really the fault of the Eastern Mechanics and the San Jaun terminal operators. Actually, we enjoyed sponteniety of it all. They flight finally left for St. Louis about 12:30, some 26 hours late. It was a good flight. Many passegers had made other arrangements home and the flight was now nearly empty. We had enjoyed talking to the flight crew during the problem. On the flight back, the flight crew said we were the only to people to have said a kind word to them during the ordeal. What a shame. They offered to pack all the champaign on board for us, but we declined.
Click on the icons below to see some pictures of the Puerto Rican Port
line up of ships
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US Coast Guard
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Under Construction
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