The city of San Juan surrounds one of the world’s best protected natural harbors. It lies about 30 miles from the northeastern tip of Puerto Rico and was established by Ponce De Leon in the early 1500s on the western end of an island which lies across the entrance of the harbor. To guard the entrance, a massive fort called Castillo San Felipe del Morro was built of coral stone blocks using forced labor by the Arawaks, Puerto Rico’s native people. Today, El Morro is maintained by the US Parks Department and is probably the best preserved example of a colonial fort in the western hemisphere.

Behind the protection of El Morro and within huge walls of coral stone are the original structures and cobbled streets of the Old City (Pueblo Viejo) which is now a major tourist attraction and where business still carries on. At the other end of the island, a bridge built over a narrow channel connects it with the mainland. Today the city has spread beyond the bridge and for many miles over the entire area. The bridge is where the old and new parts of the city meet and also where San Juan’s boating scene is centered. Free anchorage may be had there between the cruise ship docks and the marinas. The anchorage is small and being in the middle of a busy metropolitan area, dangerous to leave a boat unattended there over night. For leaving a boat longer, it is wisest to take a temporary slip at one of the nearby marinas.

Spanish of course is the official language of the island and is probably why many English speaking cruising boaters are afraid to visit. Learning a new language couldn’t hurt, but the fear of having to do it is unfounded. English and Spanish are spoken side by side, especially in San Juan where it often gets so close, it comes out as Spanglish.

There are US Post Offices and shipping agencies like UPS and Federal Express readily available. And for boaters, Puerto Rico is one of the few places in the Caribbean if not the only one where they can get everything they need at reasonable prices only slightly higher on average than stateside. Only 70 miles eastward in St. Thomas USVI, groceries for example are double and triple the price they are in Puerto Rico!

Puerto Rican culture is a unique blend of US popular culture and traditional island ways. San Juan is as up-to-date a city as most in the US. But under the glossy exterior, the old ways are intermingled everywhere. In general, the farther away from San Juan, the more traditional attitudes prevail. US franchise chain stores, and restaurants are all over the place. But just because so much looks familiar, don’t take things for granted.

Puerto Rico has an abundance of places to go and things to do beyond San Juan if you have the time. To mention only two of the most popular day trips by car, there are the limestone caves and underground rivers at Camuy to the west, and the rain forest in the clouds around the 5,000 foot peak of El Yunque to the east.

The easterly Trade winds blow strongest in Winter (15 to 25 mph) and temperatures remain cool and comfortable until about June. The extra-tropical weather systems that move south from Canada in Winter almost never reach Puerto Rico. Usually the only effects remaining will be clouds and showers as a southeasterly moving front dies out. But sometimes those fronts can bring heavy rain and northerly winds.

Because of Puerto Rico's high mountains, rain is always more likely than on islands of lower elevation. But in the Spring it often will not rain at all for a week or two at a stretch and temperatures are still cool and comfortable. In Summer, temperatures average about 10 degrees higher, but rarely go much above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. From mid-summer until November the Trade winds decrease in strength and sometimes cease altogether. Then the humidity becomes noticeable. This also is the most dangerous time of year for hurricanes. Hurricane season is officially from June through November, but for this area of the Caribbean, the most dangerous period is late August through the end of October.