Kayaking from Dorado Bridge to Expreso José de Diego

This kayaking round trip of approximately 8 miles (13 km) started from the bridge in Calle Méndez Vigo in Dorado, Puerto Rico all the way to Expreso José De Diego (I didn’t actually made it there though. More of that in a bit) and back again was a very relaxing adventure that proved to be quite a challenge. On the right is a picture of the route I paddled. Took me approximately 2 hours to go from point A to B and from point B to A (the way back) approximately 1.17 hours. The path had so many curves along the way that the trip back proved quite exhausting.

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I started from where you see the cars parked (left side of the picture below), continued on by going below the bridge and kept paddling south.

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Below is a picture of the bridge in Dorado Puerto Rico and while I was passing there were people preparing for a remote control motor boats race. After I moved a bit further the race started and I could see the motor boats speeding around. The motor boats moved so fast that I felt kind of bad because I was moving at a whopping 5 mph.

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Then I decided heck I’m going to take an epic selfie…although I deleted at least 3 pictures because the angle was not good enough for my standards.

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After my epic selfie I continued moving forward and noticed something very far away made of steel.

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So this it what it was. I imagined this was an old bridge used way back for sugar cane harvest in the area, but after I did some research this was one of the bridges used by the Puerto Rico railway in the late 1800. Although is completely destroyed now this steel piece is part of Puerto Rico history from a time where there was a train that traveled nearly the entire island (here a map of the route). I spent a couple of minutes there contemplating the structure and I only took that one picture.

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I continue moving on and I heard something moving in the tall grass at the side of the river and as I accurately guessed it was an iguana. In that area there most be thousands of them and during the course of my nearly 3 hours trip I must have seen dozens.

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After seeing the iguana and spending some quality time trying to take it’s picture I continued on to this path. This area was so peaceful that I decided to chill.

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So I chilled with class! Here is my beautiful and sexy foot. After a couple of minutes I kept moving forward and started to contemplate about how one can relax and I was in a perfect place to do so. A place that absolutely no one was around, a place were there were no interruptions, no unnecessary noise. I was so concentrated in my thoughts, meditating deeply, just paddling forward. Nothing could break my concentration, nothing could break my relaxation…..

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LOOK AT THAT BIRD!!! WOW!!!!! So…yeah…my silent meditation lastest just a bit because this awesome bird was just chilling there and I made it my life mission to take it’s picture.

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As I moved forward I saw this plastic toy car. How in the heck did that got there? Most likely it was dragged by the river from very far away and a child somewhere lost it’s transportation.

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Then as I kept paddling I heard in the distance people cheering, clapping and screaming very loudly. As it turns out there was a baseball game happening at that moment and I was passing through. In the picture above you see some wood stairs that can be taken to reach the baseball park. Of course I kept paddling, but as people kept cheering and scream loudly I imagined that they were cheering for me, they were cheering for me to continue moving forward in my journey. I know is kind of lame, but sometimes you need to push your imagination to new levels and change your mindset to reach your goals (Cliche 101).

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I kept moving forward and from here on I just wanted to paddle and not worry about taking so many pictures. This area I was passing was beautiful and was very secluded, very tranquil. Just the flow of the water.

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In this area the river divided into two part. I needed to go to the right to keep on track, but on the left side there was this cement little house. I honestly don’t have any idea what is the purpose of it.

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After a while I made it to this area and I noticed a sign very far away. Let me zoom in a bit…

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Still not sure. Let me zoom a bit more…

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HOLY!!! I MADE IT!! I was so happy when I saw the name of the sign on my camera screen. This is the place I wanted to reach, you see there is a shopping center there that has a Wendy’s (“La Cuero”), Krispy Kreme, a whole bunch of others fast foods and of course the one you see in the picture below “El Meson Sandwiches” is a Puerto Rican fast food franchise that sells sandwiches and has 24 hours breakfast. I love that!! Back in my college days in Mayagüez I use to go at 2:30 PM to have breakfast just because I could. If you ever travel to Puerto Rico you have to go to El Meson (send me a message to go with you). And yes I’m proudly sponsoring them because they are a business from Puerto Rico and I unconditionally support good quality business from my island.

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At that point I could turn back because I reached the destination I marked on the map, but I decided to push forward a little bit. So I did and since I was so excited I started to paddle faster and faster and then I slammed into that stupid rock you see in the picture. It scared the hell out of me because my inflatable kayak stopped flat and I nearly fell into the water. I said a few epic things to that rock with a passion….still got it’s picture though.

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I continue moving forward and I reached this area that the kayak could not pass because it wasn’t deep enough. So I had to get out of my kayak and pull it from the rope I have attached. After that there was enough water to move on the kayak so I pushed forward a little bit with the hopes of reaching Expreso José De Diego, but the path forward looked kind of tricky to navigate and it was getting a little late for my trip back so at that point I decided to turn back.

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This is the last picture I took on my trip. The way back was difficult because I was beginning to get tired after nearly 3 hours of non stop paddling. My arms started to hurt a little bit, but I keep pushing forward because I never stop pushing forward and I want you to do the same. Never ever stop moving forward no matter what is happening around you. Never stop pushing yourself to reach new places and always, always push forward no matter if the world seems to be crashing around you. Believe in yourself and if you feel down know that I believe in you and I want you to move forward. Just don’t stop, keep going!!!

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2 Comments

  1. Neysa on October 18, 2016 at 20:42

    Hola! Nice article and photos! Thanks for sharing. I’m wondering whether you encountered any alligators during this kayaking trip. I plan to move to PR in 2017 and would like to try some fly fishing on rivers. I have read that there are alligators everywhere in PR and I’m wondering how safe it would be try fly fishing on rivers there.

    • lomaymi on November 8, 2016 at 14:06

      Thank the heavens I didn’t found any alligators on that trip, but there had been reports of sightings in other parts of that river. As for fly fishing I don’t think you encounter will an alligator, but you should still ask local fishermen about the fish species in the area. They will be more than happy to help you out.

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