Puerto Rico - Inland

We are anchored on the south side of Puerto Rico in Salinas, a very protected spot, so we rented a car and went exploring the island.

Arecibo Observatory

Puerto Rico is home to the world’s largest and most sensitive radar/radio-telescope, set in an ancient sinkhole.

Built in 1960's it uses radio waves similar to an echo sounder visualizing distant objects. This telescope is used for researching earth's ionosphere, comets and other objects. It is also used by scientists as part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project. Very interesting stuff.

Rio Camuy Cave Park

The river Camuy is the worlds third largest underground river and in this park it formed many caves, caverns, sink holes, which are amazing to explore. We visited the park and explored the caverns.

Toro Negro Mountains and Dona Juana Falls

The central Puerto Rico is very hilly and is absolutely a visual treat to drive through its scenic roads. We hiked to the highest peak of Puerto Rico - the Cerro de Punta, which is 4390 ft (1338m) high.

Close by are Doña Juana Falls - a nice waterfall (200 foot / 60m).

San Juan

In San Juan we mainly visited the two forts which are the biggest forts that Spanish built in the Americas. They are the. San Cristobal Fortress, which was designed to protect fro land invasion, and the El Morro, overlooking the San Juan harbor and designed to protect from water invasion.

El Yunque

El Yunque National Forrest is the only tropical forest in the US park system. And it is absolutely beautiful. We hiked many trails and enjoyed it a lot.