The plan was to stop in San Juan, then head for a Panama canal transit, then straight on to the Bay area, actually Oakland, the navy supply center and MSTS headquarters for the Pacific.Puerto Rico was different. Everybody spoke Spanish but they all used American money! I was finding world travel fascinating. A visit to old colonial San Juan was first, then an obligatory visit to the Caribe Hilton, then the best known hotel there. The pool bar was marvelous. Not open until the evening, the casino was restricted to those guests who were "properly attired". Having neither sartorial correctness nor interest in roulette I headed back to the bar.
Next to some other well advertised resort hotel whose name I can't remember was the Army-Navy beach. It was nice, clean and the cerveza was cheap.
Michelson's San Juan stay was extended to a week while somebody, somewhere was making some decisions. Rather than try to make the new electronics work while out in the far off reaches of the Pacific it made more sense to conduct sea trials closer to home. System support and equipment vendors were on the east coast. Thus, we would head for the gulf stream waters of the Bahamas and work out of Florida ports for support, supplies and cerveza.
