El Boquerón is a body of water located at the intersection of the

Condado Lagoon Condado Lagoon ( es, Laguna del Condado) is located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is an effluent body of water that flows freely between the Condado and Miramar neighborhoods of Santurce, a barrio of San Juan. Background Its tributary stream ...

and the San Antonio Channel in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

. This body of water separates the Islet of San Juan, where

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo San Juan) is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (s ...

and

Puerta de Tierra Puerta de Tierra is a ''subbarrio'' (subdistrict) occupying the eastern portion of the Islet of San Juan and the ''barrio'' of San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The name Puerta de Tierra (Spanish for ''land gate'') ...

are located, from

El Condado Condado is an oceanfront, tree-lined, pedestrian-oriented upper middle to upper class community in Santurce. It is one of the forty subbarrios of Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Setting Condado is an upscale neighborhood located on the bea ...

and the Isla Grande peninsula in Santurce. It is separated from the San Antonio Channel by the San Antonio Bridge and from the Condado Lagoon by the

Dos Hermanos Bridge The Dos Hermanos Bridge is a bridge in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It connects the sector of Condado with the entrance to Old San Juan, crossing over the Condado Lagoon. It was designed and built by brothers Hernan and Sosthenes Behn, and opened in Ju ...

. This body of water contains coral reef and habitats important to plant and animal life; it is part of the bigger San Juan Bay National Estuary. These bodies of water are often visited by

manatees Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species ...

. The Playita del Condado (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "Condado's little beach") is located at the eastern end of El Boquerón. As the natural border between the original settlement of San Juan and the mainland of Puerto Rico, El Boquerón was a critical strategic point throughout the history of the city. Numerous bridges crossed it throughout the history, most of which would be burned down during British and Dutch invasions. The Fortín de San Gerónimo del Boquerón, also known as ''San Jerónimo Fortress'', was built during the 18th century to replace an older fortress then known as ''Fort Boquerón Battery'', which was used in 1595 and 1598 by the

to defend San Juan from attacks by

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

and George Clifford, the 3rd Earl of Cumberland, respectively. Other forts that no longer exist on this body of water include ''Fort San Antonio'' (today occupied by San Antonio Bridge) and ''Fort Escambrón'' (today the area of the

Caribe Hilton Hotel The Caribe Hilton is located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is owned by Park Hotels & Resorts and managed by Hilton Worldwide. History In early 1946, as part of the Puerto Rican industrialization effort known as Operation Bootstrap, the Puerto ...

and the Escambrón Cove). El Boquerón used to be the site of a natural landmark known locally as ''Perro de Piedra'' (Stone Dog) or ''Piedra del Perro'' (Dog Rock), a reef formation resembling the shape of a sitting dog when seen from Dos Hermanos Bridge. Numerous legends were attributed to the rock formation. The rock used to be so well known that it (and its surrounding coral reef) was declared a cultural and natural landmark in the year 2000. The ''Piedra del Perro'' formation stood until 2016 when it was completely destroyed by strong waves. Perrodepiedranoticel

References

{{Coord, 18, 27, 41, N, 66, 5, 3, W, type:waterbody, display=title Bays of Puerto Rico Protected areas of Puerto Rico Tourist attractions in San Juan, Puerto Rico

See also

References