Poza de Las Mujeres
Time for some beachy inside. I love love love love... Did I forget to say love?... the beach. As a woman from the caribbean this should not come as a surprise. As you may have guess form the tittle, I will share with you my experience with the beach called “Poza de las mujeres” (Pond of the women). The name is attributed to the fact that from the 1600s to 1700s, when Puerto Rico was a colony of Spain, only women of high society bathed in it. It is said that it was a private sector until the year 1900 when it became open to the general public. This beach is located in Manatí, 45 minutes away from San Juan in car. Once you get to the location, (GPA works good) you'll have to park your car on the side walk and walk the rest of the way. To get to the beach you'll have to pass thru a small bushy trail until you get to the big pointy rocks. Once there, you'll have to follow the flat rock to get to the beach. Once you finish that small hike, you will have officially arrive to "La poza de las mujeres".
The Poza is formed by a huge rock that separates part of the beach. The water in la poza is a clear pale blue that you can see the bottom. If you have kids, this beach would be very good since it's close off and the current will not take him/her into the deeps. Also, the deepest part of the poza is like 4-5" maybe less. On the far end of the beach you'll find an open sea beach. Nobody bathe on that size because of it has a lot of rocks and very strong currents, but it is beautiful.
If you are a fan of bringing lots of stuff to the beach, this is not the beach for you. You wouldn't want to carry it down the spiky rocks, if you fall there, it would not be pretty. If you want to have a relax day with friends and family this is the beach for you. There’s a guy that rents umbrellas for about $10 -$15 for the day. I would not advise to stay there until late, it is not a crowded place and you could get mugged or have your car stolen. Overall is a great beach to visit.
If you happen to visit and like it, please share it with me, I love to hear from you guys.
---------**UPDATE**-----------
After hurricane Maria, that went thru Puerto Rico on September 20th, 2017; the beach is not quite the same.
The great flood of the big river of Manatí and the hurricane storm surge of Hurricane Maria changed the geography of the beach. With the rains of the storm, a new arm of river broke through the valley on its way to the sea. The enormous flow took the road and detached a small portion of land with three houses that were isolated in a peninsula on a hill. Before the hurricane you could reach the beach, through these private houses, which can now, only can be accessed, in a boat. The water knocked everything down, even a concrete house was semi collapsed and in the distance it seems as if it were floating. The road, which now ends in the new body of water that was formed in the place, has sunken parts that mix with turbid waters full of debris.
You can still visit the beach as a new path was created in order to arrive to the beach. Now, it is easier to access the beach. You’ll only have to walk thru a sand path and you will see the beach.