THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501240472
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHEN HARRIMAN, TRAVEL EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 216 lines
Can this be the winter that has been so long in coming? Is this, finally, REAL winter, blowing in with a vengeance, gray and brooding and bone-chilling, mocking us for all those day we've spent in balmy bliss?
Consider this: While the National Weather Service says it will be mild, the Old Farmer's Almanac is forecasting a worse winter than last year. Anything from 26 to 40 snowstorms for the East! Will they ALL miss us? What do YOU think? If winter comes late, will it stay late? Can we make it until April showers bring May flowers?
Winter - love it or leave it. Do you have an escape plan?
If your idea of a winter wonderland is a sandy beach, soft breezes, lazy days and spirited nights rather than a subzero ski slope - or, worse, spiraling down an icy road to work - here, for your dreams and plans, are a couple of getaway SUN SPOTS.
PUERTO RICO
TROPICAL SHOCK overwhelmed me in a mater of seconds, and right away I realized why.
I had gone from cool Virginia weather to air-conditioned plane, to air-conditioned terminal to air-conditioned shuttle van, and when I opened the door at Palmas del Mar Resort after the drive from San Juan, the thick, moist air of the Caribbean night enveloped me.
My glasses fogged up and I could not see. Instantly, my other senses became more acute.
I could smell the rich aroma of lush vegetation and the moist soil in planters throughout the tile-floored open-air lobby. And I could hear the hypnotic chorus of probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of the elusive coqui, Puerto Rico's tiny, indigenous tree frog.
I'm told the natives say, ``Soy tan puertorriqueno como el coqui'' - I am as Puerto Rican as a coqui.
I quickly fell under their spell. I could hardly wait until morning to explore the other charms of this place that was begun more than two decades ago as a Mediterranean-style resort village.
Palmas del Mar is a huge place - 2,750 acres, or more than 4 square miles - on Puerto Rico's southeast coast, about an hour's drive through the Luquillo Mountains southeast of San Juan and about a half-hour south of the U.S. Navy base at Roosevelt Roads. It took its name from the more than 3,000 towering coconut palm trees that dot the property.
I had been attracted to the place for any number of reasons, which included, of course, its Caribbean location. There was a picture of people riding horses along the 3 1/2 miles of uncrowded beach that was strangely appealing - strangely because horses and I do not have a particular affinity for each other - and another of a couple lounging surfside in a hammock strung between two palms.
Idyllic. Romantic. Both words fit.
It's caught other eyes as well. Back in 1974, Sports Illustrated shot its first swimsuit issue at Palmas del Mar. Chanel, the perfume empire, ensconces its VIPs in an exclusive corporate villa here. Parents magazine cites Palmas del Mar as one of 10 top warm-weather family getaways in the current (February) issue.
It is a nice neighborhood. Stylish and diverse.
This place is really a small town. In fact, there are about 600 permanent and part-time residents and a school for their children. In addition to a 100-room hotel, a 23-suite inn and 150 one- and two-bedroom luxury villas with fully equipped kitchens for vacationing guests, there is a variety of fine restaurants, a small shopping plaza and a full-service marina where deep-sea fishing and sailing charters can be arranged.
And there's a casino if you want to gamble.
There's a shuttle bus service for guests - rental bicycles and golf carts are available as well - to get around the sprawling complex.
The seaside golf course, a 6,690-yard, par-72 layout designed by Gary Player, was recently named ``best in Puerto Rico'' by San Juan City magazine. It seems to me that a greater hazard than the myriad of golden sandtraps are the big brown and green coconuts that plunk down without warning along the fairways. Every year, a celebrity tournament draws major league baseball players and PGA stars to raise money for the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
The Racquet Club, largest in the Caribbean with 20 courts (five clay, 15 hard, eight of them lighted), has been named along the top 100 in the world by Racquet magazine. The program includes both instruction and tournaments. There's a well-equipped fitness center at the Racquet Club complex.
With all that - plus the beach, of course - to choose from, I opted for the one thing I'd never done before: snorkeling.
My excuse has always been that I have really bad eyes and I probably wouldn't be able to see anything under water. Or not very well. Or something.
OK, I'll come completely clean. I do swim reasonably well, but I'd never been sure how I'd function - how I'd breathe - with that mask and that curved snorkel tube. Does water get inside the mask? Is it difficult to keep the open end of the tube out of the water? I do not like to breathe water.
If you've never snorkeled before, you'll probably understand this apprehension. If you're experienced, well, try to remember your first time.
The azure Caribbean was irresistible. Its temperature was close to 80, just a few degrees cooler than the air. Off Monkey Island, on the quiet lee side, the water's surface was flat as a mirror and crystal clear. Jim Abbott said there was a sunken barge just beneath the surface near where we'd anchored. There would be plenty of marine life around it . . . or we could go closer to shore and observe the monkeys.
The monkeys have lived there for years by themselves. Originally, they had been put there for experimental purposes. Scientists still regularly feed and care for them.
Abbott runs a scuba and snorkel operation called Coral Head Divers at Palmas del Mar. He outfitted me carefully with mask, breathing tube, foot flippers and flotation vest to keep me on the surface and instructed me thoroughly. I was ready to take the plunge.
I'll be honest. I had a few false starts that led to a bit of coughing and sputtering. But what the heck, saltwater is wonderful for the sinus passages.
Then, suddenly, in a matter of maybe 10 minutes, I realized I'd gotten the hang of it. I was effortlessly moving along the surface, using flippers and hands only occasionally. My breathing, through the snorkel in my mouth, had become effortless. I had become a surface sea creature. A whole new world revealed itself beneath me.
I could see just fine - the water magnifies everything, just as I'd always been told - and what a wondrous sight it was. Big fish, small fish, huge schools of every hue and color imaginable. Magenta, yellow and electric blue seem to dominate. Amazing.
My greatest regret is that I did not try snorkeling sooner. My second greatest regret is that I did not wear a T-shirt. Two hours with my back exposed to the tropical sun left me with quite a sunburn. Another lesson painfully learned.
Old San Juan, where Europeans first established permanent, New World roots in 1521, has put on a fresh face recently, and it is a must-see beauty. It's worth at least a half-day visit, longer if you can spare the time.
Largely to commemorate the Columbus Quincentennial (1992-93), a $100 million restoration, renovation and refurbishing project has brought new life to the heart of the old colonial capital and its waterfront.
The seven- by eight-block grid of streets, a National Historic District and a United Nations World Heritage Site, offers a visitor an opportunity to time-travel through more than four centuries of history. It's easily walkable, but there's a free trolley if the paving stones began to wear you down.
The narrow, cobblestone streets lead you past Easter egg-colored houses with shuttered windows and wrought-iron balconies, bars and sidewalk cafes when you can laze away hours, designer boutiques, museums and galleries, flower-filled courtyards and shaded parks with tinkling fountains and inviting benches.
There is the gleaming white San Jose Church (1523, second oldest in the New World) and the gothic Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, where Ponce De Leon was reburied in 1908. He was the first Spanish governor here before he became obsessed with that search for the fountain of youth. He was eventually mortally wounded on his fruitless quest in Florida and died in Havana.
At the western tip of Old San Juan rise the signature towers of the monumental San Felipe del Morro (commonly called El Morro - that's ``headland'' in English), the third fortress the Spanish built to protect the harbor and the first that was truly effective. Its steep stone ramparts of massive thickness rise 140 feet above the jagged and wave-lashed shoreline.
From these lichen-covered walls you can view the massive cruise liners in the harbor. Puerto Ricans claim it is the largest and fastest-growing passenger port in the world. San Juan is arguably the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean with about 2 million visitors a year. Most arrive by cruise ship.
Palmas del Mar provided excursions to Old San Juan and some of Puerto Rico's other interesting sites, including the Bacardi Rum plant, El Yunque tropical rain forest, El Nuevo Comandante thoroughbred race track and Ponce, the island's second city, and the nearby Hacienda Buena Vista coffee plantation. ILLUSTRATION: COLOR PHOTOS BY STEPHEN HARRIMAN
The Puerto Rican resort of Palmas del Mar takes its name from the
palm trees and azure Caribbean, above. The huge complex includes
colorful buildings, top, as well as a golf course, racquet club and
casino.
Graphic
TRAVELER'S ADVISORY
PUERTO RICO is a self-governing Commonwealth of the United States;
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens (since 1917). Sort of, but not like
you and me. They do not have direct representation in Congress and
may not vote for president, but they are not subject to federal
taxes. U.S. citizens do not need a passport to visit the island.
The U.S. dollar is the official currency. Two ``official''
languages here: Spanish is the ``first'' language, but English is a
mandatory subject in schools and is widely spoken, especially by
people who deal regularly with tourists.
About the island: Puerto Rico is roughly 100 miles long and 32
miles wide (about the size of Rhode Island) and is located in the
Caribbean Sea southeast of Florida. Its capital and principal city
is San Juan on the northeast coast. About 1 million of the 3.7
million Puerto Ricans live in San Juan. The island has palm-lined
beaches, mountains, semi-desert areas and one of the largest cave
systems in the western world. Eleven forest preserves are located on
the island including the only tropical rain forest - 28,000-acre El
Yunque - in the northern hemisphere.
Getting there: Three airlines have daily flights from Norfolk to
San Juan with intermediate transfers - American and American Eagle
(through Raleigh), Delta (through Atlanta) and USAir (through
Charlotte).
Getting around: Numerous car rentals are available, and Puerto Rico
has a very modern highway system. Puerto Rican drivers can be - how
shall I say this? - inventive. During a Monday morning rush hour, I
saw them transform an Interstate-type, four-lane divided highway
outside San Juan into a 10-lane raceway by utilizing paved
shoulders, unpaved shoulders and the median strip for traffic lanes.
Even a traveling companion from traffic-crazed Boston was amazed.
Drive with caution. Plenty of taxis in San Juan. Most outlying
resorts offer shuttle service from the airport.
For Puerto Rico info: Contact a local travel agent or the Puerto
Rico Tourism Company, 575 Fifth Ave., 23rd Floor, New York, N.Y.
10017; (800) 223-6530, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. To order
brochures, call (800) 866-7827, Ext. 55.
For Palmas Del Mar info: The resort offers a free vacation planner
guide with details on golf, tennis, scuba, romance and seven-day
family getaway packages. Contact a local travel agent or write Box
2020, Humacao, P.R. 00792; (800) 725-6276.
- Stephen Harriman
by CNB