After our four-day and four-night passage from The Bahamas to Puerto Rico, we were ready to drop anchor, take a deep breath, and get some rest. On our way to Puerto Rico, we did some research in Navionics to find a protected anchorage along the west coast of Puerto Rico. We found one with excellent reviews at Puerto Real Bay near the city of Cabo Rojo.
The Puerto Real anchorage is an almost totally enclosed basin about two miles north of Boquerón. The entrance to the channel isn’t well marked, with only a couple of small local channel markers, but it was easy to enter and quite large. It had good depths of 8-10 feet with a thick mud bottom. Our 33kg Rochna anchor dug deep and held tight.
It was a beautiful sunny day when we arrived and the waters inside the Puerto Real Bay were calm and serene. This bay is well-protected by all but a southwesterly wind, so the northeasterly and easterly winds we were getting during our stay didn’t affect us at all.
This bay is the home of Marina Pescadería which is an official port of entry to the island of Puerto Rico. Since we are part of the CBP ROAM program we were able to do all of our customs check-ins online, so we didn’t have to go to the customs office on land. What a convenience!
Marina Pescadería is modern and well-managed. They have fully equipped boat slips with power and water, a large diesel and gasoline dock, a pump-out station, a mini-mart, boat electronics and general maintenance shops, a restaurant, and a fishery. They also offer rental cars on the premises, fresh water and ice, garbage disposal, washer and dryer, restrooms with hot showers, WiFi and nearby supermarkets, department stores, bakeries, restaurants, banks, and a Post Office. We highly recommend boaters stop in Puerto Real and utilize the services at Marina Pescadería and the nearby town of Cabo Rojo.
Even though we were exhausted when we first arrived, we were too excited to be in Puerto Rico to rest. So, we lowered the dinghy from the davit, and went to town to stretch our legs, walk the dog, and explore the area of Cabo Rojo. Sleep would come later.
The one negative about the town is the numerous large stray dogs lurking around the street corners. We did not feel safe walking Gracie in the neighborhoods around the marina, so we carried her for much of our outing. It depends on the neighborhood in Puerto Rico, but we found stay dogs everywhere and it’s not very safe to walk your dog in the more rural areas.
We were surprised to find several nice restaurants. We ate an early dinner at 9 Barrio and had a great conversation with the owner. Since it was only 4pm, we were the only people in the restaurant at the time. It was good to be practicing our Spanish again. Although, we found that many people in Puerto Rico know some English. They do, however, seem to really appreciate English-speakers trying their tongues at Spanish and are very patient and accommodating with those who give it some effort. Many Puerto Ricans actually speak “Spanglish” since they are practicing their English skills. For the most part, we found Puerto Ricans to be friendly, kind, and welcoming!
On our second day in Puerto Real, we enjoyed a cool tropical rain shower in the morning, followed by a spectacular rainbow and glowing skies. When the rains cleared up, the sun came out, and the mountain peaks were quite a sight to see in the background. We haven’t seen mountains like this in well over a year. They reminded us of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. It was a welcoming sight!
The west coast of Puerto Rico is a marine wonderland with many breath-taking beaches and great places to visit. We didn’t spend as much time here as we would have liked because we needed to start heading around the south side of Puerto Rico and slowly working our way east. We will definitely stay in Puerto Real Bay if we come back this way. There is much more exploring we would like to do on the beautiful west coast of Puerto Rico. We missed the cities of Mayaquez, Aguadilla, and Isabela, but hopefully we’ll visit those another time!
