Hotel La Playa Carolina

... Around 6 we went up to the room and shower and then went out in search for dinner. We weren't overly impressed with the food choices in the Isla Verde area your options pretty much consisted of overpriced resort food or fast food (taco bell, burger king, etc)<br>We settled on Chilli's, again, and had a quick bite there. The food bothers our stomachs this night so we headed to bed early...<br><br><br><br><br>

... the looses sense of the word - service on this island is very slow, it's island life so go with the flow!<br><br>After breakfast we made our way to the pool where we spent the entire day relaxing! Joanna, one of the pool attendants, was so sweet and she made our visit to the pool very enjoyable. She walked around - right at the heat of the day with cold wash clothes to hand ...

... and Wednesday we got very little taste of the social life. You really need a week in each place to take it all in, and that is the minimum as weather has its say as well. Derek and Alison from Kalida came back to their boat after touring PR by car for a few days. They were on board, giving us their diving tips for Culebra, when we noticed that an intruder was alongside our dinghy. It really was quite a sight. It was a manatee, with his (read on - we know it was male) paw/flipper ...

... We met up with some other Semester at Sea kids for a bit and then walked down the beach and ran into this group of middle-aged American men who all moved from the states to Puerto Rico and we played volleyball with them, it was a ton of fun except for the fact that I dislocated my shoulder... again, but that's another story. So we played volleyball and drank some beers with them, talked about SAS and how they all thought it was awesome and ...

Today I pulled a roaming gnome and decided to just head out from the hotel and see what I could find. I started out by heading to the tip of the island where El Morro and San Cristobal are located. These forts were built in 15XX. The sheer size of them was impressive, especially considering they were carved from stone and constructed over 470 years ago. The entire city was originally encompassed behind the giant ...

... us departed Ft ...

... organisms called dinophylagilites (sp?) emit light when they are disturbed. To get to this lagoon we had to kayak down this narrow canal with mangroves growing on each side in pitch black with only the glow stick on the kayak in front of you leading the way. The bay was absolutely awesome because the water sparkled and when you stirred it up the water would sort of glow. The best is swimming in it which creates the most noticeable reaction. We returned to ...

... before. I cannot touch either world yet, but I can listen to the road that carries me away and towards them. I miss the people of my old world, but I never want this journey of exploration to end. I mean, how homesick can I get when I'm lying on a lounge chair, feeling the rumble of the propellers beneath me, listening to the waves crash up against the back of the boat as we steam through the night under the stars? I look out and I see a black ...

... what I expected but it was cool. I had a good time but I am ready to go. This little country is so expensive- I just can't afford it especially since I was expecting everything to be cheap. When I get some money I'll come back and pretend. hahaha. Random Facts: - The island is 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. - There are 3.5 million people living in Puerto Rico - There are around 70 cities. -There are 2 million cars in Puerto Rico meaning ...

... as the winds continued to howl and the weather forecast talked of the tropical storm that was impacting our Culebra visit. On Tuesday we decided to duck out of Dewey and check out Cayos Luis Pena. We had hoped that the western shore of the island would be out of the wind and sufficiently settled to anchor or pick up one of the DNR moorings. Once again we were wrong! The currents and land masses brought swells to every coast of the islands! We were disappointed to have to ...