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Tag: Vieques

Touring Old San Juan

Old San Juan city wallsThe night before we left Vieques, we checked what time our rental car on the mainland had to be returned and realized that with the ferry ride and the drive back to the airport, we were cutting it very close. We tried to push our return time back, but the car was due to be rented out again shortly after we returned it. The ferry from Vieques ended up being delayed and we were worried the whole drive back to the airport. We ended up returning the car an hour and a half late. Luckily, they were very understanding and didn’t even charge us any extra. If you are visiting Puerto Rico and are looking for a reasonably priced car rental, check out AquiCoqui car sharing. It worked well for us!

We dropped off the car, but our time in Puerto Rico wasn’t over. We still had two days left to explore Old San Juan and that is not a city where you need a car to get around. We dropped off the rental car at the airport and took an Uber into the city.

To kill time until our Airbnb was ready, we hung out at Chocobar Cortés, a unique restaurant where every dish contains chocolate. We enjoyed it so much, we went back the next morning to try their breakfast! Chocolate Cortés has been making bean-to-bar chocolate since 1929. They opened their first restaurant in 2014 in Old San Juan and have since opened up additional restaurants in the Bronx and Condado. If you are looking for a unique restaurant in Old San Juan, I recommend you check it out, but beware that the wait can be long at times.

Even though this was our third time in Old San Juan, we wanted to get to know the city a little better so we took a Free Walking Tour. We discovered free walking tours in Europe and they are a great way to get to know the city without having to spend a lot of money on a tour. Just to be clear, free walking tours are not totally free. Participants are expected to tip what they think the tour was worth. Our guide took us around the city to places we had been before but we also got to see some new parts and we learned a lot about the history.

Interior of San Juan CathedralOne place we got to explore on the tour was the Cathedral of Old San Juan, the oldest cathedral in the United States. The original cathedral was built in 1521. That building was destroyed by a hurricane and was rebuilt beginning in 1535 but was not completed until 1802. The beautiful cathedral contains the tomb of the explorer and founder of San Juan, Juan Ponce de León.

After our tour, we took some time walking Paseo del Morro, which goes around Castillo del Morro. One interesting thing about this area is that it is home to a cat rescue called Save a Gato. We spent our time walking the path and photographing the cats for the rescue so they could find homes for the cats. The National Park Service recently announced a plan to try to remove the cats from fort grounds so Save a Gato can use all the help it can get. To learn more about the organization, visit Saveagato.org.

One of the cats of El Morro

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our NEW Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read more about our time in Puerto Rico, check out my Circle Tour of the Island. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

Mosquito Bioluminescent Bay – Vieques

Photo by Kevin Wolf on Unsplash

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Mosquito Bay in Vieques, Puerto Rico is known as the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. When we ironed out our plans for our recent trip to Puerto Rico, I made reservations for our kayaking tour to experience the bay right away. While we were getting ready to board the ferry to Vieques, Chris asked me when our tour was,  and I discovered that I booked our tour for the day after we arrived back on the Puerto Rican mainland. I quickly logged on to Viator to see if I could find another tour with availability. Luckily, I was able to find a tour with availability, but it wasn’t with the highly-rated tour company I had originally booked with.

We did a bioluminescent bay tour in Fajardo, in mainland Puerto Rico on our previous trip to the island. We enjoyed the evening paddle through the mangroves, but the bioluminescence experience was underwhelming. On that trip, we met our guide at a beach in Fajardo, we hopped in our kayaks and paddled into the bio-bay. In Vieques, the experience was a little different. Our guide picked us up in the town of Esperanza, crammed us into a rickety van, and drove without speaking to a pitch-dark parking lot where we stood in the mud waiting for someone to tell us what to do (remember, this was not one of the highly rated bio-bay tour companies).’

Eventually, a guide showed up and started directing us where to go. We ended up being the first in our group to get into a kayak. We sat down, paddled away from the shore, and immediately we saw the water light up. Our guide took us to the middle of the bay where we got time to explore this light-up water phenomenon on our own. We could see the fish, stingrays, and maybe even sharks swimming beneath us because the water glowed when they moved. It was an incredible experience, unlike anything I had ever seen before. Words and photos do not do it justice.

This bioluminescent bay is heavily protected because chemicals on our skins and in boat motors will kill the dinoflagellates that cause the water to glow. Swimming and gas-powered motors are not allowed in the bay. The only way to see it is by kaya with a licensed guide. The area is also protected from light pollution. There are not many streetlights near the bay and the ones that are nearby have red lights instead of white.

Overall, the transportation to the bay on our tour left something to be desired, but once we got out of the water, it was an unforgettable experience. It is a must-do if you are visiting Vieques, and if you are planning a longer stay on the Puerto Rican mainland, I recommend you plan a night in Vieques, just to see the bio bay. I recommend this highly-rated tour that we had originally booked on Viator, not the one we ended up on.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our NEW Go See Do Explore Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. To read more about our time in Puerto Rico, check out my Circle Tour of the Island. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

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Wordless Wednesday: Playa Negra

Visiting Vieques

Sunset from Playa Punta Arenas

After our time in Rincon was complete, we headed back across the island to catch the ferry to Vieques. Vieques is an island off the east coast of Puerto Rico and is popular with beachgoers and those looking to see the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. Vieques is accessible by ferry from Cieba, just south of Fajardo. We bought our $2 ferry tickets online about a month in advance so when we got to Cieba, we parked our car and waited for our time to board.

Wild Horses of ViequsThe ferry ride to Vieques was a little rough but it wasn’t long before we were docked on the island of Vieques. We booked a Jeep from Coqui Car Rental, which was a short walk from the ferry terminal. We picked up our vehicle that was ready for the rough roads the island is known for, dropped off our bags at our Airbnb, and went out to explore the island. We quickly discovered that maneuvering our big Jeep through the narrow roads of Isabel Segunda was a challenge, but we ended up needing the off-road capacity the Jeep provided later on in our exploration of the island. I was surprised by how many wild horses roam the island (left).

Playa Negra

We downloaded a Vieques History Audio Tour that helped get us acquainted with the island and its history. The tour took us from near the ferry terminal in Isabel Segunda to the sugar mill ruins, the breakwater, the lighthouse, and the black sand beach. The black sand beach on Vieques is unique because the island is not volcanic. If you have seen the black sand beaches in Hawaii (or in our case, the Azores), this is different because the beach is mostly normal beige sand with black streaks. Those streaks are tiny magnetic rocks (mostly magnetite). The brown sand gets pulled out to sea with the waves, but the black sand stays behind. It’s a very unique sight to behold. The black sand beach is accessible from the road by a trail that runs along a creek bed, so waterproof shoes are a good idea if you plan to make the trek. The beach is very rocky and not recommended for swimming.

One of the things we learned on the audio tour is that three-quarters of the island is inaccessible because for 60 years the U.S. Navy used it as a live-fire range and it is full of unexploded ordinances. In 1999 a local man was killed in an off-target bombing and the people of Vieques lobbied global human rights forums to end the bombing on the island. In the early 2000s, the weapons training area was shut down and the land was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which is working on cleaning up the residual bombs.

After exploring the island, I wanted to experience the sunset on the westernmost beach on the island, Playa Punta Arenas which is located in Vieques National Wildlife Refuge. We climbed in the Jeep and were jostled over the rough dirt roads in the park. Prepared for a lot of people jostling for the best sunset spot on the island on New Year’s Day, we parked and were shocked to find that there was no one else around except for hermit crabs on the beach. I still can’t believe how serene that experience was (top)!

If you are looking to have a pristine Caribbean beach all to yourself, consider a trip to Vieques. What it lacks in amenities, it makes up for natural beauty. Be sure to check back next week when I detail our experience in Vieques’ bioluminescent bay! Thanks for stopping by! To read more about our time in Puerto Rico, check out my Circle Tour of the Island. To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. To read campground reviews check out my Michigan Campground Reviews page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

Wordless Wednesday: Hermit Crab

Hermit Crab

Puerto Rico Circle Tour

Paseo del Morro

We are back from another wonderful trip to Puerto Rico, our third visit in less than two years. It is safe to say that we love the island. We wanted to explore more of the island this time, spending time on the west side of the island as well as one of the outer islands. Here is a preview of what is to come on this trip report:

Waves Crashing near Castillo del Morro

It was another wonderful trip to an island paradise. It was very hard coming back to frigid, cloudy weather. I miss the beautiful Puerto Rican sunshine! I’m sure we will be back before too much longer.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back next week when I land in San Juan and head to Casa Bacardi! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

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