Ponce and Gilligan's

A real change of scenery was anchoring at the Port of Ponce (pronounced Pon say) along the south coast of Puerto Rico where our view was not island beaches but a bright orange freighter. It was a calm quiet area except for the slight drone of the freighter's engines day and night.

Our view

Town center was a ways away so we were initiated into the world of Uber for transportation that proved an efficient and reasonably cheap way to go rather than taxi.

The Town's focal center is the pleasant central park and fountain that is surrounded by restored classical architecture that is juxtaposed by the gaily painted old firehall.

Lion Fountain

Firehall of 1887

Classic architecture

Elegant bank

We broke up our time aboard with a few activities that Townships provide, the cinema for one. We saw a sad but true movie about the Pakistan terrorists that besieged Hotel Mumbai and several other locations all at the same time in 2008.

The next evening we attended a very exciting local basketball game that the hometown team barely squeaked through with a win of 112 to 107 to the roar of the crowd and the team's mascot, a lion.

Even though we did our official check out of Puerto Rico on April 3rd, we made an overnight anchorage at Gilligan's Island, also known as Cayos de Cana Gorda by the locals. It's being called Gilligan's as it apparently resembles the Gilligan's Island on the TV series of the same name.

Leaving at 08:00 on April 5th was for a passage to Panama.

Final Puerto Rico Anchorages:
N17°57.929' W066°37.133' Mar 31 Ponce
N17°56.835' W066°52.294' Apr 04 Gilligan's Island