Puerto Rico
At dinner time on November 15, 2022, the MS Insignia escaped the magnetic pull of Miami and steamed off into the Atlantic. Mr. Gym and his lovely companion were in the ship's dining room, as the ship slid in between Fisher Island and South Beach and then out into the ocean. They would not see Miami again for 25 days (assuming no horrible anaconda encounters). The seas were calm for an ocean but poor Mrs. Gym would soon be afflicted with some motion sickness that messed up her first day and a half. She is a trooper though and she would soon be back to her plucky self, after she remembered her sea legs.
They started out on an easterly course cutting through the middle of the Bahamas. Somewhere out past San Salvador Island, the captain changed coarse to a southeasterly heading, that would take them north of Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic. Insignia would then bypass all the islands in the Greater Antilles except the southernmost one, Puerto Rico. It was this island that our intrepid travellers found themselves after 60 hours at sea. They had just covered a distance of about 900 nautical miles.
Did you know Puerto Rico was 'discovered' in 1493 by non other than Christopher Columbus? Some 60,000 Amerindians were already there but their own discovery of the island was ignored. The only other 'discovery' of any note, was Gym's discovery of the island in 2022.
On the morning of November 18, 2022 the Insignia pulled into San Juan harbour. Breakfast was consumed in the stateroom and then our intrepid travellers scuttled off the ship for a tour of Castillo San Cristobal, Viejo San Juan and the chic Condado Beach district. They trekked all through the Castillo, Old San Juan and Condado Beach areas and Mrs. Gym kept her eyes peeled for a possible sighting of Ricky Martin. She didn't see the actual singer but she did find a plaque in the sidewalk near the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel.
Gym was impressed with San Juan. After traipsing around the place for several hours he deemed it an island that might be considered for a future beach vacation. And it is cheap at this time, half the price of Miami.
It was time to get on with the expedition to the Amazon though and the ship left Puerto Rico the evening of its arrival. Other stops are planned in the Lessor Antilles before the travellers were to sight South America and the mouth of the mighty river.
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Boarding the ship in Miami, Gym's veranda looks out
over downtown Miami |
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| On a course through the Bahamas the sun sets over Florida |
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At Castillo San Cristobal Mrs. Gym reminded her
husband not to touch the muskets |
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A magnificent view from atop the Castillo looking towards
Castillo San Felipe Del Morro |
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| The Spanish garrison's quarters |
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| Mrs. Gym in fetching neon shorts |
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| A well-kept cannon still defends the port |
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| The top of the fortress |
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| Looking down towards the sea |
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| Wells that supply the Castillo go down to a massive cistern |
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Christopher Columbus surrounded by
Christmas Trees |
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