Every February I head to NW corner of PR. Obviously, this year that trip is looking unlikely. Has anyone been to PR recently? If so, what was it like in person? Are the breaks accessible? I have been donating from here as PR has been a special place for me. Beside getting some waves, I would like to go down and help in some way. I just worry about health concerns. I remember going to DR after the Haiti tsunami and getting the most sick I have ever been. I am curious what experiences people are having who have been to PR since the storm.
I've seen video of the roads around Rincon. They are passable and the surf spots are accessible. Not sure about other spots north of there (Wildo, Surfers Beach, etc). Maybe tougher to access as they are more remote. No power yet for much of Puerto Rico. No running water yet for much of Puerto Rico. Hopefully both be back up by winter. Donating would be a nice gesture. I would feel weird going on a surf trip/holiday and partying while so many are still suffering. But I saw a message from one of the Graves brothers saying come to PR, they need tourism to return.
I talked with the family I rent from every year and they said it is bad in the Aguadilla area. I felt the same way about going and just surfing/partying but going through Sandy we know how every bit of donations and tourism money helps.
PR has the mis label of being deoendent on tourism. It is not; their GDP accounts for only 6% of income/production. As usual, surfers know little to nothing as most do not even know what "information" is; books are extra planetary, and any computer site outside of Surfline is "like speaking Greek". Call FEMA--they will give you a job, and applications are being taken for those wanting to help (insurance assessment etc). If you speak spanish, you are in, but it is a 30 day contract. One of my friends is a regional FEMA emergency director and he keeps asking me to go. I am not, I am too old for that crap. Were I 30 yrs of age....perhaps. And good luck--you will have to be vaccinated as well.
what is PR's main industry? just curious. Is there a legit exodus of the island? Good time to buy property maybe?
Pharmaceuticals--21% of their GDP. Keep in mind, PR 40 yrs ago set zero tax for pharma if they came to manufactur there (jobs). It worked well. recently that may have changed. Exodus is legit, has been going on for years on the part of professionals (MDs Lawyers). They were being heavily taxed by asinine tax policies to pay 72$ billion debt. It didn't work. Time for us to set them independent, whether they like it or not. As of Saturday, 75% of the island still has no power. Residents re all waiting for someone else to fix THEIR problem. Dumb asses put the island in the wrong place...hahahahaha!
North Western PR is most definitely dependent on tourism. You know this Barry. I have been going there for 15 years both winter and summer. In the winter Rincon is jammed with surfers and people are all over the place. The bars were having concerts every weekend, everything is open and the bakery is a hub. I went there in the summer for a hurricane swell and all the hot spots were closed, hardly any traffic around town and its very quiet compared to winter. I know some people go there for months in the winter. Anyway if you want a true picture of whats going on go to Aurasurf.com and contact Micah. He is from St. Petersburg and moved to Rincon 5-6 years ago. He leads rookies to the best and least crowded surf spots and writes about the daily struggles since the hurricane hit. Shoot him an email and he will give the real story on if it will or won't be a hassle to go down. Last week I read that he finally got a bag of ice and was stoked. That should tell you how its going. Listening to WAPA news the other day (as I do nightly since my wife is from PR) Patillas on the SE corner finally got power restored. I doubt you will have power in Rincon but Micah can give you the low down. Good luck!
No. Only the surfing corner is surfer dependent. You are viewing it narrowly. PR has more to it than tourism; it is, as said, 6% of island income. Is you wife portorican or american that grew up there??
She was born in Olimpo, Guyama and lived there until she was 25 or so. She used to work at the Hooters in San Juan till it burnt down (yeah she has good hooters). Are you aware they nixed the tax incentives for pharm and such? I remember the big pharm companies like Phizer near Isabella quite a few years back along with a Hewlett Packard plant. Here is an article that explains it. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/26/heres-how-an-obscure-tax-change-sank-puerto-ricos-economy.html. I keep a pretty good pulse on the island as, like I said, she watches the news daily from PR and I ask questions as my Spanish isn't so hot. I only know duro duro papichulo, me gusta tonto and such. All I was saying is that the NW Corner is definately dependent on surfer tourism, although like you said it doesn't account for a whole lot in the big picture but for that area it is a good chunk of $$.
From what I understand Rincon mad out pretty well. The people that are most in need of getting their lives back are on the north/ east side of the island. People are probably getting surly at this point. I know I would. Surf anywhere you want. You may be chastised, but if the surf is good, get on it. Bring a blade. In all seriousness. Even tough Puerto Rico has become so dependent on the US, we made it so. So any help that you can offer right now even if it takes a day or two to lend a hand to any family in need there is good karma. Know any electricians???
Excerpt from today in Rincon. Tuesday 10/31: Fighting depression. My family went to the states a couple weeks ago. My youngest got sick from the water and I’m glad they are not here. I am here solo. Monday was rough. First the generator fried my laptop (I’m writing this on an old backup) then I had no water left so I went searching for water. It’s like living 100 years ago or in Africa or something. Monday was like everything that could go wrong went wrong. I try and be productive but spend hours searching for water and bringing it home and trying to charge my cel phone. The thing that depresses me the most, I don’t give a rats butt about electricity at home Im getting used to living w/o it but I need water. I don’t want my family home unless we have water. Our pumping station is about KM 4 on the Carr 412. Electricity goes to KM 1 and they are not really trying to go up any farther into the mountains yet. So it could be months before my house gets water back. I’m about to forget the government and make it all DIY: Solar… Cisterns forget them. They are doing the best they can but us in the mountains are last on the list. They are working on the flat ground levels to get power to the hospital and the mayor’s office and the post office and that’s important. What’s worse is the WX is not cooperating. We are having an unprecedented drought. We have not had significant rain in 8-10 days at my house which is a long time for here. I have 100’s of gallons of capacity in my rain barrels and they are empty. On top of all that we have had very little surf. Before we were surfing just to cool off and get clean at 5-6pm before dark but we have not even been doing that. I took a cup shower with 2 gallons of water hiked from somebodies cistern. My friend Greg made me laugh, he described late day in Rincon like this: “drink 2 Heineken’s, eat a slice of pizza and fall asleep” just waiting for the next day. Hopefully it will be better… Thanks to everyone who donated it does help. I saw American news the other night with the Whitefish scandal. That dude looked like he was ready to cry, even the AEE leader had nothing to say… Every leader in PR is bound and destined to get caught with his pants down, born to lose, destined for failure, an impossible task.
I'll give you that there are much larger industries in PR than tourism for the entire island, but the question was whether or not tourism will help PR, or if surfers would seem like rude gringos partying while the island is suffering still. Tourism will definitely help Rincon and NW Puerto Rico as their local economy is much more dependent on tourism than the rest of the island, including surfing tourism. This is confirmed by one of it's tops surfers telling people to please come back to Puerto Rico to visit and surf.
They are the uneducated parroting what they have heard. Nothing more. Don't forget--I grew up there, lived there 19 years until college, and have returned there most ever year. Will tourism help?? Yes, but not as much as everyone thinks. Maybe the surfers are starving because their narrow niche of a job is closed until surfers return, but as was stated in a prior post, there is no power, cannot cook, no lights, cannot see at night, etc. Now, if you are willing to go there under those circumstances, be my guest. My advice and in these posts, is to give all fair warning. They are NOT ready to receive you. Most airlines are canceling flights, taking only workers (american), FEMA , military, and returning with island escapees that lost all. Have fun boys. It could be an adventure--it also can be deadly. Your choice. I cancelled mine--the airline gave me back 100% (a rarity) because they know I am right. oh, and BTW, the same surfers also reported in Rincon, looting is aplenty, to include exchange of firearms shots.
The media ain't exactly covering it, but it's become pretty lawless down there, especially in the rural (surf) areas. I would not wanna be down there. It just ain't safe for a gringo now. A lot of people there have "mucho" anger towards Trump, and they might take it out on you. Back me up on this Barry.
There could be opportunities for a young single dude who can rough it. If you're in the right place at the right time, you can be a hero, and surf after work. I went to St Thomas a long time ago after a hurricane flattened the place. Entire cable company destroyed. I was hired to install TV antennas to pull in TV from San Juan at the Frenchman's Reef Marriott. It was one of the few places still functional. They had their own desalination plant and electrical generator. That's where FEMA, et al were based. As soon as word got out at the bar that I was the dude that got NFL on the TV, I didn't have to pay for anything. Free conch fritters and jerk chicken. I was always safe. Surrounded by well armed folks. Kinda makes me think of Trev. I'm too old and lazy for that stuff now.
I was scheduled to leave for PR this Saturday 11/4, my bud who lives on Ramey air base in Aguadilla said forget about it.. "You would be better off going to Alaska. T said it is the worst experience of his life, no electric, no water, no money, no food it's apocalyptic." Any way I have been to PR probably about 45 times in the last 25 years and am sad to say next week I'm off to Barbados. God bless PR I will be back.
Yup. And many are talking independence from USA, AFTER, of course, we pay to fix the place up. As usual....
I was planning on going to Rincon next week for vacation & have been since the mid 90's. My buddy Smiley (Bartender @ the Lazy Parrott) who has lived there for the past 10 years said it was pretty bad. He has been flying back to Delaware the past few summers to work and make money because the industry he works is reliant on surfers/tourists. He usually heads back to PR in October until around May. He just flew to PR for a couple of weeks to check on his place, get stuff organized & he just flew back to Delaware & scored some waves here Monday. I am headed to San Diego next week instead. My Girlfriend & I are staying with my buddy. Not really a planned surf trip, more of a get away from work and relax trip. Should be fun waves though later next week. Scored pretty good deal on traveling out this time. 2 round trip non stop flights from Baltimore to San Diego & rental car for 6 days for $ 517.00 & my buddy is letting us stay @ his house.
Good thing you redirected your vacation efforts to elsewhere. I did same; I just returned from France Sunday evening, but I decided this was NOT going to be a surf vacation. Paris is an awesome city. Were I single, I would have returned with GAC disease....gono, Aids, and chlamydia.
