Remember I was saying that the forecast didn't look too good? The forecast isn't that accurate. The weather is very strange in PR. I guess it is the typical tropical weather where it is normally super sunny in the morning. Torrential flooding/downpour in the afternoon then back to sunny again in the evening. The wind is crazy as well, it goes from 30mph gust to no wind.
We arrived 4am in the morning at Aguadilla airport. I did some research and heard that car rental companies are not very reliable. People booked their cars and was told that they don't have any. Reviews were bad everywhere. So I prepaid one car and booked another pay at counter to avoid this scenario. When I got to the counter, one set of customers said they didn't have the car they booked. Another set of customers said they've been waiting for 3 hours. I was standing in line waiting for 20 minutes. I was tempted to just go to the other company that I booked. When it got to me, the guy didn't say anything. He was so tired as its 4 in the morning. Didn't explain anything and just ask me to sign a bunch of paperwork and handed my keys. They told me to go pickup the car in the parking lot so off I go. As I stepped out the airport, it was totally dark. Was kinda worried to see so many people hanging around, thinking that I'm going to get stabbed or mugged. Turns it's fine, people are friendly. But now along with 20 other customers, we are searching for our cars. All the car rental companies park their car together and it's not fun searching in pitch dark. Eventually I picked up the car and we head to the airbnb. The roads were terrible with huge pot holes and hard to drive as it is so dark. But hey, I had the hindsight so I rented a SUV.
Once I got to the airbnb, I went to bed straight away as I had to work that morning. Slept for couple of hours then I had a meeting till 2:30pm. I looked outside and it just finished raining. It is also really the island of mosquitoes, they were everywhere. But luckily they must not like my clogged up with cholesterol blood and fed happily on my fiancee. I didn't want to waste my afternoon and I knew the surf forecast was bad. I checked the webcam on surfline and looked at the west coast. It's flat everywhere and north coast is windy. I decided why not go for a horse ride. We've never done that before. I recall people said never use google maps in PR, they are inaccurate and takes you into bad roads. Which I ignored as I think how bad could it be?! So it took me into the backroads where it is flooding with rain and frogs everywhere. I mean they are huge, probably toads. I jokingly asked my fiancee if she wants frog legs on skewers. Despite the advice online saying to plan for extra time due to bad roads, I didn't listen. I was driving like a lunatic avoiding frogs and the torrential rain. Only got there 15 minutes late! But its cool, due to the rain. They delayed it till it stopped raining.
Luckily the horse trainers were very friendly and happy. They are a couple that was originally from California. Now they own a massive mansion, huge stable and acres of land by the beach. The lady gave me some instructions on how to ride a horse. Which is just pull the reins and off you go. When I got on the horse, I was actually pretty scared. It was a lot higher than I thought it would be. The owner was telling the other customers that don't let the hose eat the grass on the way or they won't stop. Also no passing other horses. Then when she got to me, she said oh. Blaze (horse name) does whatever he wants. If he wants to pass, let him. So I knew I'm in for a ride. People were all lining up at the gate with their horsey and I could tell mine was already trying to overtake the others. Another customer asked me if it was my first time, I said yes. Then due to my nervousness, I made some joke about how I can see people breaking their back falling off the horse. Yeah she made an awkward laugh....So whoopee off we go galloping on the beach. It was fun for about 2 minutes till my balls kept slapping the saddle. All the other customers were so happy when they heard that the ride will 2 hours. I'm just thinking that my balls are going to fall off after 2 hours. Everyone horse is super well behaved following a line so they are walking slowly. Mine seems to have a mind on it's own. He would go grab some grass and then start sprinting to catchup with the group. I bet the other customers are envy that I get to enjoy riding it so fast. But little did they know that I was dying inside. Not only that, the horse decide to smash my knees and legs into every obstacle that it could find on the way... I don't know how men can ride horses, unless you wear a cup or some kind of protection. It just isn't very comfortable. But I have to say I really enjoyed the ride despite the pain and everything. It was an amazing experience and the overcast was perfect. Riding in the rainforest with birds and all the smells. It's onpar with the avatar ride from Disney world!
After the horse ride, I really had trouble getting into the car or to walk straight. My knees and legs are all cut and bruised up. So it was 5pm and I decided off we go to the north coast to scout some surf spots. I got there and OMFG. Why didn't I get here earlier. All the surf shops were closed. Jobos was sheltered from the wind. The sun came out and everything was perfect. The waves are really nice and breaks cleanly. Why didn't I come earlier? I asked a local surfer to see if there's a shop opened and he said no. So I sat at a beach bar and just look at all the other surfers having fun.
Day 2. I was going to wake up at 5am to go surf but no. I woke up closer to midday. My body is soaring from the previous day. I decided to go checkout some ruins and Aguadilla/wilderness spots. Wanted to capture some drone footage there but it was too windy. It was so strong that the wind was blowing up the sand and it felt like was getting pricked by needles. I then went to a surf shop to pickup a surfboard for my trip. Originally I wasn't going to because the surf forecast looked like 1-3 feet waves with 30mph cross wind. I got to Jobos beach again late. It wasn't that great compared to yesterday. But still pretty good! I got in the water and caught some waves. Around waist to chest high. I was very happy but the current is strong and I'm kinda scared because there's only a few of us in the water. The other are kooks and I really don't know how shallow or sharp the reef are. But I guess it was okay because I didn't see any ripple on the surface so it must be deeper than it looks.
Day 3. Rincon/Cabo Rojo day. Since the surf wasn't that good yesterday. I decided I should scout out Rincon as it's world famous! I think the drive was 40 mins on google map but it was actually a lot longer. When we got to Rincon, it was super hilly and tiny roads. I didn't really do my research so it turns out Rincon is the name of the town and not the beach? I'm still not sure. I think Domes is where they do the surfing. Also there are so much trees everywhere you don't actually see the coastline. You don't drive along the beach so you really need to know where you're going. We had some nice lunch there and it was torrential rain again. Sun came out shortly after an hour or two. I visited Sandy and Domes beach. Both looked pretty trashy with strong wind and no waves. I was like is this it? This is world class? I'm expecting to see SoCal style of life. But the beach wasn't pretty and it was just a bunch of locals blasting loud music. I was pretty put off so off I went to the Cabo Rojo lighthouse.
The drive was around 1-2 hours. It's annoying because it isn't that far but you can't really drive fast. Plus I also managed to drive on the wrong side of the road due to how bad the roads are designed. While driving further south. The climate and scenery started changing. From Starting from Isabela, it was pretty rundown and felt more local. Towards Rincon, there are a lot of trees like rainforest then down south is more of like a desert. You just see dried up grass down the south. Whereas Rincon /Isabela has perfect grass, it's so green that its unbelievable. The lighthouse was cool but too bad I couldn't get much drone footage due to the wind. On the way I also passed and stopped by Bahia Salinas, which is a salt flat. The salt is pink and it had signs says no drones as it is refuge for wildlife. Which kinda sucks because it would've been great footage. On the way to the lighthouse which was on a cliff. I saw many women in bikinis. So I told my fiancee that must be the way to the lighthouse, let's follow them. Of course she didn't let me follow them. After we looked around the cliff I knew there was a hidden beach somewhere or else they won't be in bikini. We eventually found the secluded beach but we are exhausted plus they have dead seaweed everywhere so lots of flies and the smell is horrible. I decided to take a 'shortcut' back to the car. I don't want to go back with the original route because its far. Plus I have a drone on me so I know I can just fly it up if I get lost. We eventually made it despite doubting myself a couple of times.
On our way home, my fiancee said hey let's go eat at Rincon. At that pool bar sushi place we found on tripadvisor. I told her it is a bad idea because that place is on the hill with tiny roads and I really don't want to be driving there in the dark. Street lights and traffic lights are mostly not working in PR. We got there eventually and the staff all look like they are surfers from California movies. They are definitely Americans but the food is a little pricey for my liking. It is actually pretty good food! I would recommend it. On our way home, I put the car into sports mode and drove happily along the hilly roads. My fiancee kept telling me to drive slowly but hey, I do love a little bit of challenge. We eventually hit traffic and I was like this doesn't look like traffic. It wasn't moving and I eventually saw ambulance and police cars. I was thinking it must be a landslide due to the amount of rain. We couldn't take a different road as I didn't want to risk getting lost. Eventually I got passed the traffic and saw a Mazda that must have spun out and lost control. I saw all the air bags deployed so hopefully they were okay! This was Sunday night so people must be out drinking. I saw another car crash about 2 miles after that. So I started driving carefully and got home safely.
Day 4
Super sunny again in the morning and by 10-11am thunderstorm started. I looked outside and could not see blue sky anywhere so I just stayed home till 1-2pm. I had to return the board as my flight is 5am next day. I went to Jobos again and it was still raining a little bit. But the waves was nice and clean! I was good size, some overhead. I just ate lunch so I sat at the bar waiting for the food to digest. That was a bad idea, as the weather turned better. The swell was also getting smaller and smaller. By the time I got in the water, it was maybe 1-2 feet waves. But anyway, I had lots of fun. It was super hot so too many people in the water. Plus I was out of water for 3 months so I was in no shape to catch any waves. I didn't have watch on me but I got out the water at exactly the right time to return the board. Once I got to the shop, every staff in there was so friendly and asked if I had a good time. I said yeah but I wish it was bigger and didn't really see what the fuss is about with Rincon. I was going to put the name down on the forum but I rather not. I like the shop and they have good selection of boards. If they get too famous, then they won't have anything for me for my next trip. They even include the soft roof rack for free if you need them! You can PM me if you want to know the name of the shop.
I really like the place and would definitely go again for surfing. Plus I think 4 days is way too short, you need to be here at least a week. At no point of the trip did I ever felt unsafe. Food was okay price, pretty standard. You could also go for cheaper local food but I didn't want to run the risk of food poisoning. Also the beer are like $3-4, I haven't drank anything that cheap since moving to NYC. Everything I pay here is at least $8-15.
I'm also hoping that my next PR surf trip will be with Bill and Rach from the forum here!
Jaffa
