(All
POINTS OF INTEREST are between 20 minutes to one hour away)
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Bioluminescent bay boat rides that
await you on sparkling waters are less than one hour away. |
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The dry forest is a section of Puerto Rico
where it never rains. The foliage is
all cactus and palm trees. The
Caribbean water is many shades of blue here.
It is located on an unpopulated road lined with picnic areas, ruins,
and inviting swimming beaches. |
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The rain forest starts in the hills
above Rincon and runs east through the entire island. Huge leaved plants, wild flowers, and
herbs are abundant here. Breathtaking
waterfalls accent the lush tropical beauty whenever it rains. |
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The rugged northwest coast features wild water, rocky and beautiful
scenery. This stretch of coast has
many lovely swimming and surfing coves as well as blow holes, where water
rushes into the coral heads and shoots dramatically into the air. Waterfalls cascade over ocean rock
out-croppings. This area is featured
in many movies and television commercials. There is a huge oceanfront bolder with
the face of Jesus carved into it and an old pirates den within a short walk
off the road. This attraction is only
about 45 minutes away. |
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The southwest point is a crystal clear,
calm water point with miles of salt flats that are scraped for the Morton
Salt Company twice a year. A day spa
featuring true mineral baths is located here. Also, a lone lighthouse sits on the point and overlooks acres
and acres of what looks like snow-covered land that is actually crystallized
salt. All this is only a short
45-minute drive away. |
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There are three hill parks locally and
we suggest doing these parks all in one day.
The recommended itinerary would be as follows: 1.)
Aricebo Observatory is about one hour away.
It does involve a good bit of walking and is best done early in the
day and takes a couple of hours of walking. 2.)
Camuy Cave Park is next on the list. It
is just a few minutes away from the observatory. This will provide about three hours of fun cave exploration and
sink hole tours. The above ground
part of this tour is on trolleys; the cave tours are walking in the coolness
of the underground locations. There
are also several restaurants located nearby that offer many choices of fine,
local Puerto Rican lunches. 3.)
Taino Indian Ceremonial Grounds is just a few minutes
from the cave park. It is a large,
open outdoor park with ceremonial and sporting fields, just as the Taino
Indians left them. They are lined
with tablets that give us a look into the tribal culture of the Taino
Indians. There is a small museum in
the center that features numerous Indian artifacts. Pass completely through the flower-laden park to the back and
find an inviting natural rock swimming pool.
Bring a suit and a towel to enjoy a quick dip to cool off. The entire trip for all three parks will
take about 6 to 8 hours, depending on how long you decide to spend at each
location. |
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Desecheo and Mona Islands are just off
the western Puerto Rico coast. Desecheo
is the top of a burned-out volcano and is visible from our beach at Coconut
Palms Inn. It is populated with
research monkeys only and the waters there offer some of the best scuba
diving and snorkeling in the world with an average visibility of 100 to 150
feet. SPORT FISHING MAGAZINE refers
to the trenches that surround Desecheo as “Marlin Alley”. We don’t just fish here…we fish for SEA
MONSTERS!!! There are boats from the
Rincon Marina that go over daily. Mona Island is a large island in the
corner of the Mona passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican
Republic. Camping trips are available
with notice. Rincon Marina is just 5 minutes away
from COCONUT PALMS INN and offers sunset tours and whale watching tours. We have humpback whales in the winter and
pilot whales all year round. The
island of Desecheo is 20 minutes by boat (12 miles) and the island of Mona is
a half-day journey by boat. |
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Finally, there is horseback riding on
the beach that is available at two locations. Puerto Rican coffee plantation tours that showcase where the
rain forests that produce some of the richest coffee in the world. You can purchase this coffee locally, but
the majority of it is contracted to be shipped yearly to the Vatican in
Rome! The incredible Coffee
plantation tours are less than one hour away. |
