CARIBBEAN CRUISE: OLD SAN JUAN

Well, we are back to the real world, for us anyway. Ariving in Calgary at night when it was 12 below zero with a little wind was a real wake up call as to what we had missed for 2 weeks. Waiting outside for a taxi did little to increase our enthusiasm for the Calgary winter, after being papmered by temperatures no lower than 78 during the day and 77 at night. Even the water temperature was well over 80!
We had a great time with a few exceptions which I will go into at later dates. The cruise itself was very nice with weather generally in the 79 to 84 degree area. Nights were as low as 77, imagine that! It was not without some rain, we had showers at times on various islands, but no real rains. Our first stop was at San Juan Puerto Rico. We got to San Juan late the night before we sailed and this tour was taken midway during our cruise.
San Juan is one of the oldst settlements in the Caribbean founded by Ponce de Leon in 1508 and was later changed in 1521 to San Juan. This is Old San Juan. There are old forts that are still in existence, along with old churches in the Old Town area. The whole thing is virtually a Unesco World Heritage site. It has been beautifully maintained today by the National Parks System. The main wall goes for miles and it is very thick and high. It's function ws to defend the harbour from invading navies. From where it is situated it looks very easy to defend any attack from the sea.
The views from the fort are spectacular. The harbour and the surrounding area scenes are hard to beat when viewed from the walls of the fort. Some of the buildings were used during WW2 as housing and offices for the US military. It is a protected tarritory of he United States. Spanish is the national language, but English is used as well by many of the residents. "Spanglish" is heard at times when an resident is speaking with a tourist.
It is warm, about 78 degrees when we are taken by our tour guide around the site. There are guard towers and gun emplacements that guard every angle of the fort and the town. The walls around the fort are 18 feet thick and 140 feet high; it took almost 200 years to complete what was started in 1540.
Today it is a tourist attraction that should not be missed if going to San Juan.

Newport Oregon

Sorry I have been busy with a few other things and didn't get around to doing the "blog" thing.

Well, If you ever decide to take the highway 101 trip, there are a few places you can stop along the way for some interesting sights. When we first took the drive in 1980, the accommodation was very limited, but over the years it has changed dramatically. Now there are places to stay and eat all along the route. Thirty years ago, the road followed the old coastline, and since then it has been straightened and widened and even bypassed. You can still access some of the old towns and coast, but it is slow going, all the roads will lead you back to the highway.

 Seaside is one place on the north part of Oregon that has grown with many new hotels and restaurants replacing old establishments. The beach is very wide and flat. During the day it is crowded but early in the morning it is almost uninhabited and very easy to walk on. The food in the town is very good I might add, and the hotels are reasonable when it is not a long weekend.



Yaquina Head lighthouse Newport



The next major town along the way south is Newport. Here there is a brand new Holiday Inn Express, that is quite reasonable. There is a Marine center here that is free. It is on the south side of town east of the highway, and is a very interesting place. A large aquarium is also located off this same road, but is somewhat expensive, and I don't think it compares at all with the smaller one at Honolulu, or the bigger one at Monterrey CA.

The Yaquina head lighthouse is one of 2 in Newport. Access to this one is from a side road leading west from Highway 101. There is an interpretive center there as well, describing how it was started and the way it is used today. It is still in service. There is another one right at the entrance to the river in Newport and this one can be accessed from the same road that takes you to the local seafood restaurants.

From the hotel is is a snap to get to the north side of the river where the fishing boats come in, and where fish processing takes place. Here you will find a number of stores selling the usual tourist stuff, a Ripley's Believe it or Not show, and undersea display, lots of good food and many Sea Lions. First the food, We have eaten any number of times at a place called "The Whale's Tale" where the food is just great. It is not the cheapest place around, and is low on glitzy decor, but the food is excellent. The decor is fisherman's village inside and out. In fact it is downright dingy, but it sure is good.


Sea lions at dock in Newport


Across the street is where you will find a walkway that lets you view the sea lions, doing what they do best. They are all males and are all bellowing and moving around, getting into and out of the water. They are fun to watch. In some places these animals are so numerous they will climb on to your small boat and if there are enough of them they can sink your boat. The cage in the lower right of the picture has a gate on it so that injured seals or those trapped with fish nets or the like can be isolated and treated. If they didn't have this the animals would simply swim away or disappear under the water when tranquilized. There are likely hundrds of these mammals in the bay.

Redwood National Park

If you have never seen these trees, it is hard to imagine the size. They go to over 350 feet high, higher than Niagara Falls! They go to 24 feet in diameter and are some 2000 years old! They are the second oldest living things on earth. A close relative the Giant Sequoia is older, heavier and bigger in diameter, but shorter. The sequoia is found a bit further inland and are a sight to see as well. They live to 3000 years old!


"Big Tree" note the people in foreground.



To access the park there is a section north and east of Crescent City called the Jedidiah Smith State Park on highway 199, in northern California but the major part is accessible from highway 101. The lower section is the National Park. If you are stying in Crescent City, go south on 101 until you come to Orick, and continue until you come to the Park Visitor center. This is about 50 miles from Crescent City. Pick up your guide and maps there. Be sure to take the walk to the "big tree", it is 24 feet across. Look too at the Ladybird Johnson area of the park. Highway 101 divides in the park and if you travelled south on one portion return on the other one.

You can of course go further south and witness the old tree that is still living, that has been cut out and one can drive through the tree. Another attraction south of Orick is the "tree house", a tree that people live in!

Trees in this narrow band on the coast are the last of the old original trees, and are protected by the park. There are the small areas south of the park that are protected as well, but are not part of the park system. Redwood trees are quick growing for the first few years and are grown for harvest to supply the outdoor wood market.

Along the way while driving through the park you will come across views of the beach's and sea stacks at times. Some roads off the main highway are "graded" gravel and are not suitable for trailers, they are poorly marked as well. You would be prudent if you took the time to check the road conditions at Orick before venturing off the main roads. The area around Crescent City has some excellent scenery from lookouts located near Crescent City. There is a working lighthouse at Crescent City too that offers tours. It is right beside the new motel mentioned below.

Accommodation in Crescent City is so-so, but there is a very nice new motel right on the water overlooking the Pacific. It is brand new and has a very good rating. The Best Western has pretty good food, and the rooms are OK if you don't take the ground floor. Those were quite dirty on our visit and some features in the room didn't work well. Their is an old motel a member of the "Choice" chain we stayed at in the past, but it is out of the way and is a strange configuration. It had been a Holiday Inn before they gave up on it. There is great food to be had on the wharf area and when dinner is done you can drive to the edge of the water and check out some more sea lions barking away.

Just north of Crescent City is a fairly large shopping center anchored by Wal-Mart. On the north end of the town there is a grocery supermarket that offers booze at incredibly low prices. They run a good $5.00 less than the liquor store in the same shopping mall! Try $25.00 for a 1.75 L of Quervo Gold!

One final note, there is a motel in Crescent City built entirely form the wood of just one redwood log! The doors are one piece of slab redwood, for example.

Still learning!

Well, the blog business has not gone too well so far. There is a lot to learn it seems. At the moment I have 2 blogs one with the picture of the Cullen house and an earlier one with the write up of our trip and stay at this house. I haven't figured out yet how to get all this together.



Miller Tree B&B (the Cullen House) in Forks WA

 Maybe this will work.  This is the Miller Tree B&B we stayed at in Forks WA. This is probably one of the very few days when it isn't raining or foggy, or about to rain or get foggy! Anyway this is Joan standing in front of the place which was the Cullen House for the movie series Twilight! We have never seen the movie, but it has quite a following.

People arrive at the house all day with cameras taking pictures of the place, and reading the note left behind by the "Cullen's" explaining why they are not at home right now.

There that wasn't so bad! When in doubt try the Help file up there at the top. The way this works is almost like an email when you get used to what is needed.

As the days go by, I'll try to do better and put something together that will be of more interest I hope to anybody reading this.

Thanks for looking in on my first attempts.
Ross