Tales of the Caribbean Sea, Part 3
- Jim Watson
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
This is the third installment in this series and the final one featuring the mysterious island of Puerto Rico.
TALKING TO ALIENS
Puerto Rico is a classic mixture of modern civilization thrown in with ruins of all sorts, ranging from Native American Taino structures dating back millennia to the numerous fortresses that date back to the early years of the Spanish empire.
But there’s one particular “ruin” on the island that is decidedly not ancient, dating back only a few decades. It nevertheless has a fascinating and even “futuristic” story behind it.
Situated at the end of a winding mountain road through the Cordillera Central mountain range, the Arecibo Observatory's and its 305-meter radio telescope was a cornerstone in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) from the 1970s until portions of it began to collapse in 2020, thereby relegating it to “ruin” status.
Its unparalleled sensitivity made it ideal for detecting faint radio signals from distant civilizations. But the idea wasn’t just to listen for messages, but to proactively send them as well to anyone out there across the galaxy who might be listening. Accordingly, on November 16, 1974, it transmitted humanity's first deliberate interstellar message—a 1,679-bit binary signal designed by noted astronomers and astrophysicists Frank Drake and Carl Sagan.
Directed at the globular cluster M13 (25,000 light-years away), its message was basically a potpourri of mathematics, chemistry, earth's position, human biology, etc., all written in such a way that any civilization that was technologically advanced enough to receive it would be able to understand it.
Some critics were quick to point out that sending such a message—particularly the part about earth’s location—might not be the best idea. According to the so-called “Dark Forest” theory, giving away your position in the wilds of the universe may expose you to unwanted attention from hostile aliens.
After Hurricane Maria destroyed some of the telescope’s understructure in 2017, it all went downhill from there. By 2020, visible structural problems began appearing and it wasn’t long before the telescope was rendered useless. Today, although part of the site is used for various educational programs, the jungle is reclaiming the area.
We don’t know whether or not the message that was sent so long ago has ever been received. We only know that to date, it has never been answered.
TRIÁNGULA DE LAS BERMUDAS
Your Spanish doesn’t have to be that good to understand the meaning of the above subtitle. Depending on who’s drawing the map, Puerto Rico holds up the southwest corner of the infamous Bermuda Triangle, a region of the Atlantic and the Caribbean that purportedly has an inordinate share of UFO sightings, alien abductions and the whole nine yards.
Some notable examples include the recent 2013 Aguadilla incident, where U.S. Customs footage captured a fast-moving UFO. The craft was recorded flying at speeds of up to 120 mph before crossing a runway at the the airport (delaying a flight in the bargain). It then appeared to actually enter and exit the ocean without slowing down, something that should have completely destroyed it. After that, it then apparently split into two separate but identical objects before vanishing completely.
Other sightings have occurred over El Yunque rainforest in the island’s northeast corner, including massive luminous ovals and connections to unexplained events.
El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. Forest Service, is a renowned UFO hotspot, with decades of reported sightings of glowing orbs, disk-shaped craft, and anomalous lights.
There are also some pretty bizarre accounts of encountering chupacabra-like creatures there, including a notable incident in 1973 in which a group of campers claimed to have been attacked by bizarre claw-handed creatures.
The group—mostly students led by three adults—ventured into the forest explicitly hoping to contact UFOs and their occupants. That night, the group heard rustling in the bushes and soon spotted bizarre, claw-handed creatures emerging from the darkness. They were described as humanoid but alien-like with large, claw-like hands.
Two campers claimed to have found a glowing, multicolored egg-shaped object on the ground, which later appeared in the grasp of one of the creatures. The beings surrounded the group, creating panic and the situation escalated into chaos. The campers fled in terror, but returned in the morning where they discovered large, heavy footprints around the site.
To round out the UFO sightings in Puerto Rico, the waters around the island’s coasts have long been the site of numerous reports of orbs and lights and underwater activity over the years.
CAVE OF THE PIRATE COFRESÍ
The geological make-up of Puerto Rico is nearly one-third karst limestone. That means caves, and lots of ‘em. Deep caves, twisting caves. Mysterious caves.
This whole land is riddled with these secret underground grottos and tunnels, the vast majority of which have never been fully explored. Many, no doubt, have never even been discovered. The indigenous Taino knew about these caves and so, of course, did the pirates.
Pirates loved caves because they were places where they could hide from hurricanes, other pirates and, of course, the long arm of the law. And as every schoolchild knows, they could also bury their treasure in caves.
One such pirate was a fellow by the name of Roberto Cofresi y Ramirez de Arellano. Unlike many pirates, Cofresi enjoys a good reputation with many of the people of Puerto Rico due to his reputation as being the Robin Hood of that land, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.
Born of the poverty resulting from a series of natural disasters plaguing Puerto Rico in the 19th century, Cofresi’s piracy career began at the relatively late age of 31 and scarcely lasted two years. By the time he was captured and executed by firing squad at the age of 33, he had earned himself the reputation as one of the last great pirates of the Caribbean.
Tales have long swirled around Cabo Rojo in Puerto Rico that Cofresi buried much of his loot in a remote cave that still bears his name to this day, La Cueva del Pirata Cofresi, the Cave of the Pirate Cofresi. Many people have looked for it, but no one has yet found anything. Or so it is said.
Long after his death, his legend lives on. It is said that to this day fishermen off Cabo Rojo still lower their voices when the wind shifts suddenly from the southwest and they say that if you sail alone past Punta Guaniquilla on a moonless night you may meet a low black schooner with no lights and no flag. The dark figure at her helm donning vintage Spanish clothing soaked in blood will gaze at you with steely eyes and a salty grin.
He will not speak to you, but if you have ever been poor and hungry because nobility in a faraway land pressed it upon you, he will kindly tip his hat before vanishing into the night.
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