Vintage Plymouths and Mustangs line the pavements as their owners, wearing panama hats, play dominoes at trestle tables in the square. All around, the confetti-coloured facades of curvaceous Art Deco buildings look on.
It’s a scene that marries the best bits of Havana in Cuba and Miami’s South Beach. But I’m more than 800 miles from either of these world-famous destinations in lesser-known Ponce (pronounced Pon-say), on the south coast of Puerto Rico.
I have arrived here as part of Marella Cruises’ new seven-night ‘Tropical Isles’ itinerary, which sails round-trip from La Romana in the Dominican Republic via The US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The sailing marks the first time Marella has showcased the city.
‘Ponce is a place that’s still in discovery,’ local guide Melina, owner of Isla Caribe Tours, tells me. ‘Ten years ago, we got one or two cruise liners a year. Now we get four to six, but it’s still just coming into the spotlight. It’s a hidden gem ready to shine.’
Earlier in the day, I ventured into the Cordillera Central mountain range that backs the city, where the hillsides are home to some of the country’s best coffee plantations.
Puerto Rican arabica is known as ‘the coffee of popes and kings’ for its quality – and at Hacienda Jacana, I discover how it’s grown, painstakingly handpicked, processed and roasted.
The tour ends with a cup of single-origin coffee on the terrace. An endemic pitirre bird trills as I taste and the mountain breeze softly skirmishes the treetops. The drink is unctuous and nutty with notes of honey – and in this Eden-esque setting, it seems more than worthy of the Vatican or Buckingham Palace.
Travel writer Sarah Holt takes onboard the new Marella Cruises seven-night ‘Tropical Isles’ itinerary, which sails round-trip from La Romana in the Dominican Republic via The US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico
The new ‘Tropical Isles’ sailing is the first time Marella have showcased Ponce, in Puerto Rico
But this visit to Ponce isn’t the only thing that makes Marella’s Tropical Isles itinerary stand out from other Caribbean cruises.
While a lot of Caribbean sailings revolve around beach time and visits to colonial capitals such as Bridgetown in Barbados and Aruba’s Oranjestad, this sailing is woven with chances to get out into the unadulterated nature of this tropical part of the world.
From Frederiksted, on the US Virgin Island of St Croix, I take a kayak excursion through the Salt River Ecological Preserve, a 1,015-acre spill of bays, estuaries and red mangrove forest.
Iguanas loaf on the knotted boughs of mangroves as I paddle past. A white egret fans its plumed feathers at a potential mate. Blue herons streak through the sky above. ‘We saw a lemon shark last week,’ kayak guide Craig reveals. ‘They come here to breed.’
On neighbouring island St Thomas, I snorkel with sea turtles. ‘Stay still, just float, and they will come right up to you,’ a local named Derek tells me.
There’s a shiver in the sand on the seabed and the spectral shape of a green turtle emerges from the mist, edging closer until he’s near enough for me to see the hexagonal details of his helmet-shaped shell and the pebbledash patterns around his eyes.
Sarah particularly enjoys the opportunity to see the ‘unadulterated nature’ of this part of the world while cruising through the Caribbean
From San Juan, in Puerto Rico, I head out into the rainforest of El Yunque National Park, where the landscape froths with foliage, from giant ferns and Sierra Palms to Bay Rum shrubs, which are scented like Old Spice. An unseen coqui tree frog emits a stereo-loud chirrup as we follow trails through the trees.
Of course, there is some time on the itinerary for the beach scene.
This cruise also features Isla Catalina, another new port for Marella. This 9.6 square kilometre uninhabited island is fringed by soft sand and criss-crossed by gentle walking trails and boardwalks. The waters that surround it, meanwhile, roil with life, from bar jacks and blue-headed wrasse to bright blue tangs.
On my catamaran cruise around the island, the crew hand out watermelon and dance bachata on deck between snorkel stops. My chariot for this entire Caribbean journey is the Marella Discovery, a comfortable, unintimidating 1,830-passenger ship, with just the right balance of home comforts – there’s steak and ale pie on offer at gastropub Piccadilly’s – and international spots such as The Sushi Bar.
Yet, one of the main highlights of sailing on this ship, at least for me, is not featured in the cruise brochures. It’s the sunsets I see from my balcony.
Over Frederiksted harbour, the sky turns to citrus, silhouetting the masts of a dozen sailboats. In Ponce, the sun cracks like a broken yolk into the mountains where I’d tasted my coffee. Each dusk is different – perfectly mirroring the myriad landscapes I have explored on this 1,062-nautical-mile course.
TRAVEL FACTS
A seven-night, all-inclusive ‘Tropical Isles’ sailing aboard the Marella Discovery is available from £1,233pp, including return flights, luggage and transfers (tui.co.uk).
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