The day we planned to depart was a full day. It started with an early morning church visit, a stop at the market, a long drive to the Guanica Land Crab Festival, a steep drive up to the Dry Forest, and another long drive to the SW tip of Puerto Rico in search of Playa Sucia, a beautiful natural cove and sandy beach, in Cabo Rojo. From the cove we hiked up 200 feet on a steep trail to the Lighthouse. We did this all in ONE Day before we would fly home after midnight that night! It was a day crammed with unknowns, discovery, and the most scenic view of the Caribbean.
We drove about 2 hrs south to Guanica to a Land Crab Festival. Land crabs are something new to me. I never heard of Land Crabs. I’m use to Dungeness Crabs in NJ and Alaskan King Crab Claws at an Atlantic City buffet.
Another thing I never heard of is a "Dry" Forest. Guanica is home of a large Dry Forest high in the mountains. We could see a cove, Playa Sucia, from the forest and thought we would go there. It took us over an hour and finally at the end of a long remote drive on a narrow road we arrived. However, the drive was very interesting because we drove by farms, cattle ranches, and salt mines and finally reached the cove.
The cove is really a beautiful place even with the seaweed washing up on the beach it was just naturally beautiful. There were not too many people there and I am guessing we were the only tourist from outside of Puerto Rico. Families were celebrating Father's Day with picnics, people were hiking, climbing the rocks, and walking up a path to the light house and we did the same.
We walked the beach, climbed up a steep hill and took a path up to the lighthouse. It was the most amazing scenic view of the Caribbean Sea. | There was a stone at the edge of the cliff. The stone had the name of a volunteer who fell at that spot to his death. It was sad and somewhat scary. |
The lighthouse was originally built in 1882 to guide ships through the rough waters of the Mona Passage and into the Atlantic Ocean.
We headed back to the house with a stop at a typical local restaurant for dinner. We packed up and said our last goodbye before leaving for the airport. It was a long day but worth all we did.