The rest of our time in Rincon was spent on the beach, snorkeling and exploring the west coast of Puerto Rico.

Tres Palmas Marine Reserve was literally our backyard on Steps beach. It is a huge natural reef with tons of different coral species and tropical fish. We also saw cuttle fish, a baby blow fish, a razor back turtle, a sea cucumber, an octopus and tons of brightly colored tropical fish. We snorkeled almost everyday. It was awesome! Another species Puerto Rico is known for are their stray dogs. One morning George and I set out to go snorkeling. When we got to the beach we were greated by the cutest black and white lab mix dog. She was so cute and friendly, full of energy wanting us to play with her. She even followed us when we went into the water. I had my fins on first and started to swim out. As I surfaced and turned to see George just getting his gear situated about to swim out to where I was, I spotted that adorable dog running gleefully down the beach with George’s gear bag in her mouth!

Of coarse!

George’s bag had his phone and sunglasses in it! I yelled to him and we swam back to shore to find his bag. It was crazy! We had thoughts of her taking the bag back to her lair where she and her gang of dogs were collecting phones to sell on eBay! Luckily she had dropped the bag not too far from where we were, but not before his glasses and case fell out! We finally recovered all of the items  and promptly tied our bags high in a tree before heading back into the water. Crazy dog!

Driving around and exploring the beach communities in the area was also interesting. The main roads are what we would think of as the alley behind our houses. They were skinny roads that didn’t seem to be two lanes, but they were, and sometimes there were cars parked on the sides making it a bit more nerve wracking. It sometimes felt like a game of chicken! I’ve attached a video to show you what it’s like. The video below was taken on the main road connecting the towns, route PR 413.  We don’t   know how spoiled we are with our roads!

Along every winding road there were roadside food stands and small buildings with a walk up window that sold all sorts of food. Empanadas, tacos, BBQ, fresh juices, Chinese stir fry. It was endless. If there was an empty lot or corner, someone was selling prepared food or fruit. Our recommendation is to stop and eat there, you won’t be disappointed! We stopped at a random empanada stand while we were out exploring and it was tasty!

Below are some pics of some of the roadside carts/stands. Starting with the empanada place.

That wraps up our trip to Puerto Rico. Definitely a place you should visit!