Catamaran livin'

Tuesday was our big day of sailing and snorkeling. We actually set an alarm (!!!) and made our way from the hotel to the marina. Along the way we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast (no free $70 breakfast at the new hotel) thinking it would be quick and easy. Clearly we didn't learn from our lunch there the other day that nothing about a Puerto Rican McDonald's is quick or easy. First, we waited about 15 minutes for our order to be taken. They do not have any of the same sandwiches available and there were no explanations for what the meals actually entailed. It was wild. We stood in line googling to names of things to figure out what to order. Big ups to Google on that one.

Nothing looks familiar...

Jackson being photobombed by an amused
Puerto Rican man

Clearly our woes were seen by the fellow McDonald's patrons because they were snickering at us. One guy even came over and told us to enjoy our meals while he was still laughing hysterically at us. Whatever. Also, the cashier tried to improve Jackson's Spanish by telling him how to pronounce the sandwich he called a "McRollo" without success. The whole thing was comical. Anyway, we survived and our food was just fine. I'm glad the locals could have a chuckle at our expense.

Our ride for the day

We made it to the marina around 9. The reservation said to be there at 8:30 sharp, but this was not our first rodeo. We understand island time. The boat actually left closer to 10 because the tour company's shuttle was running behind. See? Island time. We watched the goings on of the marina for the hour, emptied our bladders in an outhouse (ohhh urinating in foreign lands is always an adventure!) then finally boarded the boat. We met a nice mother and daughter (she was about Jackson's age) from Dayton, Ohio that we chatted with for most of the day. The first stop was a little island about 45 minutes from the marina. The views along the way were fantastic.

LIFE IN A SCREENSAVER! 

The island was magnificent. I couldn't get over the beauty.

Icacos Island

An oceanic swimming pool

Warming up

Fish!

There were a few other boats anchored there, too, but it was not crowded and beyond gorgeous. I snorkeled with Jackson for a few minutes before getting tired of it. :) I asked if I could use the paddle board they'd brought along and set out to explore. I kept just stopping during my paddle to soak it all in and take mental photographs. I did fall one time on this paddling journey. Bummer. But I started a trend of people wanting to try it and compared to those amateurs I looked like a professional. ;) We ate a really good lunch on the boat (their tuna was probably the best I've ever had!) before pulling up the anchor and heading for deeper water.

View from the deep snorkeling spot

Ready to go snorkeling again!

Petefish.

I went out with Jackson for the first few minutes and we saw a ton of oceanic animals. Hooray. ;)

Coral that looked like a potato

And he's off!

I turned back so Jackson could explore in peace without having to worry about my drowning. Truth be told, I'm not sure he really does worry about me, but I do. :)

We really enjoyed the slide on the end of the boat. I must have gone down that thing 25 times. By the end of the tour we were ready to be out of the sun. Jackson was toasty because he doesn't believe in sunscreen. I was toasty because sunscreen can't hang against that strong Puerto Rican sun.

We made it back to San Juan in a quick manner and cleaned up so we could go explore Old San Juan before it got too dark.

Old San Juan

Such a cute area

Reminsecent of New Orleans

We loved this area. It was so historic and beautiful. We wandered around for about an hour before calling it too dark to really appreciate beauty and heading back to town to get dinner. We could have eaten at one of the lovely restaurants in that area, but we were not feeling adventurous after a long day of sun so we grabbed dinner at Cheesecake Factory (no vacation is complete without it- but we did not have dessert!) at the largest mall in San Juan. They're really proud of this mall. It was fine, but a mall is a mall in our humble opinion. Dinner was great and we headed for the hotel to retire. We spent a good hour applying anti-itch cream to bug bites and aloe to our burned skin before we could actually go to bed. Sigh. Puerto Rico isn't for the weak. ;)