Early Christmas Cruise 2023-Part 2

By coolgrandparent on March 30, 2024

Our 3rd port of our Christmas cruise was Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. This is a fairly new port area, opening in 2015. It is near the town of Puerto Plata.

The Dominican Republic is a country on the island of Hispaniola. It occupies 62% of the island while the country of Haiti occupies the rest.

We had opted for a tour to the Waterfalls of Damajagua, it would be a Zip and Dip adventure. Damajagua has a total of 27 waterfalls and pools. We were outfitted with helmets and life jackets. The tour started with a 40 minute hike up a mountain to the ziplines.

The hike was all up hill with some sections having stairs. There were informational signs as well as signs about the wildlife such as the Cigua Palmera or Palmchat is the national bird of the Dominican Republic

All that cruise food had taken it’s toll so our group took frequent breaks…lol

All buckled up and ready to Zip. With the Dip being directly after the Zip, we had to wear our life jacket.

Pictures of Jim “Zipping”

To end we crossed a swinging bridge

The start of the Dips

You walked backward down the ladder and then jumped the last few feet. Unexpectedly the water was cold.

The water flows though a small slot canyon

The water falls were very smooth to slide down and they varied in size.

There were sections of walking and sections of floating

At the last waterfalls, you could bypass it by taking the stairs, but how often do you get to slide down a waterfalls.

We had a great time…

Our tour guides

Our unofficial waterfalls picture…

Amber Cove is a very beautiful port

We had an awesome greeting from our cruise director and his staff.

Sunset as we left the Dominican Republic

Everyday we had a new towel animal in our room, we even made our own towel animal..haha

Our next port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. On 25 July 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico. After the U.S. prevailed in the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with the Philippines and Guam, to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris. It is still a territory of the United States and it’s residents have been citizens since 1917. In 1952, they began electing their own governor. They receive most of the rights of citizenship, however, they do not vote in Presidential elections, but on the flip side, they do not have to pay income tax.

Our tour was of the old Town of San Juan. Our first stop was in Loiza which is the center of the African heritage in Puerto Rico.

The cultural center sold deep-fried empanadas

We then went to an overlook of the hotel beach area.

Our bus passed the Capital Building of Puerto Rico. It was dedicated in 1929.

Our walking tour of Old Town began on a hill above the Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery. It was established in the 19th century. The Spaniards built it outside the city walls because of their strong fear of the afterlife. Its oceanfront location comes from a superstitious belief that the deceased started a journey over to “the great beyond” and being close to the sea symbolized the beginning of eternity.

The Castillo San Felipe del Morro, but most commonly known as El Morro which means the Promontory. It is a large fortress the was commissioned by Charles I of Spain in 1539. It started was as a fortified tower and was fully expanded to a fort by 1595. Over the next 200 years, especially in the reign of Charles III it continued to be developed obtaining it’s current design in 1787. It rises 140 ft from the Atlantic ocean with 18 to 25 ft thick walls.

Our walk continued to Quincentennial Plaza that was built in 1992 to commemorate Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas over 500 years ago. The plaza sits across from Old San Juan’s most impressive sight, the Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

A 40 foot tall tower known as El Tótem Telúrico stands in the middle of the plaza and is meant to symbolize the origin of the New World.

We walked to Ponce De Leon’s statue which sits outside a 16th century church. He first arrived in 1493, and took on a role as a military commander. He was appointed as the Spanish Governor from 1508-1509. His statue has been the scene of protests advocating that Columbus, De Leon, and other New World explorers should not be hailed as heroes.

We walked the 500 year old cobblestone streets to The Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist. It is the Catholic cathedral for the Archbishop of San Juan Puerto Rico and one of the oldest buildings in Old San Juan, the oldest cathedral in the United States, and is the second-oldest cathedral in the Americas. Construction began in 1535 and was completed in 1802. It replaced the original wooden church that was destroyed by a hurricane. The street directly in front of the church leads to the bay. This was to allow newly arrived visitors, to come directly to the church to pray.

We continued to Capilla de Cristo which was built at the top of the walls of the city, an unusual decision for colonial times. Legend has it that two men were racing their horses down the street and one of them fell over the cliff and survived. This inspired the construction of a sanctuary dedicated to the saints of health. It’s altar is made of embossed silver

Outside the sanctuary is a square dedicated to pigeons. They even sell pigeon food….proceed at your own risk.

Much of Old Town is managed by the US National Park Service and is considered a World Heritage Site. From this view, you can understand why the Spaniards built the city here, as you can see for miles.

Below the city wall was a fountain that legend has, might have been a Fountain of Youth. Jim thought he should try…lol.

With it being the Christmas season, there were displays throughout the city. The Thee Kings is a big theme as well as Stars.

Our guide, Monica, had given us a quick over-view of Old Town in our short 4 hours.

We had enjoyed our time in Puerto Rico

At the pier, there were numerous vendors. We bought a glass mug that was hand-etched using a small grinder.

Back to the ship just in time…as it was pouring rain ( in full sunshine) while we ate lunch

As we left San Juan we passed the fortress Castillo San Felipe del Morro

We had two days at sea before arriving in New York and we enjoyed it with our two travel companions, Willy P the mascot of William Penn University and Spuddy Buddy the mascot of our home state of Idaho.