El PRESIDENTE....................

They have this beer in the Dominican Republic called "EL PRESIDENTE" but here in PUERTO RICO that esteemed title should surely go to Captain Dwight Rodriquez, who together with Marjorie, have treated us like royalty, which for the "Queen of Florida and the Bahamas" is only as it should be................But for me, this is something I could easily get used to................... After touring the city and picking up bits and pieces of boat necessities, we were taken out to dinner to "A FISH PLACE".............Let me tell you something,............. This was like nothing ever experienced before............Dish after dish of seafood........... That fish, in the photo below, was cooked inside a bed of salt, then the salt cut away with surgeon's precision, skin peeled back like micro-surgery, and the flaky bone-less fish removed with a pallet knife.............. 300 years of Spanish 'pescadores' tradition.................Marjorie's children, Marianna and Alberto joined us for this feast............And we won't even tell you about the ten different varieties of ceviche...............



Not only do they take us to this incredible feast, but they give up their apartment for us (they have another) and in the morning we look over the city from the fifth floor to a sunrise over the distant ocean where T.D "Earl" has become T.S. "Earl"..........Not good at all................ We drive 80 km north to find the limestones caves at Rio Camuy, set in the rainforest, with lots of tree ferns and bird's nest ferns.............



That's the Camuy river low down in the photo above...... the World's third largest underground river, so the guide tells us.................

Back in San Juan, we travel to see Dwight's yacht "TODA VIA" now stripped of mast and rigging, and see a new kind of travel lift for moving yachts around, and then make a stop at Costco (large wholesaler), where Dwight has to pick up 'a little something' for his nightclub.................But before any of that, we make a quick stop at a roadside oyster & clam tent.................Cows, oysters, clams and rock & roll, from the CD seller alongside....................Dwight's idea of 'just a little snack before dinner'...............2 dozen clams and 2 dozen oysters.




Oh, and there was another sculpture whose positions you might want to practice (check your medical insurance first) and a fruit market, the "Mercado"...................Avacadoes, mangoes, pineapples, papayas(pawpaws),bananas, plaintans and sugar cane...............

And then Marjorie takes Laurie by the hand, and gives her a beautiful hair make-over in readyness for our night-out to visit Dwight's nightclub, where a Brazilian singer is performing............... and performing beautifully, notwithstanding the five hundred plus people in the place..................We leave around 3AM .............Not so sure about that bit....................Our normal shut-eye is usually around sunset, after showers and about 10 or so pages of a good book............ Totally dangerous for us borderline old-folks in training....................... This all falls in the category of "INCREDIBLE CRUISING".................... Muchas, muchas gracias D & M.................