My dear friend Ted Dimbero’s childhood place and an island that we have great memories of from the trip we made there with Dipanjan and Parijat last year!

That is Playa Isla Verde – beach we are on. And in the distance, you can see the beach Balneario de Carolina.

Apparently last week was hard rains. We are in for luck this week.

The customary beginning with an island cocktail. We even managed to order drinks that matched our top/shirt color!

Reminded me of the streets of Valetta in Malta!

This is the silhouette of Sharmila and me walking across a street in old San Juan and a car with bright lights coming uphill from our left. I did not get much of a chance to compose the shot in order to avoid getting hit but I might try next time with a little more thought.

The first time we had visited this place was back in Nov 2014 !

Definition of a perfect start to the morning for me!

Last year, I had come to Puerto Rico by myself. I had loved the Seven Seas Beach. Remember sitting at the spot behind the two trees in the background for hours. I remember calling Sharmila up and saying we need to come back together some time.

Did not realize it will happen within a year!! It is a great beach environment. The only problem is the bar sells mojito and pina colada – but not with alcohol! I asked her if it was because it was a public park. She thought I was out of my mind. I guess you can drink in public parks in PR. Turns out it is because of the owner’s religious beliefs.

to match Nature’s colors with the colors of my clothes… the beige beach, the blue water…

This is in Loquillo beach

Between the wind threatening to blow her hat away and the waves hitting her off her balance, it was a difficult enterprise to pose for a shot

So, here I am in Puerto Rico. The main reason is to attend the wedding of somebody I know. Much younger to me, of course. I am on the board of the company that he is the CEO of. Turns out I was his mentor for a couple of years before that too. So, I show up with Sharmila at the Bacardi Distillery. It was a small and fairly intimate wedding.

Other than the bride and the groom I did not know anybody. Sharmila and I were intently watching the proceedings of the Indian wedding. All of ten minutes must have passed.

That “I did not know anybody”, bit? Completely unfounded.

Suddenly a gentleman in chic, traditional Malayali dress walks up to me and Sharmila.

“Rajib?”
“Guilty!”
“Hari. Hari Menon!”
“Wow! I would not have recognized you!!”
I knew Hari very well from the 90s. We had worked together. But I could not have picked him up from a crowd. He had however, recognized me in the gathering.

“Hari. Wait. What is your connection?”
“I am Vivek’s cousin”
“No way!”
The groom and I know each other for a few years now. In fact, he and his bride-to-be had gone out for dinner with Sharmila and me too. But we never figured out that we had such a common connection!!

Go figure!!

Our IIT coach would take us to Elliott Beach in Chennai to practice soccer before Inter IIT games. I was the goalkeeper. So, I welcomed the soft landing in sand after diving. The problem, of course, was that the ball would drift more than I would anticipate in the wind. Almost broke my wrist for misjudging the ball by an inch while trying to thwart a thundering kick from Satish Sundar. That guy had the hardest kick in the team.

Last night, we had asked Alejandro who was helping us at the bar for some tips on beaches. This was the first one he suggested – Playa Puerto Nuevo.

One side of the beach has some huge rocks. See the first picture. The lowest point is probably 40-60 feet high.

Now see the eye-popping large wave come and crash on it from behind. And in its wake, leave a lot of small waterfalls on the rock.

I have never seen anything like this. The videos are jaw dropping!

This is the second beach we went to today. Mar Chiquita Beach. There is a tidal pool here. But the waves crashing in thru the gap come with so much power and volume that nobody is allowed to get into the pool!

You can stand there mesmerized for hours by the power and scale of fury of the waves.

Interesting phenomenon with the cocount tree. It has brown, yellow and green leaves. If you notice carefully, it is greenest on the top and most brown in the bottom. The tree, as it grows taller, dumps the leaves that are on the bottom!!

We were off to Laguna Grande in Fajardo to see bioluminescence!

Between the two of us, we have explored the north east, north west and south west side of the island. Today, we will hit the south east side. The beaches are less crowded there. First we have to cross the mountains. The drive thru the mountains is very pretty.

Very secluded. In the whole beach spanning a mile, there were only three other parties. Lots of shaded areas to sit on the grass. The wind made it feel really nice and cool.

Remember the experience from last year in El Combate beach? This time too, in the trees in the beach, I could hear the same noise. I told Sharmila to see if she can spot parrots. I did not have my big camera this time to zoom in.

We did spot one. Can you find it?

After about five minutes, some half a dozen of them flew by us!

Well, an icecream truck spotted us and quickly drove over the grass to reach us!!

It swoops in vertically down, beak first to scoop its prey a couple of feet deep in the water!