Our arrival in Puerto Rico coincided with the seasonal return of the easterly Trade Winds, so we sought shelter on the west side of the island. There we recuperated from the long passage and began exploring our new surroundings.
Boqueron
We spent our first week anchored in Bahia Boqueron, the largest bay on Puerto Rico’s west shore. Situated in the lee of the island, Boqueron offers good protection from the trade winds. It seemed to be a popular choice for boats arriving from the west and south, as we witnessed a steady stream of quarantine flags in the anchorage.
Beginning in the north, the shoreline of Bahia Boqueron is covered by dense mangroves. At the northeast corner, the yacht club’s dock marks the beginning of town, though only a few restaurants and bars are visible from the water. The rest lies behind the drawbridge entrance of the “Marina”, a basin of condominiums with boat parking. The town certainly had a nautical theme.
Beyond the bridge, a public park extended along the waterfront to the lagoon at the southeast corner of the bay. Hundreds of iguanas littered the grass and clung to the tall palm trees throughout the park. Nearby hundreds of jet-skis lined up at the boat ramp inside the lagoon on weekends and holidays. They would race around the bay all day then retire to the Karaoke bars in the evenings.
Monday through Thursday, the town slept. Aside from the occasional garbage truck or delivery van, the streets were empty. Weekdays were great for running errands to the few amenities in town; the laundromat, the mini-mart, the post office. Anything more substantial required an Uber ride to the nearby town of Cabo Rojo as there is no public transit and so far we have not seen any taxis. Additionally, there are very few drivers on this part of the island, so the wait time for a ride can take between 30 minutes and 2 hours.
Cabo Rojo Lighthouse
Our first trip out of Boqueron took us only 7 nautical miles to Cabo Rojo, the southwestern most point of the island. The trade winds were still blowing, so we carefully motored in clear, shallow water (5-7 meters) near the shore. Anchoring behind the lighthouse on the cape, we were sheltered from the wind but rolled a bit in the swell that wrapped around the point.
On shore we found numerous trails; out to the cape, around the lighthouse, through the salt ponds. In the water we saw numerous turtles, tarpon and sharks cruising the shallow, grassy seabed. It was a beautiful, quiet place to explore and certainly less traffic on the weekend than in Boqueron.
Isla Caja de Muertos
As the Christmas holiday approached, we took advantage of a brief lull in the trade winds to motor overnight around the cape, arriving at Isla Caja de Muertos in the early morning. The small island about 7 nautical miles off the coast of Ponce provided good protection from the trades as they sped back up after sunrise. We anchored among several other sailboats off the west shore near the old state park pier.
Onshore, the remnants of a former state park’s facilities sat crumbling on the tiny island. Hurricane Maria damaged many of the structures, and further neglect following the 2019/2020 earthquakes in Puerto Rico lead the state to give up on maintaining the park. But with a machete and some decent shoes, we were able to clear enough of the scraggly trail to venture to the top of the old lighthouse.
After enjoying the island for a bit, we planned to sail to Ponce for supplies, then explore the coastline back to the west side of the island.