West coast of Puerto Rico

[FinallyRetired]

DW and I took a mini-vacation to the west coast of Puerto Rico (we're snowbirds on the east coast), and took a few photos we thought we'd share.

One is of high cliffs in Cabo Rojo, on the southwest tip, by an old spanish lighthouse built in 1881. Another is of a sunset over the Mona passage around Rincon, which is a big surfing area. We saw a pod of humpback whales diving and coming up, spouting and slapping the water. It was hard to photograph but I managed to snap a photo of one by a small fishing boat.

 

[brewer12345]

Very cool. We have been all over PR except for the west coast and the Cordillera. I think on our next jaunt down there we will try to hit both. Is there lots to see and do in the west?

Oh, and since we didn't get to take our usual week in the sun in February this year: you are killing me with those pics.

 

[FinallyRetired]

Is there lots to see and do in the west?

Brewer, there's not nearly as much to see and do in the west as in the east. But what they have they show off very well. The west coast is more laid back, without the enclave resorts of the east coast. There's more B&Bs and beachfront condos, and you find more snowbirds, expats, and surfing [-]bums[/-] afficionados.

The weather is different also, the south coast is drier and hotter, with cactus in many places. I'll torture you a bit more by including a few more photos. One is of the dry hills on the drive southwest, and one is of "gilligan's island," a beach/fishing resort on the coast.

You mentioned the cordillera (other than the yunque rain forest, which you know). We've only done that in a few spots, because the mountains are high, the roads are very curvy and there's not a lot of places to stay overnight, so we only go when we have a specific destination. But whenever we've gone we've loved the scenery and the nature. I'll attach a photo we took last year of a beautiful high mountain lake we visited, where a pontoon boat took us to a hidden restaurant with good food and low prices.

Let us know when you make your next trip and we can give you specifics.

 

[brewer12345]

I've been to the SW coast and even hiked in the tropical dry forest. Its damned hot down there, although pretty. I even got to see the massively unfortunately named "Spanish dildo cactus" (I am not making this up, as dave barry would say). Never been to Rincon or Arrecibo region, though. We'll get there eventually.

BTW, even been to Casa Buena Vista? If not, worth the trouble to line up a tour. Its a gem.

 

[FinallyRetired]

Never been to Casa Buena Vista, it's on our list of places to get to. Been several times to the Cabezas de San Juan lagoon and lighthouse, run by the same people, the local nonprofit land alliance. When I call for lightouse reservations they always advertise the Buena Vista.

We've been spending a few months a year for the last seven years and every time we come down we always find new places to go and see. For such a small island, it really has a lot, but you need local knowledge and perseverence. Their tourism dept isn't the best at PR, no pun intended. I suspect if we compared places we've been to we'd find a number of additional places of which we're not aware.

If you make it to Arecibo, you should visit the ionospheric observatory that was in the movie Contact. And there's some caves around there, in Camuy, where you can go caving and rafting in an underground river. We've done the caves, but never the river -- building up the courage.

 

[brewer12345]

Arecibo sounds neat. Will have to make it there next time. We also have enjoyed a place called Casa Cubuy, which is on the back side of the El Yunque preserve. We stay at Casa Cubuy and basically have a chunk of the rain forest to ourselvers to hike through. Its beautiful and a lot more peaceful than the tourist areas close to San Juan.