Unfortunately, this adventure was coming to an end and it was time to return to reality. Since we barely got any sleep the night before, we woke up pretty late and headed out to old San Juan for breakfast. Afterward we decided to try and make it out to the Bacardi factory for a quick tour. By the time we got there, I did not have enough time to go on a tour, but we still got our drink tickets and had a couple beverages on the house before Candido and Emma took me back to the airport. So long, PR!
Friday was a relaxing day spent partially at the beach by our condo (actually, the first time we made it out to “our” beach) and then packing and cleaning since the rest of the crew were leaving on a flight early Saturday morning. Once we were done, they dropped me off in old San Juan where Emma and Candido picked me and took me to their place, where I was going to stay for the next two nights.
The island of Culebra is famous for having some of the best beaches in Puerto Rico. It takes about an hour to get there on a ferry boat and the problem is that it only runs three times a day and costs only $2.25. This means that people need to get in line for the tickets very early or there won’t be any space left. In fact, neither Candido, nor Emma have ever been able to get on the ferry, and they have lived on the island for 20+ years…
Long story short, after we got a couple hours of sleep, we were up at 2am, drove out to Fajardo, and got in line for ferry tickets at about 3am. After what seemed like eternity, the ticket office opened at 7, we got our tickets, and moved to another line to wait until 9 for the ferry itself, which took yet another hour to get to Culebra.
We finally made it to the island and got a ride to the beach (it was ironic that a five minute ride was more expensive than the actual ferry). Unlike the rest of the beaches we have seen on the main island, the Flamenco beach is really nice and representative of traditional image of Caribbean beaches: lots of white send and clear, warm blue water.
After enjoying the beach for a few hours, it was time to head back to get in line for the returning ferry. By the time we got back home and had some dinner, it was past 10pm and we were too exhausted and sleep deprived to go out.
The activity for the day was ziplining in the jungles - something else I have always wanted to try but was afraid of. We made it out to old San Juan by 8am to hop on Aventuras Tierra Adentro bus that would take us back to Arecibo area for a day-long adventure including zip lining, cave exploration, and ferrata (climbing the mountains using iron steps arranged to form a ladder of sorts).
The adventura started right on the bus - our guide Rosario (who we later found out to be the owner of the company) was very entertaining throughout the hour and a half trip by leading the introductions, giving us the scoop on what to expect, and running through the gear and safety procedures.
Once we got there, everyone strapped their gear on, got checked out, and practiced the procedures we were going to use “out there”. Finally, it was time for the first zip line which was definitely a lot scarrier looking than it actually was. Everyone got a hang of it pretty quick and we enjoyed a few hours of ziplining that culmiated in a descent into the Angeles cave.
Once inside the cave, we put our flotation vests and helmet lights on and tracked into the cave, jumping off the rocks into the river below, ziplining through the cave in total darkness, and finally floating down the river back out of the cave.
Once out of the cave, we had some lunch, dried up a little bit, and started our climb back out of the sinkhole after one more zip line ride. Everyone made it back up in one piece, wet, tired and with a big grin on their face. It was definitely a hit, just like all of our other adventures on the island!
There is a nice ziplining video on Aventuras Tierra Adentro website if you go to Adventure Tours, select Zip Line and then click Video at the bottom of the page.
We decided to make it out to the other side of the island today. There is a third-largest underground cave system in the world not far from the town of Arecibo on the west side of the island. Unfortunately, there is a limited number of visitors allowed per day and by the time we got out there (including unplanned wait time for unlocking the car after we left the keys on the dashboard in San Juan) we were unable to get in.
We did not feel too bad since we already had a ziplining adventure scheduled for the next day in this area so we knew we would get to check out some of the caves (and it turned out a much better experience anyway). We turned around and drove to the world’s largest radio telescope located in the mountains nearby. We got in just before they closed and it was definitely an amazing sight - such a large scale structure - just mind boggling.
Once we got out of the observatory, I called a friend of mine that lives in Arecibo and put together a Boeing 727 simulator in his garage. I met Joe last year at the Boeing 737 weekend class in Houston. He built his 727 simulator by purchasing an actual TWA 727 fuselage and cutting it off just past the first class section. Everything inside is authentic TWA items from seats to food trays and flight manuals. Simulated and real cockpit instruments interface to the Microsoft Flight Simulator with a screen ahead of the cockpit providing a nice outside picture for a very realistic simulation experience.
Unfortunately, we did not have much time since we had to drive out all the way to the east side of the island to go kayaking in a bioluminescent bay, so Joe quickly walked me through a takeoff routine and we called it a day.
We hit some traffic on the way back and were about 30 minutes late for our bio bay reservations, but since we had such a large group, we still had two guides waiting to take us, yey! We jumped in the kayaks and paddled in total darkness up the narrow channel surrounded by mangrove trees. After twenty minutes or so, we reached Laguna Grande, one of the five bioluminescent bays in the world. The organisms in the water literally make it glow when you touch it or paddle through it and it looks even more amazing when the little fish zig zag around making it appear like shooting stars. It trully is an amazing experience.
