Fleet Week in San Francisco

I visited SF today for th Fleet Week. Its an annual event where there is an Air show. The Blue Angels (US Navy Jets) put on a show. It was a foggy day but the show was simply awesome.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/FleetWeek2009SanFrancisco#

Puerto Rico - Bio Bay

The highlight of my Puerto Rico trip was the Bio Bay.

So there are these bacteria which emit some light when they are agitated. In PR they are present in very high concentration in 3 places. Vieques Island, Fajardo and another place which I can't remember. So if you go into these water bodies on a clear moonless night and agitate the water you see a fluorescent light in the water. If you put your hand in the water and take it out, your hand starts sparkling as come bacteria are on it. If you sprinkle some water on your feet , it feels like you are sprinkling light on yourself. It is the most amazing experience. There is no way to capture it. Flash photography doesn't get the light. A normal camera can't get it. That is why it is such a interesting experience compounded by the fact that you can't capture it.

My colleagues had told me not to miss it as it was their favorite experience in PR. Our group met somewhere outside of Fajardo. We got into kayaks with 2 people each. We were to kayak our way through the mangroves and make our way into the bay. There wasn't any moon while we were there so we had the best part of the tour.

On our way through the mangroves, we reached an area where the mangroves were very dense overhead blocking out almost all light. Our guide suggested us to play with the water . It was the most amazing sight. The water next to the oars had a fluorescent light. I dipped my hand in the water and took it out. There were a few sparkles on it for a few moments. I splashed the water around and it lighted up. It was a beautiful sight. Later we went out into the bay where the guide explained what caused the phenomenon. He said the pollution and encroachment by humans is a big threat to the Bio Bay hence the authorities are taking steps to preserve it.

These bacteria are present on most oceans / seas on earth but they have a very high concentration here, about 1 million per gallon which enables us to notice the light. We played around in the bay observing how the light is. It was a great experience. I would encourage anyone visiting Puerto Rico to not miss this attraction.

That was the highlight with which my trip to Puerto Rico ended. I flew back the next day and was lucky to fly through Miami Airport in the afternoon. During takeoff I got to see some spectacular views of Miami beach and the South beach area. That was a nice end to a memorable trip.

More information can be found here

http://www.elyunque.com/biolbay.html

Puerto Rico - El Morro Fort and Bacardi Rum factory

Today I visited the El Morro Fort in Old San Juan. It had been built by the Spanish many years ago to protect the San Juan harbour. Now I wouldn't want to repeat the history for the readers. You can read about the history here at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_San_Felipe_del_Morro

It is a very massive structure with 6 different levels. Level 1 is not open to the public. It is a national historic landmark. They have done a very good job of preserving it and they give your good information as well. It was a very strategic point as it controlled entry to the San Juan Harbour and hence indirectly to the Caribbean. It has seen many wars and many attempts on it. The oldest part of the fort is still accessible to public and it was built way back in the 16th century.

You get some stunning views of San Juan from this fort. I spent quite a lot of time there.

Across the fort one can see a strip of land. It also has some structures which were firing locations for counter attack on ships which attacked the fort. There is also a small building on this strip of land where leprosy patients were banished. That was a policy many years ago where lepers were segregated and kept there. The history of the fort is indeed extremely interesting.

Old San Juan:

Old San Juan is the older part of the city and has distinctively Spanish architecture. Small narrow streets, building and balconies on either side. Streets are made using cobblestone. There are a few churches as well. You feel as if you are in Madrid or a Spanish city. It has this distinct old town feel to it. I had never been to such a place before hence this was really interesting.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/PuertoRicoDay5ElMorroFort#

Bacardi Rum Factory:

Bacardi Rum is produced in PR and 85% of the world's rum comes from here. They have a huge factory outside of San Juan and also a museum. They have a 45 min tour which describes the rum making process. I attended this tour and it was very interesting. They gave a brief history of rum making and showed how they make rum in their factory. They also showed how to make popular drinks like the 'Mojito' and the 'Daiquiri'. They have a sprawling campus with lots of security. The tour is very informative and the free drinks at the end are delicious :).

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/PuertoRicoDay5BacardiRumFactory#

Puerto Rico - Beaches

Since Puerto Rico is a tropical island its obvious that the beaches here would be a major attraction. I went to to popular beaches today. They were the Ocean Park beach in Condado and the Lu Quillo beach.

Oean Park beach was a city beach with brown sand. The water was light blue. It was a pretty sight. There were people hanging around, reading books and playing with their dogs. There were some hotels , resorts and private condos lining the beach. It is one of the popular beaches where the people of San Juan go.

The second beach I went to was the Lu Quillo beach. Its one of the famous beaches in PR. It is a family beach and has a 1 mile long crescent coastline. It has white sand and the water isn't too deep. It is ideal for families do that kids can swim safely in the water. It is called a 'Balneario' or a public beach and is maintained by the government. It wasn't that crowded as I had gone on a weekday. I did spot a few locals playing volleyball and enjoying local music on the beach.

It was a stark contrast to the Ocean Park beach, there were no high rises dotting the skyline here. It reminded me a lot of Kovalam beach in the state of Kerala in India.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/PuertoRicoDay4Beaches#

Puerto Rico - Old San Juan

We spent the day doing some basic siteseeing at Old San Juan. Its the center of the city and has the Felipe El Morro Fort. It was built by the Spanish colonizers for protecting the San Juan bay. My friends had to leave that evening so we didn't spend a lot of time there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/PuertoRicoDay3OldSanJuan#

Puerto Rico - Snorkeling

On the second day we went on a Snorkeling tour to Fajardo. It is a coastal town which is about a hour long drive from San Juan. We had taken this trip on a sailboat where there were 14 of us and another group of around 12-15 people. They were locals from PR.

Since we were celebrating our friend getting married soon we all had put on identical red T shirts. We looked quite a interesting group in that. The boat took us into the Atlantic to a small island. There we got into the water to try Snorkeling. It was the first time most of us were doing this. It was pretty interesting. The apparatus you were seals your nose and you have to start breathing from your mouth. The plastic pipe enables you to breathe. So you have to train your brain to put your face in the water and not panic. That is followed by learning to breathe with your mouth. It was a bit disconcerting at the start but later we got a hang of it. I did see some fishes swimming around , it was a very pretty sight.

After having lunch on the boat we went to the actual coral reef. We were going to get into the water and snorkel. We all had floats on now, they didn't want us to go in without them.

What I saw for the next 90 min is not very easy to describe in words. It was extremely beautiful. There were so many different types of fishes below. Different colours, different sizes. They were swimming about the coral reef. There was some vegetation as well which they were feeding on. My favorite was the small fish which was a blue in colour and had black fins.

I had read a lot bout coral reefs and more recently about efforts for their preservation. I hadn't paid much attention to it though. However now after actually seeing it I can understand why there is such a concern about their preservation. These reefs harbour some very beautiful marine life and it is imperative that we preserve it.

We swam around admiring the marine life and made our way back. It was party time on our way back to the shore. The captain put on some local music and the other party started dancing to it. We also joined in and it was a carnival like atmosphere. They passed around musical instruments and we played along with the music. It was also a new experience for the locals. I bet they had never seen so many Indian guys together before. :)

The pics below are mostly of us hanging around on the boat. We couldn't get any of the fishes as we didn't have any waterproof cameras.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/PuertoRicoDay2Snorkeling#

Puerto Rico - El Yunque Rainforest

This is one of the popular attractions in PR. It is a preserved area which is most probably a National Park. It is a rainforest with lots of varieties of flora and fauna.

It rains heavily there , almost daily which has provided it with the unique weather. We took a small 1 mile hike and went to a waterfall there . We got into the water and had a fun time. There are some birds there called the 'Coqui' which are called so for the sound they make.

It was the first time any of us had been to a rainforest hence it was very interesting. There wasn't a botanist amongst us else he would have enjoyed it even more.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajitvkulkarni/PuertoRicoDay1ElYunque#

Puerto Rico !

I took a week long break and went with my friends to Puerto Rico. It was a pretty memorable trip. There were 14 of us who would be there from Oct 1-4 for the weekend. I was however staying back for 3 more days by myself. The trip turned out to be a lot of fun.

Puerto Rico is a long flight away. Atleast for people on the west coast of the US. It is at least 9 hrs. Its pretty convenient as a weekend getaway for people on the east coast. There are direct flights form NY.

Fist Impressions:

The first thing that greeted me when I reached PR was the heat and humidity. I was instantly reminded of my home , Mumbai . It had tropical weather and it was hot and sweaty. After a couple of hours in the sun your shirt will get soaked. That is how the entire Caribbean must be.

The roads in PR were much narrower than mainland USA. That reminded me of Mumbai as well. I was getting nostalgic now. Many other things seemed similar. Things like people following traffic rules to a lesser degree, stray dogs on the road, liberal honking by cars, lush greenery everywhere and even electric /phone lines running parallel to the road. However the second day we saw the most conspicuous similarity. The waterfront of San Juan (capital of PR , where we stayed) had a nice coastline which was dotted with many bug 5 star resorts and hotels. There were high rises fighting each other to get a great view of the sea. This is what you see a plenty in areas of Mumbai like Colaba, Bandra and Andheri. Since quite a few of my friends actually live at these places, it was a nice experience for them.

Puerto Rico has a Spanish speaking population. So all road signs are in Spanish. This gave me an opportunity to learn some. Few months ago I had resolved to learn Spanish using an app on my iPhone but had never gotten to do it. Now was my chance :).

It started with road signs . Exit (Salida), Exit Only (Solo Salida) and reduce speed (Reductor Velocidad). The geek in me comes out and praises the Spanish language as its more technically correct. You reduce your velocity and not just the speed.Anyway I learned some more Spanish on this trip.

We stayed at a very beautiful villa. This reminded me much of Pune as that is how houses in most parts of Pune are. The weather is also similar. When we went to the different beaches an did stuff like snorkeling/ kayaking etc I was very much reminded me of Goa ,the popular tourist attraction in India. PR is very much similar to Goa.

I was here for 5 whole days . So the posts that follow will give a brief description of the places we went to.

Day 1- El Yunque rainforest

Day 2- Snorkeling

Day 3- Old San Juan

Day 4- Ocean Park and Lu Quillo beach

Day 5 - El Morro Fort, Bacardi Rum factory

Day 5 - Biobay Kayak tour