There are many things to do in Puerto Rico. Here are 5 of Puerto Rico’s best-kept secrets.

These are a few things you might not have thought about doing.

Visit where Rum is made

Visit the Bacardi Factory in Old San Juan and try the rum.

Not only does the island have great rum, but you can also visit where it’s made. As a by-product of the sugar-making process, rum production in Puerto Rico became a major industry in the 16^th century. Sugar cane juice (guarapo) is extracted and boiled at a high temperature. The process yields a syrup called molasses, which when mixed with water and is fermented, produces the distilled spirit rum.  Bacardi, Don Q, and Ron Barralito are some of the best Puerto Rican rums. You can see how rum is made and have a tasting at the Bacardi factory in Old San Juan.  Read more here: A Taste of Puerto Rican Rum History

Explore Arecibo Observatory

NOTE: This attraction is permanently closed. The sad news is that the telescope has collapsed and will be demolished.

Explore Arecibo Observatory and view the massive telescope.

1,000 Foot Diameter Dish in a Sinkhole

The Northern Coastal Valley region of Arecibo Puerto Rico is marked by stark contrasts.  It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north and numerous caves, sinkholes, and wooded hills to the south. One sinkhole, in particular, is known for nestling an awe-inspiring 1,000-foot diameter dish. This dish, a radio telescope,  keeps us safe from asteroids, beamed a three-minute pictorial message 23,000 light-years away to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, and has assisted in numerous notable discoveries. Exploring the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico should be on your to-do list when visiting the island. Read more here: Exploring Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

Try the Local Foods, they’re Delicious

Mofongo a traditional Puerto Rican food is made with mashed plantains and filled with seafood, beef, chicken, or pork.

Traditional foods are part of Puerto Rico’s heritage and are strongly rooted in the history and culture of the island.  Find a local roadside stand, the beach-front hut, or a restaurant with grandma cooking at the stove down a side road. You’ll not only get a taste of the food but the culture as well.  Wake up your taste buds and eat like a local in Puerto Rico. read more here:

Read more here: Eat Like a Local in Puerto Rico

Go Snorkeling

You will see an amazing amount of fish when snorkeling in Puerto Rico.

When spending time in Puerto Rico, many people who decide to visit this amazing island will lounge on the picturesque white-sand beaches, play in the clear blue water, and soak up the sunshine.  However, renting a paddleboard or a kayak and snorkeling the crystal clear water should be on your list!

Read more here: Where to Snorkel, Kayak, and Stand-Up Paddle Board in Puerto Rico.

I highly recommend this full face snorkel mask.  It makes snorkeling much easier because it forms a seal around your face which prevents water from leaking in.  It’s comfortable, easy to use, and does not fog.  You can click this link for easy ordering.

Traverse the Cave System

Visiting the Camuy Caves will leave you breathless when you view this massive sinkhole.

Located in northwest Puerto Rico in Arecibo, there’s a cave system called The Parque Nacional de las Cavernas del Río Camuy or Rio Camuy Caves.  In the 1950s researchers discovered this large network of natural limestone caves and underground waterways carved out by the third-largest underground river in the world, the Río Camuy.

The canopy of trees and lush vegetation is dense and it’s hard to believe such an extensive cave system hides below the thick forest. Today there are more than 10 miles of mapped trails leading to 17 entrances and 220 caves. Only a small part of the cave system, a 268-acre park, however, is open to the public.  It is home to 3 sinkholes through which an underground river runs, and 2 awe-inspiring caves which visitors can explore. Read more here: Two Caves to Explore in Puerto Rico
When traveling around Puerto Rico it helps to have a GPS to help navigate.

You can click the Amazon link for easy ordering.

When in Puerto Rico, step out of your comfort zone and eat the local foods, explore a cave, or snorkel in the crystal clear waters. You never know what you’ll find when you take the road less traveled.

Here’s how to get to some of the 5 Best Kept Secrets in Puerto Rico https://www.viator.com/Puerto-Rico/d36-ttd

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Where to Snorkel, Kayak, and Stand-Up Paddle Board – Puerto Rico

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PLEASE NOTE:
The Arecibo Observatory is closed.

A 1,000-foot diameter dish used to keep us safe from asteroids, beamed a three-minute pictorial message 23,000 light-years away to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, and has assisted in numerous notable discoveries. It’s just three of the reasons why the loss of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is such a great loss. When it comes to telescopes, there are few as awe-inspiring as this one.

Where was the Arecibo Radio Telescope

Arecibo is in the Northern Coastal Valley region of Puerto Rico. The area is marked by stark contrasts.  It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north and numerous caves, sinkholes, and wooded hills to the south. Built into a natural limestone sinkhole in 1964, the telescope was made of nearly 40,000 perforated aluminum panels covering an area of about twenty acres.

Arecibo Observatory Facts

The Arecibo Observatory was the brainchild of Cornell University professor William E. Gordon. This was an extraordinary site,  at 167 feet deep, the Arecibo telescope was the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world.  

The Location of the Arecibo Observatory

Arecibo Radio Telescope was located approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes from San Juan. As you get closer to the site, navigating through narrow one-lane roads, twisting and turning up and around bends, is just part of the adventure of visiting the area. 

Arecibo Observatory Visitor Center -Closed

A welcoming visitor’s center ushers visitors into a world of interactive exhibits and friendly and informative guides are on-hand to answer all questions. There’s a 20-minute video and then the anticipated opportunity to visit the observation deck to view the breathtaking radio telescope.

Many people will recognize the Arecibo Telescope for its roles in Hollywood movies. The giant telescope was featured prominently in the final scene of the James Bond film Goldeneye and was also the antenna used by Jody Foster in her search for alien signals in the movie Contact.

Arecibo Observatory Message

Astronomers Frank Drake and Carl Sagan put together a binary communication known as the Arecibo message. It was sent from the Arecibo Observatory in 1974.

At the visitor’s center, visitors see a graphic showing the Arecibo message.  It was directed to the star cluster known as M13.  If eventually decoded by an intelligent race, the extraterrestrial recipients will be greeted with a 23 by 73-pixel bitmap image depicting a stick figure of a human being, a human DNA strand, chemical formulas, our solar system, and even an image of the telescope itself.

Arecibo Observatory Tour – Closed

Those who are interested in an in-depth look at the reflector and what goes on behind the scenes, an Arecibo Observatory VIP tour is available during certain times of the day. A 30 minute guided tour takes visitors to the engineering offices, the control room, and to the edge of the 1,000 feet (305 meters) reflector.

Arecibo Observatory Discoveries

As one might expect with such a large telescope, some big findings have been made at Arecibo. Most notably, the observatory is known for discovering the first planets outside our solar system and measuring the rotation rate of the planet Mercury.  It was also used by Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor, of Princeton University, New Jersey, to pinpoint a pair of neutron stars or pulsars. The discovery, the first of a pulsar binary, was of immense importance in understanding the gravitational theory and earned the pair the 1993 Nobel Prize for Physics. 

The Arecibo telescope has also played a key role in studying celestial events known as fast radio bursts which are split-second blasts of radio waves that appear in the sky and have traveled billions of light-years across the cosmos.

Arecibo Telescope Loss

The Arecibo Telescope provided an important role of guarding our planet against the threat of asteroids. Seeking answers to the unknown,  the telescope can no longer help protect our planet from threats or decipher a message the day an intelligent race contacts us.

This was is a place that fosters and inspires scientific interest in everyone, not only astronomers and scientists.

Route 625, Bo. Esperanza, Arecibo, PR 00612

(787) 878-2612
Arecibo Observatory

Interested in Exploring the Universe? Begin Your Astronomical Journey With this Special Deal!

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