Puerto Rico is a US territory, but it did not take long before it felt completely Caribbean to us. The motorway signs looked familiar, there seemed to be a Walgreens pharmacy on every corner, fast food was extremely popular and the speed limits were low enough to be treated more like friendly suggestions. Then somebody turned up the music, Spanish took over and the next beach reminded us exactly where we were.
Bianca had wanted to visit Puerto Rico for years, although even she could not really explain why. The Caribbean had never been at the top of our list. The Dominican Republic sounded too touristy, our knowledge of Jamaica consisted mostly of red, yellow and green, people singing No Woman, No Cry and smoking joints, and we did not even know that St Martin existed. But during a world trip, a proper beach break suddenly sounded like an excellent idea.
Our Royal Caribbean cruise started in San Juan, which gave us the perfect excuse to spend time in Puerto Rico before and after the ship. That decision turned one port into a small road trip across the island.
Old San Juan was our first Caribbean surprise
San Juan was not the loud, chaotic capital we had expected. The old town felt relaxed and walkable, with the Atlantic at the end of almost every street. Colourful houses made the Caribbean setting obvious, while balconies, cobblestones and heavy fortifications told a much older story.
Puerto Rico was still recovering from Hurricane Maria, which had hit the island in September 2017. We could see damage in places, but San Juan was slowly returning to normal. Cafés were open, music came from doorways and the old town had the kind of atmosphere that made us forget to check the time.
The forts at the edge of the Atlantic
There is no sensible way to walk through Old San Juan and miss the forts. Castillo San Felipe del Morro sits on an enormous green headland, while Castillo San Cristóbal protects the landward side of the old city. Even if history is not the main reason for your visit, the walls, watchtowers and ocean views make the walk worthwhile.
We spent as much time looking along the coast as we did inside the fortifications. From the walls, San Juan suddenly looked small between the ocean and the tightly packed old town. It was also one of those places where the camera had to come out every few metres.
Streets, breakfast and the home of the piña colada
The best part of San Juan was simply walking. One street was pale blue, the next pink or yellow, and the steep cobbles repeatedly opened onto the sea. La Perla sat outside the old city wall below the forts, a completely different neighbourhood only a short distance from the polished centre.
We started one morning with a Creole-style breakfast and later stopped at Barrachina, the restaurant that claims the piña colada was created there in 1963. We were not going to investigate the competing origin stories too seriously. Drinking one in Old San Juan was enough research for us.
Kayaking Laguna Grande after the full moon
Puerto Rico has three bioluminescent waters: Mosquito Bay on Vieques, La Parguera near Lajas and Laguna Grande in Fajardo. We chose Laguna Grande because it fitted our route best and booked an evening kayak tour with Kayaking Puerto Rico.
The principle sounds almost too good to be real. Microscopic organisms called dinoflagellates emit a short flash when the water moves. Every paddle stroke, hand or kayak can make the dark water sparkle. The darker the night, the easier it is to see.
Unfortunately, our timing was terrible. We visited shortly after a full moon, so the night was far brighter than it should have been. The operator warned us in advance, offered to let us cancel and even gave us a discount because the glow would be weak. We went anyway.
We paddled through a narrow mangrove channel into the lagoon. The water did glow when we disturbed it, but only faintly. It was not the neon spectacle from the advertising photographs, and there was no chance of capturing it properly with our camera. Still, floating through the mangroves in the dark was a very special experience. We were glad we had done it, just with realistic expectations.
If the bio bay is the main reason for your visit, check the moon phase before booking. A night around the new moon gives the organisms a much better chance to put on their show.
From green hills to pink salt flats
After the cruise, we picked up the Puerto Rico part of the journey again. The road took us away from San Juan and into the green interior before turning towards the dry southwest. Within a relatively short drive, the scenery changed from dense vegetation and waterfalls to salt, limestone and open sea.
The salt flats near Cabo Rojo were properly pink. After seeing Lake Hillier in Western Australia only from the air, being able to stand almost beside the water made this one much more satisfying. It is a working salt-production landscape rather than a perfect pink swimming lake, which only made it more interesting to us.
Cabo Rojo, Los Morrillos and the cliff walk
From the salt flats, a rough road led towards Los Morrillos Lighthouse. Parking was possible along the road, and there were only a few spaces near the end, so walking the final stretch was the less stressful option.
The lighthouse itself was worth the drive, but the cliffs behind it were the real highlight. The land simply stopped above the Caribbean Sea, with pale rock dropping sharply into blue water. It was beautiful, windy and exactly the sort of place where one careless step would ruin the holiday very quickly.
The west-coast beaches we almost had to ourselves
Our final days were about beaches. We stopped at stretches around Cabo Rojo, Steps Beach and the northwest coast near the old lighthouse ruins by Aguadilla. Some were easy to reach, while others sat behind rough roads and required a little more effort.
That effort usually paid off. Instead of resort rows and organised sunbeds, we found sand, reef, rock pools and enough space to choose our own patch. At one beach near Arecibo, rocks formed a protected sea pool while large Atlantic waves broke just beyond it. It felt much wilder than the Caribbean beach break we had originally imagined.
Not every part of the road trip was perfect. One accommodation near Puerto Real was genuinely bad, and the roads to some beaches were more adventurous than expected. But those were small complaints on an island that gave us far more variety than we had planned for.
