Arecibo Observatory question

My husband and I will be visiting Puerto Rico in May on a cruise. We would like to visit Arecibo Observatory. Does anyone know of a tour available to us. We will be docking in Old San Juan at 1p.m. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Blossom

Blossom
Here is a website about the Arecibo Observatory.

[url="http://www.naic.edu/vctable.htm"]http://www.naic.edu/vctable.htm[/url]

Since it appears they close at 4pm. Im not sure how much you would be able to see once you finally got out there, looks like an 1hr 30 min drive.

[url="http://www.naic.edu/maps/maps.htm"]http://www.naic.edu/maps/maps.htm[/url]

I havent been before, so maybe others can chime in and give their experiences. I hope you are able to do it, looks like an interesting place.

Have a great cruise!



Closed Monday&Tuesday
Wednesday - Friday: 12:00-4:00 pm

Saturday, Sunday, and most Holidays : 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Students and other groups: Wednesday - Friday starting at 10:00 am



Jeff


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As the previous poster noted Arecibo is open Weds-Sundays until 4:00 p.m. If the ship is arriving in San Juan from a non-US destination, everyone will need to clear US customs before disembarking. That often means an hour or more in port before anyone is allowed off the ship, which probably wouldn't allow you enough time to get there before closing time. However, if you don't need to clear customs you have plenty of time to get there and tour around. The exhibits area open to the public is adjacent to the observatory and is fairly small and could easily be seen in an hour or so. If the ship doesn't offer an excursion, getting there could be a challenge.

I too am hoping to see Arecibo on an upcoming cruise. We are scheduled for 10 am-8 pm in SJ and while I know we too have to clear immigration first, I'm hopeful that might take no more than a couple hours. I have already Googled like mad to try to find private tours, and the closest I've come is the Camuy Cave(s)/Arecibo combo, which would take too long. Some have mentioned the idea of booking a private tour, or at least a private driver -- the roads to the observatory sound a little too scary for even my mountain-grown husband to tackle -- any idea how to tell if a private driver is reputable or not?

tia,
trc
Millennium 12/12/04
****
Mercury 4/04, Infinity 8/03, Century 3/03 & 9/02

i'm curious. if i remember right from what i've seen of it in movies, the observatory is a radio telelscope so you probably don't get to seen anything except the cool location of it. i was wondering if its worth going just for that. i haven't figured out what i'm going to do in san juan. i may just rent a jetski and then head to snor frogs before heading back to the ship.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to respond to our inquiry. I truly doubt that we will have the time to travel out to the observatory considering the time of our arrival. I guess that we will just have to take another cruise that visits San Juan, PR. and docks earlier in the day to accomodate such a tour. Leaving on the Rotterdam on May 17.

Thank you again,

Blossom

crashnburn, that's pretty much what we're going for, just to behold the amazing massive sight and to ponder "this is where they're listening to see if we're alone here or what." I've worked in the communications industry for a long time and the concept is especially awe-inspiring. Ever see a movie called "The Dish," about the Australian radiotelescope that wound up playing a key role in the broadcast of the first moonwalk? Those of us geeky enough to have ADORED that movie are the ones who would go to great lengths to gape at Arecibo [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

TR