puerto rico: life's a beach

a few years back, puerto rico decided to spend a lot of money on infomercials enticing people to visit that island. the infomercial showed a lot of beaches. i was sold.

however, i only had one long weekend over the president's day weekend to see everything. clearly, that would not be possible. so, i focused on vieques.

vieques is a small island off the main island. it's definitely country. folks still get around on horseback, dogs run around unleashed, and most of the roads are unpaved. talk about heaven. see, when i went, there really wasn't any resort to speak of. except that the w hotel is slated to open next month. so i was happy to show up in vieques before everyone else did.

to get there, we flew to san juan then took a cessna to vieques. it was one of those experiences where i was glad to be short -- that meant i got to sit next to the pilot. i was careful not to touch any of those control panels though.

the vieques airport, located on the atlantic side of the island, was small. there's only one runway.

upon landing and checking in to our apartment rental, we headed to barrio esperanza on the carribean side, which was also where the tourists were. its main drag was less than half a mile long where, at night, the same cars drove round and round and round that same strip with their music blaring. it was their version of cruising.

this was esperanza beach:

but before we hit the beaches, we had to hit up the food. vieques excelled in that department. we went to a puerto rican restaurant called mucho gusto on the main strip. the food was simple but oh so fresh. it was basically just seasoned with salt and pepper but it was sublime.

az had the pork chop:

i had the sword fish:

after we had our fill, we were off to our first beach: sun bay. this was the beach closest to barrio esperanza. what's amazing about vieques was that even with the tourists, the beaches were not crowded. talk about virgin beaches. no vendors. no crowds. no anything. just water, sand and sun.

after sun bay, we drove our car rental over unpaved, rough, dirt roads to media luna (or half moon). this was my favorite beach of all. the beach was more enclosed so the water was very calm. the water also felt warmer and it was definitely shallower. one could wade in far and still be waist deep. again, hardly any people. it was great to just be lost in thought with the gentle breeze whispering in one's ear.

after laying out, we drove over more dirt, rough and unpaved roads over to navio beach. the waves were a lot more noticeable because it was more exposed to the open ocean, unlike media luna.

one thing was clear though (aside from the water itself), the beaches were gorgeous! and the absence of the masses definitely made the experience even better.

we left the beaches before the sun set. did i mention there were no street lamps? yeah, it would not have been good to be stranded at any of those beaches should anything happen to your car.

we went back to barrio esperanza to watch the sunset.

one other thing vieques is known for is their bioluminescent bay. it was the perfect time for us to visit the island because there was no moon, which meant that you could see the glowing organisms better.

we ended up joining a group tour. the guide drove us to mosquito bay where we, again, drove over unpaved dirt roads. it was dark. very dark.

to experience the bio bay, one had to get on a kayak and paddle to the middle of the bay. once the paddles hit the water, the organisms in the water glowed a bright blue green.

did i mention that i have never kayaked before? did i also mention that our tour group mostly spoke spanish and neither az nor i spoke spanish?

so we were assigned a kayak and were told to just "follow the flashlight." we weren't told how to work the kayak though. needless to say, everyone in the group just left and az and i were left going around in circles. by the time we figured out how to maneuver the damned thing, our group was somewhere in the middle of the bay. did i mention it was dark?

after several rounds of marco polo, we found our guide and the rest of the group in the middle of the bay. at some point, our guide allowed us to jump in the water and "glow." az took that opportunity. i was lame and just played with the water from the confines of my kayak where i watched my hands and feet glow. surely, it was an interesting experience. and now, i can say that i can kayak.

after the guide dropped us back in esperanza, we dined at bili's for some paella. the seafood was definitely fresh. however, it was a shame that the lobster and some of the fish were overcooked.

our first day was about to end. but not before we sampled the local bar scene. well, it was really just a bunch of tourists sitting at a bar, drinking booze, and watching the same cars drive by over and over and over. a band started to play around 11 pm and this was what it sounded like:

vieques was definitely my kind of place. it was gorgeous, unspoilt, simple. however, everything was not peachy keen. mosquitoes abound. and i'm not talking about mosquito bay. i mean the blood sucking kind. i had a gazillion bites one could play connect the dots on my body and come up with the most interesting artwork. why i didn't bring insect repellent is beyond me. the store in barrio isabel segunda didn't even carry any. so heed my words of wisdom: vieques is gorgeous but don't forget the insect repellent.