Puerto Rico - Day 12: May 9th

Our last morning on the island of Culebra, and the return to the mainland of Puerto Rico. Both islands, Vieques and Culebra provided a lot of relaxation, and fun for us. It really was worth it to visit them. But now, it was time to get back on the ferry for our last hour and a half ride to Fajardo, Puerto Rico. From Fajardo, we took a cab and headed back towards Isla Verde and checked in to the Coqui Inn. This would turn out to be the last hotel we would stay in on our trip, and the last area of Puerto Rico we would visit. The plan, is to check into the hotel and take some of their tours to the areas around Puerto Rico such as Ponce, and Aricebo to visit the Camuy Cave System and Aricebo Observatory. This never happened. Apparently, there was some sort of accident at the caves, so all tours had been shut down for the time being, and of course, the Aricebo Observatory was on the same tour as the Camuy Caves. The two things we looked forward to seeing the most on the trip, we would never see.

Puerto Rico - Day 11: May 8th

This will be our first and only full day in Culebra. We started out by walking a few blocks away from our guest house to Carlos Jeep Rental to rent a jeep. It actually pays off to rent a vehicle on this island since there are so many beaches, and they are so spread apart. Our first trek was to Zoni beach. In order to get there, we had to take back roads, and sometimes dirt roads only wide enough to fit one car, but once we got there, it all paid off. Zoni Beach was amazing. The sand was warm, the water was crystal clear, and there were only about 6 people on the whole beach. We had it ALL to ourselves. After some swimming, and a little makeshift snorkeling, we got back in the jeep and headed towards Brava Beach. This, didn't turn out so well. Our guidebook "Let's Go: Puerto Rico" told us it would be a short drive, only a 20 minute hike to the beach, and there would be some great turtle watching. The drive was fine, but the hiking was horrible. We made it about 30 minutes in to the hike, before the tail got so bad and impassable that we had to turn around and head back to the jeep. From there, we head to Flamenco Beach. We arrived at the beach around five p.m. and because of that, no one was there. To be honest, I didn't find the beach that spectacular. I thought Zoni Beach was nicer. We spent a little while at the beach then headed back home to shower up, and then head over to Mamacita's for dinner.

Puerto Rico - Photos

Pictures From Top To Bottom: All of these pictures were taken on my camera phone except for the bottom two taken by Selena with the digital camera. Wall art in Culebra. Zoni Beach. Streets and waterways of Culebra. The jeep we rented at Carlos Jeep Rental. Me swimming at Zoni Beach. Me walking down a street in Culebra.

Puerto Rico - Day 10: May 7th

Another early morning! Up at five a.m. to catch the ferry back to Fajardo, then on to another ferry at nine a.m. towards the island of Culebra. Leaving the island of Vieques was sad, but we both looked forward to the new island that we would be exploring by the afternoon. The island of Culebra is even smaller than Vieques, but is supposed to have one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Flamenco Beach. The ferry ride was about the same as the ferry to Vieques, right around an hour and a half. As soon as we stepped off the ferry we were greeted by Terrie, one of the owners and operators of the Palmetto Guest House. Usually finding a place to stay for the night can be a bother, but this wasn't the case in Culebra. Our hosts Terrie and Mark Hayward were amazing. They had a wonderful guest house, and would take care of anything for us we were interested in doing. Snorkeling, renting bikes, renting a jeep, talking to us about the local beaches, and picking us up and dropping us back off at the ferry, they did it all. Our first night in Culebra we spent the day relaxing in bed, then stepping out to a local restaurant Dinghy Dock for a dinner right next to the water surrounded by tarpon.

Puerto Rico - Photos

Pictures From Top To Bottom: The two pictures were taken by Selena with the digital camera. Since there was no cable television in our guest house, we ended up doing a lot of reading. This picture is of me reading our Puerto Rican guidebook. Let's Go: Puerto Rico. The next picture is of some wild horses walking down the beach next to us at Sun Bay. The last pictures are ones I took on my camera phone of some of the beach at Sun Bay.

Puerto Rico - Day 8: May 5th

Even though the island of Vieques is small in size, it did actually offer a lot of stuff for us to do. Not only were there beautiful beaches, but there was kayaking, bars, good food, and wild horses running around the island. In total, we spent four days and three nights on the island, all of which were spent in the town of Esperanza. The main strip of Esperanza was lined with guest houses, restaurants, bars, water tour shops, and souvenir stores, which provided all we needed to comfortably stay in the very small area. The main attraction to Vieques for us though, was the Bioluminescent Bay. The Bioluminescent Bay is a bay off the coast of Vieques that is filled with Bioluminescent plankton. These plankton are special because of their natural defense mechanism. If something hits them, or moves around them they light up. Because of this, if you kayak, swim, or splash around in the water it all lights up around you. It was amazing. Our tour through Blue Caribe Kayak Tours brought us to the bay, provided us with the kayaks, had us kayak to the middle of the bay where the most action happens, and allowed us to get out of our kayaks and swim around with the plankton. This made the whole trip for us. The tour was around 2 hours long, and only cost us $45. The island of Vieques also brought me my first taste of real Puerto Rican food. Mofongo. In all, we made a great choice going out to Vieques. It had the perfect mixture of relaxation and fun for us.

Puerto Rico - Photos

Pictures From Top To Bottom: All pictures were taken on my camera phone of the ferry docks in Fajardo, and the on the ferry from Fajardo to the island of Vieques.