Yes...carryon would have been fine.....and we should have done that but the flight was packed and we didn’t want to have trouble finding a place for our bags.....
Next time....no checking...we are traveling very light....though we usually come into SJ the night before and take the earliest cape air flight out the next morning...like that much better...no stress...but we were afraid with the quarantine/testing requirements for Puerto Rico....we might have an issue.