LOVED Vieques! (pronounced v-a'-kase)
Vieques is a small island off the big island of Puerto Rico. It is very laidback, casual. Not many people. There are beaches of all sorts, some rugged, some pristine pretty. We managed to get to 4 of the main ones; there are many more than that!
The 2 photos above are from Green Beach. It was not your typical "pretty" beach with huge expanses of sand. But privacy abounds! There were little alcoves of beach amongst the palms and undergrowth. You could just walk along until you found a little area where there were no other people. The road to Green Beach is rough, even by Vieques standards.
These next two pictures are of Playa Grande, which lives up to its name - it is really huge! We walked for a ways, and only passed two other people, so it is pretty deserted. The sand isn't the light fine sand most people prefer; it was darker, more coarse. You could see that the sand was pieces of shell broken up, and it could hurt your feet just a bit.
We enjoyed the typical beauty of Red Beach for a while. As you can see by the first picture, it is a busier beach, but it was easier to get to than the other ones, and obviously has the big expanse of fine sand that folks like.
My personal overall favorite: Orchid Beach. It is significantly tougher to get to than Red Beach, probably tougher even than getting to Green Beach. But wow! well worth the trouble! It is a long beach of beautiful sand with few people. I saw 4 other folks there... possibly 2 more WAY down the beach.
One sad thing about Vieques: the U.S. had a military post on the island for years and used it as a testing ground for bombs, missiles and other weapons. Altho they finally moved out in May 2003, and turned over "their" land to the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Service, there are still reminders on both ends of the island, such as the bunker above.
We stayed at the Crow's Nest for both nights on Vieques. It is a cute little B&B, altho the breakfast part was negligible - bread and pastry and juices. The Crow's Nest is not on any beach, but it is well located, with a nice view, and very clean. Our cute suite, shown above, had two little covered patios, a bedroom, bathroom of course, and a combo kitchen/living room.
Something we've commented on to everyone we've talked with about Vieques - the bad roads! The first road picture shows the best road on the island - few potholes, but still not wide enough for two vehicles, one (or both) usually had to move a little off the road. The second photo shows a more typical paved road, broken, potholes, and not much wider than one vehicle. The bottom photo shows part of the unpaved road to Orchid Beach - and this wasn't even close to the worst we encountered! Let's just say that if we didn't have a jeep, we could not have even tried many of the roads.
As a sidenote, I'd have to say my fave meal on Vieques was from a stand/trailer at the beginning of the road to Red/Blue/Orchid beaches: Pasta Rasta. The owner is a fun guy, very congenial. The food is great, the main entrees are pasta dishes, basically spaghetti noodles with dif types of sauces. He had a few other appetizer type items.
The town of Esperanza is cute and seems to be where most of the tourists go. There is a Malecon (walkway along the waterfront), restaurants, stores, bars, etc. There were several stands that made food there too: baked potatoes with seafood and other goodies, seafood stew and other seafood items, artery-hardening burgers (two burgers, cheese, topped with a concoction of ham, Canadian bacon, onions, and who knows what else!), etc.
We overheard some folks at dinner one night: one lady has been coming to Vieques every year for over 20 years! And I can totally see why. I definitely wouldn't mind heading back there, just relaxing on the beaches. It is truly a little slice of paradise!
eta (edited to add): The reason we went to Vieques was for the bioluminescence bay. As many of my friends/family know, I do "something new" each year. I decided that I would swim in the bio bay as my something new for 2008. There is a bio bay in Fajardo on the main island of Puerto Rico, but it isn't as good as the one on Vieques, and visitors are no longer allowed to swim in the bay in Fajardo. Thus... Vieques!
Now, explanation of bio bay and the tour we took:
"Hidden along the Caribbean coast is one of the most spectacular Bioluminescent Bays in the world. The mysterious blue-green light is created by micro-organisms which thrive in an environment uniquely suited to their needs. A trip into the bay on a balmy night is a magical experience. Fish flash by in dark water, and a swim is like floating through stardust." - Captain Sharon Grasso
Why does the water glow? This unique bay contains up to 720,000 single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates per gallon of water. These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. The high concentration of these creatures (Pyrodimium bahamense) can create enough light to read a book from.
Island Adventures Biobay Tours offers nightly excursions aboard our electrically powered double-pontoon boat through the amazing waters of Puerto Mosquito in Vieques Island. Our bilingual guides explain the fragile ecology of the plants and animals of the bay, give interpretive star lectures, and then park the boat in an area of high bioluminescent concentration, giving visitors the chance to swim with the millions of glowing creatures.
I totally loved the bio bay tour. It wasn't as spectacular as photos I've seen. The folks with Island Adventures claim that it's because there is becoming more air pollution, even on their tiny little island, that prevents the little dinos from "recharging" from the daylight. I've seen other suggestions that the dinos are dying because of water pollution. But it was still super cool. I was in the water, waving my arms and legs around, and yes, it glowed where I was moving. I thought the best part was when I raised my arm out of the water, and little dinos trickled down my arm glowing - you could see each little guy separately. VERY COOL!!!! I had hesitated to get into the bay, because temps were a little cool, but I am SO GLAD I did because it was amazing!
Charlotte Amalie as seen from the Destiny.
The open market in town - basically tourist goods.
Our first stop was Milton Falls. The hike wasn't far or strenuous, but it was still challenging and fun. The path was often dirt and tree roots, and it crossed the river numerous times.
People are no longer allowed to swim in the pool at the base of Milton Falls - people downriver use the water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc. Levi warned us of this before we started our tour, and we opted to continue as planned anyway. There is a TALL fence to keep people out. But that was ok; it is a beautiful waterfall, and the walk/hike there was pretty and peaceful.
We then headed to the Indian River for a rowboat ride. Talk about peaceful... wow, that was great!
We talked about the vegetation and wildlife, saw fish, crabs and birds.
And we saw a couple places where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 were filmed - including the place above where the danger sign remains!
Next we went to Cabrits Nat'l Park and Fort Shirley, an 18th century British garrison. There were lovely views of the bay and the island as well as the interesting ruins.
As before, I loved our day. Dominica is definitely one of my fave Carib islands, if not top dog. It is rugged, lush, hilly, beautiful, with lots of trees and waterfalls. The natural beauty of the island is amazing.
