SWEET LIBERTY! The cruise that almost wasn't! Sept 20-27, 2015 review

[valentinebaby1]

Great start....looking forward to the rest!

 

Thank you and thanks for reading!

[valentinebaby1]

Loving your review - can't get enough Liberty and Southern Caribbean - we'll be heading out in January - looking forward to the rest of your review

 

Thanks for reading! I couldn't get enough reviews while planning both of our cruises and I got so many great ideas from them, so I hope to be able to pass it on!

[valentinebaby1]

Great start

 

Thank you!

[boaterette]

I am enjoying your review very much. Love that one picture of the fish. Looking forward to more.

[valentinebaby1]

We had booked a trip through bioislandpr to see the bio bay via motorboat for this evening, but unfortunately we received a call that the tour had been canceled. They said it wasn't glowing like it should be (only glowing at 5% of what it normally does). Turns out the sargassum seaweed that has taken over the Caribbean made its way into the bio bay and was killing off the glowing plankton. Apparently they acted very quickly to clear out the sargassum, and from recent reviews I read it seems the bay is recovering pretty quickly, but unfortunately for us there were no tours going out on the motor boats before leaving for the cruise, and a full moon after the cruise returned so no bio bay this trip for us.

 

On our last trip to Puerto Rico 2 years earlier, we met a couple at Luquillo Beach who hubby has kept in contact with on fb. He happened to be back in PR the same time we were and was in the city of Humacao. We were basically already half way there after leaving the marina so we decided to drive to Humacao and meet up with him briefly. We stopped at McDonalds for some food (since I hadn't eaten on the boat) and this far away from the touristy areas of Puerto Rico, no one spoke English so it was a little bit of an adventure.

 

We drove back to Luquillo and headed to Luquillo Beach and to the kioskos. We ate at a place called Eidelweiss, but truthfully we wouldn't recommend the place. I had crab with rice and there was so many pieces of crab shell mixed in, and it just had an "off" taste. I ate a couple of bites and just couldn't eat any more. The others had mofongo but no one was really thrilled with the meal.

 

We headed back the very short distance to our condo and called it a night.

 

Day 3: September 18, 2015 Friday

 

Sunrise from our balcony:

 

 

We planned a day in the rainforest and decided to start out early before it got too hot. The drive wasn't far and we were familiar with the roads so we headed out. Our plan was to find the Yokahu Tower, since that was something we were unable to do on our last visit (because of the government shutdown). Hubby had studied the maps and knew right where to go so finding it was pretty easy.

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

I am enjoying your review very much. Love that one picture of the fish. Looking forward to more.

 

He was totally smiling at me! It cracked me up! Thanks for reading!

[valentinebaby1]

 

 

 

 

So we started the climb. Easy for him, not so much for this fluffy old lady!

 

Edited October 6, 2015 by valentinebaby1

[valentinebaby1]

The views from the top were magnificent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

 

Can you see the face in the mountain rock?

 

 

The tower had a small gift shop and sold water (which was much needed!) and we bought a few trinkets and magnets and then headed out to do some more wandering around the rainforest.

 

There is another tower that is just called "The Old Tower" that can be hiked to. Hubby wanted to try getting there. I just laughed at him. If I could barely make it up the climb in the tower, there was no way I was going to make the hike to the old tower. As we drove around, we found the old tower, it can be seen from the road, but after seeing the tower I knew there was no way I'd ever make it there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

We found another stop and wandered around. There was another gift shop and drinks available here as well.

 

 

 

 

We also stopped at La Coca Falls. It looked so different from the last time we were there. The rivers and waterfalls were very low due to a lack of much needed rain throughout Puerto Rico. This was La Coca Falls 2015:

 

 

This was the same place in 2013:

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

There was hardly anyone at the falls on our visit in 2013, but of course we were there "illegally" after crossing the closed road signs to get there. This time there were buses of people and it was quite busy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

You may recall on our trip in 2013 we found a river and swam there with the locals. Turns out there's a name for this place. It's called Puente Roto. We found it again and had the place to ourselves for awhile, aside from all the mullet fish that came to say hello!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

After all the walking we had done in the morning, and with the heat of the day, the river was so refreshing! The water was crystal clear and we found little fruits in the water that we peeled and fed to the fish.

 

 

 

When we had our fill of the river, we started the drive back to the condo. We stopped and got some snacks at one of the shacks along the way. Once we found our way back to Luquillo, we stopped for "pinchos". They are a meat kebob, usually pork or chicken, cooked up on the grill, and typically served with a slice of bread. They were simple, but super delicious!

 

 

After snacking on pinchos, we headed to Luquillo Beach and the kioskos. this time we went straight to the beach and relaxed until the sunset. It was gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

The beach was gorgeous, although where we entered there is a lot of rock/coral near the shore and we had a little trouble swimming out of it to find a clear spot in the water. I know that the actual beach with facilities is further east of where we were, but we ended up here and wanted to be close to the kioskos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jltpeke]

Hope you enjoy your stay in Luquillo. Have you been there before? Thanks for reading!

 

No, never been to PR before...well my husband was there for a brief time with the Navy Reserve back in the early 70's, but it was the other side of the island. We are anxious to explore around Luquillo.

[pghsteelerfan]

I loved your review too, and can't wait to see yours from this trip! It was so cool that we got to take this trip at the same time! It will be fun to see how things compare. It was so nice meeting you!

 

Thanks! I'll get mine up, just dealing with the picture issues right now. The files were too large for our external hard drive so I had to "bite the bullet" and load them onto the computer's "C" drive (slowing things up) in order to weed through before I upload to a host site. LOL!!! I'm also so glad that we could take this trip at the same time and it was so nice to finally get to meet you guys! :)

[valentinebaby1]

No, never been to PR before...well my husband was there for a brief time with the Navy Reserve back in the early 70's, but it was the other side of the island. We are anxious to explore around Luquillo.

 

I think you'll find staying in Luquillo to be very different than staying in San Juan. It's more authentic and less touristy. It's a very different experience! PLaya Azul has a nice beach (photos of that coming soon) and although our experience with our condo wasn't the best, they did resolve the a/c issue and the building and area are secure (gated entry etc).

[Love2travel4]

Excited to read more. Will be on the liberty in March and booked 3 nights in PR before cruise!

[kelkel2]

I love your review so far!!! What kind of camera did you use for the underwater shots?

[valentinebaby1]

Excited to read more. Will be on the liberty in March and booked 3 nights in PR before cruise!

 

Enjoy your cruise and time in PR! thanks for reading :)

[valentinebaby1]

I love your review so far!!! What kind of camera did you use for the underwater shots?

 

Good question...maybe Jkirkn (hubby) will chime in on this? I don't know other than the fact that we have 2 underwater cameras, the older one is a Canon and the new one is a Olympus. (then I also have a non underwater camera, an older Kodak that I really love. It's just a bit bulky but takes great pictures).

[valentinebaby1]

After our swim at Luquillo Beach, we went back to the kioskos and had a couple drinks and picked up some pinchos. Seems like we didn't take a lot of photos of the kioskos this time. If you aren't familiar with them, it is a strip of little buildings (probably 70 of them) all connected together. Each little spot is a restaurant, bar or shop. It's kind of a unique place to hang out!

 

 

 

We went back to the condo and the girls called it an early night and the guys went back to Brass Cactus for a little man time.

 

Day 4: September 19, 2015 Saturday

 

We had an adventure planned for today. We love to watch the food channel, the travel channel etc. and shows like Man Vs. Food. We saw several of these shows visited "The Pork Highway" while filming in Puerto Rico, so we set off on a crazy adventure to find it!

 

The day started out sunny and hot! The sunrise from our balcony was gorgeous!

 

 

 

[JKirkN]

I love your review so far!!! What kind of camera did you use for the underwater shots?

 

I have two of them. A Canon Powershot D20 and an Olympus TG-860. They both do a very good job. I'm torn between which is better though... they each have positives and negatives...But I think they are both great for underwater!

I used both on this trip....so if there is a particular picture you like and would like to know which camera, please let me know which one it is and I'll let you know.

[valentinebaby1]

We headed out I think around 9:30. The drive should be about 1 hour and 30 min but was a little close to 2 hours after a "shortcut" through the mountains almost had us lost. I have quite a bit of anxiety while in a car, whether I'm driving or not. I blame it on a car accident where I was T-boned a few years ago. Regardless, this shortcut was through crazy mountain roads that were only wide enough for one car. Roads weren't marked, although we noticed that all of the posts along the roads were painted to about half way up, which I'm guessing meant something but we couldn't figure it out. My anxiety was through the roof during this ride, the roads were winding, there were edges without railings and steep drop offs, and hubby tends to drive very aggressively. So this casual Saturday morning drive through the mountains turned into a full blown anxiety attack for me. Sorry there are no photos of this part of the adventure. I was too busy holding on for dear life!

 

We arrived a little later than planned. Unfortunately my stomach was not agreeing with me after the ride so the whole point of the adventure was to go there to eat and I barely had a few bites.

 

There are numerous restaurants along the highway, each serving basically the same thing. Pork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kelkel2]

I have two of them. A Canon Powershot D20 and an Olympus TG-860. They both do a very good job. I'm torn between which is better though... they each have positives and negatives...But I think they are both great for underwater!

I used both on this trip....so if there is a particular picture you like and would like to know which camera, please let me know which one it is and I'll let you know.

Well you have some beautiful pics! I look forward to more!