Thing is, like everyone else on box boats, I spend so little time in port, and most of that is taken up with maintenance, I don’t get ashore that often, add to that .04 is dangerously low, ports tend to be further from town, the old water front dives are fading away.
Then in the U.S. gentrification has brought way to many hipster-techie-douches to the old water front, and frankly the Whores, Dealers, Hoppers, Scammers, Bums, Lumpers, and Drunks that used to populate the seafront were a MUCH better class of people.
[QUOTE=redandwhite;190228]Ho w bout the Port Of Call Bar in San Juan? Excellent pool table…and stumbling distance to the Toro Hotel.[/QUOTE]
San Juan?. . . .Let’s see. . . do not recall the Port Of Call Bar. . maybe it is new since I was last sailing in San Juan, some 32 years ago. . . For us Crowley guys, there was a little beer joint and pool hall on the ground floor of the housing projects across the street from Pier 10. . . Cold beer and honest pool table(s). No AC, though. Good quick stop for a cold one. . . Dragging down toward Old San Juan, I recall the Riviera, and upstairs joint. Further down, across the street from the Cruise Ship Terminal there was the Seven Seas on the ground floor. I forget the name of the upstairs joint and I don’t know why. . . I was in there quite often. Direct access to the old hotel next door. Further in to Old San Juan was Suzie’s Oriental. . . On the Condado was Danny’s Piano Bar, in the basement of a hotel. An honest joint with no house “entertainment”, but open all night. One of the second mates met his wife in there, she was a stewardess on a lay over. . . also in the Candado was a joint, forget the name. Down a short hallway, knock on the door. . . I have seen some things in there that I will be unable to unsee. . . there was another joint down near the Cataño fuel docks. . . named for a woman. . . Dorothy’s, maybe? And, of course, closer to Isla Grande, Willie’s Hawaiian Hut. . and the grand daddy of them all, The Black Angus. . . I was last down there in the late 90s after a ship riding ABS job. . . Had a 5 hour lay over, so went with the audio gaugers into Old San Juan. None of the old joints was there any more. . . We were in SJ every three weeks or so and were able to finagle a couple of day long stay if we got their early. . .