Cuava De Indio, Puerto Rico (July 13th, 2014)

Today we went to Cuava De Indio, which is near Arecibo on the northwest shore. This is an area that has caves and arches along a very scenic shoreline. It is run by a local family that has owned this land for several generations. They charge $2 per car to park and $.50 per person to enter. Steve had heard via the web that they had guides for hire. We got there around 10:30 and were able to get Jacob from Fort Lauderdale, Florida as our guide. He lives with the family that owns the land, and works for tips. He gave us a great tour of the cave showing us the various entrances and exits and the petroglyphs.

Our first look at the lava flows that make up Cuava De Indio

Entering the Cave the easy way

Petroglyphs

Petroglyph of a baby

In one part of the cave, water comes rushing in and out, but you can’t tell where it’s coming from. We asked Jacob, and he said that there is a huge lava tube under water, that is about 35 feet long, leading out to the ocean. If a current comes in strong enough to knock you off balance, it can suck you into the lava tube, where you could drown before reaching the ocean. We decided that this is not a good place to play in the water, and continued on with our cave tour.  In the first picture below, you can see the rushing water behind us. 

During the time of the Spanish invasions, the Puerto Rican Indians would use secret entrances and exits from the caves to keep from being discovered. They are not quite as straight forward as the ladder in the picture above. Jacob took us out of the cave using one of these secret exits. He would coach us, telling us exactly where to put our feet and hands. We were literally suspended between two cave walls, well above the cave floor. He made it very easy, informative and fun. 

At the end was a small perch where you could crouch before jumping about 6 feet down to the sand below. 

The last picture is Jacob before he jumped out of the exit hole.

After the cave he took us down to the shore to show us three of the seven natural arches. He would run bare foot ahead of us on the jagged lava flows taking pictures of us. We tipped him well for the morning tours. 

Can you see the three of us on the edge of the arch?

When we got back to camp, we had fried tacos $1.50 each and $1.00 beers and sodas for lunch. There are quaint little restrooms around back, so that’s definitely a bonus! Jacob brought us a green coconut he had chopped open. Very nice and light flavored. There is no meat inside, as the green coconuts only have coconut water. 

Modest restrooms attached to the restaurant

Fried tacos and drinks for lunch.  You can see the menu behind our daughter

Jacob cutting our green coconut

Enjoying come refreshing coconut water, directly from the source

In the afternoon Jacob took us snorkeling. He took us to a rock ledge that he keeps clear of sea urchins to get into the water. 

He continued to be very attentive to making our experience great.  Sorry, we don't have any snorkeling pictures.  We don't have an underwater camera.  Maybe we can take care of that problem some day.  We saw a group of 100 plus blue tangs. Most were about 10 inches long. Saw a large variety of sea life.  The highlight was a black eel. Jacob gathered shells from the bottom for us to take with us. We tipped him again for the afternoon. Jacob was thrilled and so were we! He brought us a very large cookie to share as we were leaving.  We left about 4:00 after going back to the beach and exploring several tide pools on our own.  When we were heading back to the car, we saw this friendly little guy.

Lots of motor cycles were out as it was a Sunday afternoon and it appears to be where everyone on the island goes to ride and hang out together. We would really like to spend more time in this area of the island. We stopped at a road side stand and purchased Nutella and Oreo smoothies. They were very good and refreshing.

We went to Wendy's for take-out salads for dinner, as we were dead tired and wanted something remotely healthy.    Later in the night we went back out for crepes at the Crepe Maker (we had our healthy streak earlier, so of course this was a good idea). We had a Nutella, strawberry, banana crepe at about 10:30. Wonderful!!! We walked back to the hotel at 11:30. The locals were just coming out for the night.

What a way to end an amazing day in Puerto Rico!