Porto-Rico

Antoine's view

The first time I heard about Porto Rico, it was- in the songs in the American musical « West Side Story »: natives from the island who had emigrated to the USA would revive in New York-s streets Porto Rican traditions.

When I was 22, exhausted by my first year as a -pop star-, I had suddenly dropped out and boarded a flight to San Juan. Bad weather caused our flight to be rerouted, and I wound up on a much smaller and much more British island, Antigua...

Only later did I discover Porto Rico, and was able to navigate solo along its southern shore in particular: it boasts a few deserted anchorages, some frequented by long distance cruising sailors.
If I'm allowed to quote an aspect of this destination that I disliked, it's the love the local people have for those obnoxious machines called Jet-skis, so noisy when they roam the deserted shores of this area.

The islands of Culebra and Vieques belong to Puerto Rico, but they have not undergone tourist development as much as the main island they face: until a recent date, the American Army kept it to themselves as a shooting range; recently, locals have demanded that these shooting tests be terminated, hoping to bring back these islands to their status of pearls floating between the Atlantic and the Caribbean sea. For those who like peaceful little villages, I recommend Dewey, on Culebra Island.