Puerto Rico
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Fri 1 Apr 2011 14:40
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18.20.323N 065.37.886W
Sunbay Marina is only 4 years old and everything is
clean and new and it is almost full of sport fishing boats but the concrete
docks are quite high and narrow for a yacht to
enter. www.sunbaymarina.com
We hired a car with Terry and Debbie from ' Wings'
and went to San Juan and investigated the old town which again is now a cruise
ship destination but historically was a very secure fort which even Sir Frances
Drake had an attempt at taking. ( James Michener's 'historical novel' Caribbean
is well worth a read )
The island is full of contrasts as there are busy
highways with 5 lanes in each direction heading into the city but people selling
fresh fruit from pick up trucks on the hard shoulder.Returning late we enjoyed
dinner at a local restaurant.
        
 Wednesday we headed to 'El Yunque' the centre of
the tropical rain forest where there is a good visitor centre and we took a
guided walk and another trail to get some exercise as well as to enjoy the
National Forest Park . ( a late return home had us all enjoying home made
pizzas in Moonbeam's cockpit. www.fs.fed.us/r8/el_yunque
  Bamboo with trunks 5"
diameter
note the jacket - we were in a RAIN forest !
    Thursday we headed South and looked into the 1000
berth marina at Puerto del Rey but it appeared pretty soulless and then we drove
into the mountains from the south side. Here the road over the summits was
destroyed by a landslide 30 years ago and has never been rebuilt so the area is
much less accessed than the National Park and we thought it much nicer for it
even if we could not find anywhere for lunch!
  Boat racks storing motor boats ashore lifted
down with fork lift
The day's good news is hopefully the end of a long
saga. Half way across the Atlantic the Autopilot linear drive stopped
functioning properly and for some reason some of the hydraulic fluid had turned
to sludge. Having on several occasions flushed it and bled it and failed to
get it working correctly I had resorted to outside assistance but nobody wanted
to tackle the problem. However a phone call to Raymarine US helpline suggested
that the brushes in the electric hydraulic pump could be the problem but having
stripped the pump and another phone call to Raymarine they agreed it was not a
serviceable item! Having failed to get a sensible response from the local West
Marine Stores I found a service dealer a mile from the Marina who had the wrong
pump in stock but got the right one from the USA next day!! Thursday evening I
installed it and it appears to be the solution to the problem- just a bit more
bleeding of the hydraulics required.!
Our next stop is the Turks & Caicos about 3
days sail away but first we will move out to anchor to let a weather front pass
through before we head off.
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