San Juan is still not recovered.....

040318   SNUBA in San Juan

We didn’t arrive in port until 12:30 today so we had plenty of time to sleep, have breakfast and watch our arrival in port from the Lido Deck. We went ashore and walked about Old Town for about an hour and it was hot. While many of the shops and hotels in this part of town are open, there are still a good many still boarded up. It was very sad to see that.

Our SNUBA excursion was at 3:30 and it ended up being just the 3 of us. The reef around San Juan is pretty much destroyed so our SNUBA location was in a former marine park. Although we didn’t see any coral, we did see sea urchins and a couple of different kinds of tropical fish. They’ve also started several artificial reefs here and you can see the new growth beginning.

What was horrifying to us was the hotels and buildings—just a 10 minute ride from the port are still majorly damaged. None of the hotels on this long stretch of beach are open, the roads are in complete ruin and the smaller homes and buildings were nothing but rubble. It really looks like a bombed our war zone. I can’t even imagine how devastated, financially, the people are that made their livings here. The company we had our tour with said he and the dive master are the only two employees left at what was once a thriving business.

Once we got back on the ship, we were on the Lido deck enjoying an adult beverage and what sat down near us? A table full of Fox News, Trump lovers that were spouting off about the people in Puerto Rico are lazy and just want hand-outs from the US, praising the man that is not my president and how he handled everything. It took everything I had not to turn around and tell them what I thought of them. But, instead I just moved to another table.

We are in port until 11pm tonight, however we don’t have dinner until 8pm so I am pretty sure we won’t be getting off the ship again. We were a bit disappointed as we were hoping to go to Watch & Co where we bought our cool jewelry last year but they closed at 6. Oh well, we will just have to come back!!!

Dinner was at 8pm tonight but we sort of spoiled ourselves at the buffet. I have to say the food at the buffet is excellent. So much variety and everything I’ve tasted was wonderful. Today I had a fruit and cheese plate and ceviche shrimp with Cilantro. The bread is out of this world—and a great variety every day.

In my opinion, the food in the dining room is “OK”. Nothing has wowed me yet, but I certainly didn’t starve and the service is impeccable. There is, thankfully, no singing and dancing waiters on the ship! If the menu doesn’t look good tomorrow night, I think we will just eat at the buffet. I do know, we plan on going to the Steak house one night if we can get in.

Tomorrow is St. Thomas and the only thing we have planned is going to a beach! We’ve just left port and spent the last few hours after dinner sitting outside on the Lido deck enjoying the perfect weather. It was one of those nights where the temperature was neither hot nor cold, perfect for enjoying a late night beverage and chatting. All in all another great day in paradise!