I promised a story and some more photos from San Juan, so here goes. We were leaving the ship to walk through town, and when we passed one of the other piers, there was a delegation of Coast Guard officers and “local officials” standing on the sidewalk near the entrance to the pier. There were several photographers standing there, evidently press photographers due to their each carrying several cameras with various focal length lenses.
I asked one of the photographers what was going on. He said that there is a “bouquet” coming in shortly and that the officers were there to meet it. I eventually realized that the word he was trying to translate was “barque,” which is a term for a type of sailing ship.
Turns out, in just a few minutes we saw the masts of a ship sailing around the point past the Coast Guard base. It was the Juan Bautista Cambiaso, a 3-masted barquentine schooner and training ship for the navy of the Dominican Republic, along with a small tender boat that was accompanying it. The ship was manned by cadets of the DR Navy, many of whom were spread atop the rigging, waving and singing as the boat entered the harbor. It was quite a sight (and sound)!
