Good Timing at the Ponce Regatta

As much as we hate planning anything around here, it sure must seem like we do since we somehow always manage to roll into different ports when there are fun events taking place. So much can be said for our stellar Ponce arrival timing as we sailed into the Ponce harbor last Friday morning…just in time to kick off the weekend’s Regatta festivities at the Ponce Yacht + Fishing Club.

^^Our Marina Pescaderia friends on s/v Julepe^^

We had the inside scoop on this particular regatta from some of our local friends back at Marina Pescaderia in Puerto Real who happened to be participating in the three-day event. Thankfully, they invited us to join in on the weekend’s festivities, basically granting us (nearly) full access to the yacht club since we were only anchored in the harbor out front. And luckily for us, the trip to shore was nothing but a quick 20-second dinghy ride from our boat to the yacht club’s docks where there were festive nightly events, food, drinks, and more!

And who are we to turn down any of that awesomeness? ;))

^^Quite the view of the regatta racing action, huh?!^^

Without the regatta going on, the Ponce Harbor is quite industrial looking and not all too exciting since it is the island’s main international shipping port. There is however (on one side of the anchorage) a more touristy spot known as La Guancha. …Basically a long boardwalk overlooking the harbor with a lookout tower, ferry pick-up (taking passengers to and from Coffin Island), about 15 or so different food spots — mostly all fried local Puerto Rican fair — and loud music blasting from each of the different restaurants. We had already visited La Guancha by car so we just dinghied over once while we were anchored in the harbor to check it out again.

So, if having our “in” to the yacht club and regatta wasn’t bonus enough during our time in Ponce, we also ran into two local Puerto Ricans and fellow sailors/bloggers who recognized Oliver (go figure!) at the Halloween kickoff party on Friday night. :)))

Our new friends Melissa and Alex were in Ponce for the regatta too. While Alex was out racing, Melissa treated me to a free trip to the Ponce Super-Walmart on Sunday where I stocked up on fresh food since it had been about 2.5 weeks since Jer and I’s last trip to a supermarket. It is especially nice to meet fellow cruisers who totally “get” our lifestyle and how grateful we are to be offered free rides to and from town to get chores like grocery shopping done. Thanks guys! We can’t wait to meet up again in the Virgin Islands in December!!!

PS – I was utterly shocked and beyond thrilled to finally find our favorite Tandori naan flatbreads available in Puerto Rico! Yay to that!!!

With the best seat in the anchorage for the weekend-long regatta races, we soaked up the racing fun as all of the boats whizzed past little ole LAHO in the harbor! Oliver, of course, enjoyed barking at each one that came near. ;))

^^That’s Jereme on the dinghy getting in the mix of the regatta boats. Well actually, he was just schlepping a few jerry cans of water back to our boat from the fuel dock. Ahhh…the joys of boat life.^^

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