Janina and I took a trip up to San Juan for a day and a night of touring in Old San Juan just prior to her flight yesterday. We stayed in a small hotel on the beach in the Condado section of San Juan. Even though it was raining with plenty of thunder and lightening (due to the outer bands of TS/H Gustav) we rallied and headed to Old San Juan. Old San Juan is very very charming place. The main attraction are the two massive forts built by the Spanish Empire to repel attack. The forts are now part of the U.S. National Park system. Pictured is El Morro which was built in 1539. It is built on a headland that towers over the entrance to San Juan Harbor and came under attack many many times. The United States launched salvos at the fort during the Spanish American War in 1898. Fragments of the shells can still be view lodged into the stone fortifications. The Spanish Empire spent over 250 years bolstering this prized location.

Less than a mile away sits another massive stone fortification called Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This fort faces north and was built to repel land attacks. This is where the Spanish soldiers were garrisoned, where they worshiped and repelled attacks. It has multiple levels with big ole cannons, tunnels that could be blown up to prevent the entire fort from being overrun, cisterns that collected and stored 225, 0000 gallons of water. Enough to last an entire year. Needless to say it was really cool stop.

Just as we were finishing up our tour, the sky really opened up and let go of a serious deluge of rain. So by the time we returned to the car at the Coast Guard Base in Old San Juan we were drenched. So we headed back to the hotel, changed and headed to dinner. I had some sushi and Janina had some kind of curry chicken dish. But the next morning Janina took a turn to negative town. We think she had some kind of food poison as she was afflicted with a stomach bug. So Janina's flight back to Florida was difficult. What a trooper though.

I was sad to see Janina depart, we had such a good time. But she plans on dashing off a guest blog entry. So you can get her perspective. She plans on returning in December after her 3 month contract as crew on an American Cruise Line ship.

For now I'm back in Salinas watching the weather like a hawk. An interesting observation. Check out my post from August 18th. "Invest 94" in its infancy was projected by computer models to head north and east of the Lesser Antilles. Well "Invest 94" tracked due west, crossing the Windward Islands near St. Lucia, kept moving for 24 hours and then exploded into Hurricane Gustav. Suddenly it tracked north west. My point is that things change very very rapidly and one must be ready to move at a moments notice. Thus far I feel pretty lucky. A pattern has developed where these low's seem to develope after they pass Puerto Rico. Lets hope that continues.

Capt Chris