Jan 4

We docked at the Old Town in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 8:00am.  It was a clear, calm and sunny morning as we sailed into port so we had a good view of the fort and Old Town as we entered.  Since this is our first USA port, officers from ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) came on board and we were called by deck & side (ie Deck 7 Starboard) to go to the theater, collect our passports and present ourselves to the Immigration officers.  For US citizens they just looked at the passport picture, at our face and said OK.  We clear customs when we debark in Miami on the 7th.  The process took less than 2 hours for 650 passengers, but the crew had a busy day.  They also had to face immigration and then there was a Coast Guard health & safety inspection so they were stuck on board until late afternoon.  Puerto Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493 and settled by Ponce de Leon in 1508.  It was one of 3 main ports for Spanish vessels to form up convoys for hauling gold back to Spain and in 1521 construction began on the 2 forts guarding the entrance to the harbor and the wall around the city.  It was attacked by British, French & Dutch but never conquered.  The island was originally named San Juan and the city Puerto Rico, but the names were reversed.  When Spain ceded its territories in the Americas to the US at the end of the Spanish American War, Puerto Rico became a US territory.
We didn't have an excursion until 12:30 so we walked around Old San Juan for an hour before lunch.  We began our excursion by driving around the harbor and visited the modern art museum which houses works by Puerto Rican artists.  We next visited the largest of the forts, San Cristobal.  We were then given a drive by tour around Old San Juan, past the Church San Jose (built 1532 and the 2nd oldest in the Western hemisphere), past San Juan Cathedral where Ponce De Leon is buried and past several historic buildings,  Many of the buildings are from the 1500s & 1600s and are kept in excellent condition with fresh paint.  The streets are narrow since they were built for horse traffic and there is a plan to eventually make Old San Juan a pedestrian only area.  We were let off for some shopping time and, since we've been here a few times and know our way around, we opted to leave the tour and wander on our own for an hour or more.  We had dinner with our friends Cheryl & Wolf, skipped the Beatles Night dance party in the theater (bad venue) and Pat increased her blackjack earnings.