The view from Casa Bianca's third-floor balcony

We spent most of our time in Rincon, a small town on the western edge of Puerto Rico famous for its surf. We stayed with Kat's parents on the top floor of the small apartment building they recently purchased, dubbed Casa Bianca. (Click link for more pictures!)





Sandy Beach

The beach right across from Casa Bianca, visible in the distance in the last picture. Most of those palms are coconut palms and there are usually coconuts in various natural states all over the beach. If you look carefully, you can find fresh, undisturbed ones. It's no small feat to remove the husk and crack the shell, but with a cleaver and hammer and some elbow grease, it's possible. And, as we discovered, so worth it.





Steps Beach

A short drive away. We did some great snorkeling here and saw endangered elk coral, so-called because it looks like giant elk antlers.





The Steps

If you turn and look in the opposite direction from the previous photo, you'll see why it's called Steps Beach. Supposedly a tsunami deposited these here sometime in the early twentieth century.





Sea urchins in the coral at Steps Beach





From the Steps Beach parking area

This photo gives you some idea of what the terrain is like a bit farther from the water.





The Calypso Bar at Maria's Beach

The bar where we went everyday for sunset, between Steps Beach and Sandy Beach. They do a great rum punch. Shirts and shoes optional.





Kat's butt on the Domes Trail

This is a trail that begins a short ways from Casa Bianca and runs along the cliffs above the beach for a good mile or so. It's called "Domes Trail" because it ends at the dome of a defunct nuclear power plant. It makes for a really pleasant walk, any time of day, with spectacular views.





View from Domes Trail





Along Domes Trail





View from Domes Trail





Jade green waters along Domes Trail





The Dome!





Boqueron Bay

We spent one afternoon in Boqueron, a little town on the southwestern coast where you can walk the streets and sample tiny raw oysters and clams. This shot (and the next) of the bay were taken from our seats at the restaurant where we ate lunch. That evening we went a little farther down the coast to La Parguera, and went swimming in a bioluminescent bay.





Boqueron Bay, like, two seconds later





B.C. on the El Yunque Trail

Towards the end of the trip we took a few days and drove east towards San Juan and the Caribbean National Forest, home of the U.S. park system's only rainforest. "El Yunque" is the park's highest mountain, but it's also used as shorthand for the park itself.





El Yunque fog





El Yunque trail





El Yunque





View from El Yunque trail

Here we're on the edge of one mountain, looking out from the trail at nearby mountains.