Our 96 Vacation - First Tour of Vieques
This is a portion of a review we wrote of our 1996 Puerto Rican vacation. This sections deals with Vieques only, for complete article please go to the Puerto Rican section of The Caribbean Forum on Compuserve.
Friday, 12th July - Travelling by Ferry to Vieques
We had driven from our previous stop at Jayuya to Fajardo on the east coast of Puerto Rico. Fajardo is the harbor from which the ferry to Vieques leaves and the ferry tickets are very easy to organize and obtain, costing only $2 per person. You simply turn up and buy them from the small ticket booth. We bought our tickets for the 4.30 ferry and crossed into the terminal waiting area. As this was Friday, and also the last ferry of the day, it was pretty busy with people heading to Vieques for the weekend. Ariane, being pregnant, and Kyle were allowed to board first and get a seat before the hordes of others (including me, as an elephant with all the bags) scrambled on. I say scrambled as their was mad rush to get on, even though there was more than enough seats for everyone - it wasn't as if the ferry was going to suddenly depart and leave everyone behind! A Viequesian I talked to, said it was the same every Friday and that a little simple organization would cure all. On hearing that Ariane had pre-boarded because of her pregnancy, he produced a lemon and gave it to me, saying that if she felt rough during the crossing, to nip into to it and inhale as a cure. This again was another personal touch that I really appreciated. The ferry then departed on time and we headed off.
The journey took about an hour and 15 minutes and there were many scenic sights, which would have been enhanced had it not been for slightly overcast weather. The crossing was mildly rough and very quickly about half a dozen people were heaving into the available sick bags. A good tip for the crossing to Vieques is also not to sit on the left hand side of the open, upstairs area. This area is prone to fairly severe splashing as the boat dips into the waves and just about everyone on that side was very wet by the time we arrived in Vieques!
On arrival at Vieques we called up to the Sea Gate Guesthouse where we would be staying (PO Box 747, Isabel Segunda, Vieques, P.R. 00765 - Tel (787) 741 4661). We had booked a room for $60 a night. The Sea Gate does not take credit cards, only cash or travelers checks, and a two night deposit must be sent ahead in advance. Earlier, when I was making the booking, the owners daughter, Penny Miller, had been immensely patient and helpful with my questions, advising me of the ferry timetable and so on. They offered to pick us up from the terminal and sure enough, when we called, a car driven by a smiling Dutch American lady, appeared within a few minutes and drove us up to the Sea Gate. The Sea Gate is set high up on the bluffs overlooking Isabel Segunda, the main village on Vieques. It also overlooks the newly restored old fort, which now serves as the town museum. When we got to our room on the 3rd floor of the guesthouse we were delighted to see that in actuality, it was a beautifully and quaintly decorated self contained apartment. There was a fully utensil stocked kitchen and dining/living area with a fridge/freezer. Adjoining this was a double bedroom leading into a large bathroom. The rooms were spotless and we felt at home the moment we walked in. The views were spectacular and we also had a large balcony in front of the apartment, complete with tables and chairs. The owner, Ruth Miller, is a half Irish/half German American from New Jersey who settled on the Island some 30 years ago and she and her daughter are now a local institution - everyone we met on the island knew, and spoke highly of, Penny and Ruth. Ruth made sure we were comfortably settled in. In addition, the lady who had picked us up at the terminal was actually another guest, Kitty Scheuer, who had the adjoining apartment on the other side of the 3rd floor. Kitty has been coming to Vieques for years and always stays at the Sea Gate. From our subsequent experiences, we definitely will be doing likewise. If you choose to stay at the Sea Gate, which we highly recommend, please be sure to tell Penny and Ruth that Evan, Ariane and Kyle encouraged you to stay there.
By the time we had settled in, the sea air from the crossing had given us a hearty appetite. We asked Kitty for a dining recommendation and she suggested Taverna Espanola, a Spanish Puerto Rican restaurant located 10 minutes walk down into the village of Isabel Segunda, just opposite City Hall. She told us that she would be going there later that evening with her brother and his family, who had also arrived on Vieques a little earlier that day. They had flown in and were staying in a bungalow on the guest house grounds. Kitty volunteered to drive us down to the restaurant, and being pretty hungry, we accepted. The Taverna is a very simple but lovely local restaurant. We had some vino chorizo, beef stew with beans and rice, and pork chops. Dinner was tasty and washed down by some Medallia's came to a inexpensive $34. During dinner first Kitty and her relatives, then Penny Miller, arrived so we all got one table together and had a great time, getting to know one another. Penny, it transpires, also literally doubles as a local veterinarian, working for The Humane Society and had been off treating a horse which had hurt itself. As the night went on we knew we were going to fall in love with Vieques.
Saturday, 13th of July - Exploring Vieques
We arose bright and early and opened the apartment door and breathed in the view. Writing this now, I'm almost jealous of myself! When staying at the Sea Gate your rate, will include a full breakfast consisting of something like sweetbread, freshly picked fruit, cheese, coffee, tea and milk. It gets served on your balcony at about 8am and sets you up well for the day. We had also arranged to hire a car from Island Cars (on Route 201, Tel (787) 741 1666 - just beyond the Crows Nest Guesthouse ). They will rent you a car or jeep for $25/$35 a day and will collect you from where you are staying. When we got to Island Cars they also gave us a free car seat for Kyle. Unfortunately, it turned out that you can't fit it into the back of a jeep, so they re-booked us into a beat up old red car, which looked like a reject from Rent-a-Wreck. Even so, we weren't disappointed and it only added to the fun of our trip. We lovingly re-christened the car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! In any case, we headed off to explore Vieques, which essentially is a fairly small island and looks so from the ferry. When you are there is appears much bigger and a car is a necessity and there is a lot to explore. (The island is in reality about 21 by 4 miles with an area of 33,000 acres and a population of 8,000). Firstly we headed out east as far as the road would go. This went through some residential areas with private beach but ended at the point the road turned into the US Marine Base (more of the Army presence later). We turned back and headed to the other side (south) of Vieques where we hit Esperanza. This is where most of the tourist activities occur and the beachfront is a series of restaurants, bars, guesthouses and diving shops. We've spent some time in Bali and this type of beachfront wouldn't look out of place there. We chose to eat in one of the nicer open air restaurants, Banana's. This is a typical Denpasar joint with some rooms for rent through the back.. It is owned and run by "mainlanders" and offers a wide variety of tasty food in it's clean restaurant. We had some marinade jerk chicken, a fabulous tuna melt, arepas )fried bread dough puffs), and an enormous hot dog for Kyle. The bill with drinks and tips was about $20.
We then decided to hit the beach. From any map of Vieques you will see there are a wide selection of beaches, of varying degrees of accessibility. Two of the more popular ones are Red Beach and Blue Beach, both located on the military base. These are open to the public on production of a driving license, but are closed when the military are conducting exercises. Unfortunately they were there when we were, so the beach was closed. The US Military has a controversial role on the island, with the land on the island itself almost being split into three equal areas. To the East is the Marine Base, to the West the Navy Base and in the central strip is virtually the complete population of Vieques, bar some squatters on the military lands. Earlier, before the military came, Vieques had had a thriving sugar industry. As it began to decline the military arrived, and in the 1940's expropriated some 26,000 acres of land and relocated large chunks of the population. In 1947 they at one point tried to take the remaining 7,000 acres and relocate the rest of the population to the Virgin Islands. Luckily, strong opposition caused them to abandon this plan. Also fortunately nowadays, the military are confined to base and not allowed to enter the middle chunk so you can almost, from a tourist perspective, ignore their presence. The only problem we experienced was the beaches being closed and hearing some very short series' of distant explosions as they had some bombing practice, which was relatively unobtrusive. On the other hand, from a residents perspective, the bombing is undoubtedly destroying some of the pristine environment and coral reefs, along with disrupting the fishing stocks. The military did assist greatly during Hurricane Hugo when Hugo destroyed some 80% of the island. On behalf of the population, they basically rebuilt many things and replaced wooden buildings with solid brick and cement homes. Conveniently, their presence also prevents the construction of large tourist resorts and hotels, a la San Juan, which if it did occur would spoil the desolateness of the island. This presence and its associated handicaps or benefits are therefore two-edged. However, looking at all the evidence today, we personally feel that Vieques is to gorgeous to spoil and that the military presence should be scaled back somewhat. Political moves are underfoot to reflect this, but Vieques must, if this occurs, as we say, not spoil itself by becoming over commercialized. It's appeal is in its unspoiled beauty. One review we read said "Vieques is for the newly wed or nearly dead". In essences, this is true. If you are looking for nightclubs and casino's, forget it - stick to San Juan. If you are looking for some refreshing solitude, beautiful and quiet beaches, along with a fair selection of restaurant, then Vieques is for you. We feel people either love it or hate. We were certainly moving rapidly into the love it category.
We decided to go to the main public beach, called Sun Beach. It was remarkably quiet and we enjoyed splashing about in crystal clear water, with only a mild surf. There are no food kiosks, bars or other facilities on the beach, so if you want something come prepared! We had also been warned that Vieques does have a small, petty theft problem, with poor squatters hiding in the vegetation lining the beach and then throwing fishing lines out it, hooking rucksacks and the likes. The official tourist literature echoed this fact so we always left our camera, watches and jewelry behind at the hotel. We had no problems and when we were finished at the Beach, we headed back to the Sea Gate to prepare for dinner.
For dinner we chose to go to The Inn on the Blue Horizon, which is located through Esperanza and about another kilometer or so down the coast. This is a new upper class hotel, and is openly marketing itself as the poshest on the island. It indeed has a beautiful setting and a lovely outdoor restaurant. However, we discovered that it is run and owned by some unbelievably arrogant and American flaming homosexuals. Personally, we have nothing against ones sexuality, providing they keep it to themselves. I do have a problem however, with gays who are arrogant to the point of looking down on you because you are straight. I also have a problem with gays (or anyone else) who are also arrogant and condescending towards children. Unfortunately, the staff of the Inn on the Blue Horizon are of this type. For example, at one point we noticed a scenic vista in front of the open air restaurant, beyond the outdoor pool area looking out to sea. There was a small sign before the entrance sating only residents were permitted beyond this point. Even so, I politely asked, since it was quiet, if they would kindly make an exception and allow me to walk to the vista and shoot some pictures. The waiter, who is a double for Ed Begley, jr., condescendingly told me that the owner, Billy Knight, was at the bar, and "Billy" wasn't happy by these requests and that "Billy" wouldn't allow it. I felt a little bit put out by this answer. I mean, it is one thing if a bus load of tourists wanted to get off and take over the place to take pictures. However, I was a patron of the restaurant and voluntarily spending my money there, so I sort of considered myself a temporary resident. This sort of soured our feelings for what, I say again, is a beautiful Inn and beautiful restaurant. Ariane's meal itself of pompano fish in a white wine sauce and mine of Cajun snapper was worthy of a high starred restaurant. With drinks and a lower than normal tip, the bill came in at $36 and for which in return, I "arrogantly" paid for with my Platinum Amex, was also undoubtedly good value. Needless to say though, "Billy" won't be seeing any of my hard earned dollars on my nest trip to Vieques. If they wish to establish a high class, arrogant resort, then "Billy" can keep it to himself!
Sunday, 15th July - More of Vieques
Overnight, while we were deep asleep at the Sea Gate a fairly heavy tropical rain burst located itself over Vieques and continued to shower on and off for most of coming day. We were determined not to let a little bit of rain hold us back, so after breakfast, a book read and chat with Kitty, we stoically trooped off in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to explore the remainder off the Island. The rain though, did put a dampener on our beach plans for that day. Around lunch time we ended up again in Esperanza and decided to have a meal at Mario's (also called Restaurante El Quenero). This is a very local restaurant and we were the only tourists there. Everyone else appeared to be local families coming together for Sunday lunch. We ordered up some local dishes which were only average, decided to eat and quickly pay up, then relocated 50 meters back down the road to Banana's, which was turning into a favorite stopping ground for ourselves. Whilst we were there we heard some samba music coming from a small deck area across the street. I wandered across and saw that an impromptu local dance was taking place and the same families we'd left at Mario's had now moved over here after their lunch for a Sunday afternoon dance. It was enjoyable watching the different generations all coming together and having a good old dance together. Back at Banana's we finished up with some desert and since the weather was still somewhat iffy decided to head back to the Sea Gate for a lazy afternoon.
Whilst sitting on the balcony, my curiosity got the better of me and I ambled down to the Fort Conde de Mirasol to have a look at the museum. The Fort was constructed for the then Spanish Governor between 1845/55 and is the last actual Fort constructed during Spain's colonial days. In recent years it fell into disrepair before being lovingly renovated and re-opened in 1991. Today, the local historian, Robert Rabin, in charge at the fort, is a walking talking knowledge book on Vieques. He can be called at the fort on (787) 741 1717. I enjoyed my tour around, even though most of the professionally produced exhibits are in Spanish. The museum, in a good balance, covers everything from the history of Vieques, including details on French, British, Spanish and Danish fighting over it, details on the natural history, local dignitaries, the sugar plantation, the army's role on the island and the fort restoration project. This is thoroughly worth a trip and on the way out I bought a "Viva Vieques Libre" T-shirt in a show of solidarity with the island.
In the evening we decided to dine at the Crow's Nest (Route 201, KM1.6). This turned out to be another marvelous culinary find and in a beautiful environment to boot. We sat outdoors beyond the well stocked bar, overlooking the northern coast. We had a splendid meal off pureed curried vegetable soup, Thai chicken with basmati rice, escargot and killer chocolate cake. This was a superior meal and the atmosphere at the Crow's Nest blew away our distasteful experience the previous evening at the Inn on the Blue Horizon. After dinner, the friendly mainland American waiter sat by our table and we chatted about the island, it's economy and so forth. Being our last planned big meal on Vieques we splashed out a bit on drinks, but the bill with tips still only came to $53. The Crow's Nest is a must dine experience if you go to Vieques. As mentioned previously it is also a guest house and has a dozen or so well appointed room, pool etc., and is probably also well worth staying at, at $50/75 a night. Once again, when we later returned to the Seagate we mellowed out on the balcony and went to sleep very happy and content.
Monday, July 15th - Our Last Full Day on Vieques
We arose invigorated to have a healthy breakfast. Thankfully, the weather had improved overnight so we decided to spend as mush of the day on the beach as possible. We talked to Kitty and told her that we wanted to go shell hunting with Kyle. Kitty said that the best beach for this was just on the Navy base by the long and man-made Mosquito pier. We headed out and gained easy access, as fortunately with the maneuvers being on the Marine base only, the Navy base was wide open. No sooner did we reach the beach than I started to find huge conch shells. They were in pristine condition, the likes of which I've seen on sale at beach shops for $50+. We zealously collected a lot, with the intention of taking them back to Houston as presents. It was quite an effort to clean them all up and even more of an effort to find space in our luggage for them as some of them were over 30cms across. This find put us in a great frame of mind for the rest of the day and complete with packed lunch in hand we headed off for the beach.
We decided this time, on a recommendation, to choose Half Moon bay. Vieques has many hidden beaches which can only be reached by heading down a beaten up earth road through whatever vegetation is there. However, your hired car will fairly easily accomplish this and the little bit of extra effort is well worthwhile. Half Moon Bay turned out to be our favorite beach on the island. There were only 20/30 people there and there was absolutely no surf. With a gently sloping shore it was ideal for Kyle, who at 20 months was able support himself in mild waves. He went nuts and at the end of the day it was pretty hard to convince him to leave. We had to, as we had saved one of Vieques high points till last - as a sort of parting treat.
That evening we scheduled a trip to Phosphorent or Bioluminescent Bay. This is a famous area for those who know of it, but if you've never heard, it's literally a bay which can glow in the dark due to tiny microorganisms radiating light when disturbed. We had booked a trip with Penny's friend Sharon, who runs a tour service out of the another guesthouse, Casa Del Frances (Route 201, about one kilometer from Esperanza - Tel (787) 741 3751 / 0717 or Fax (787) 741 2330).The Case Del Frances is another popular guesthouse, set in an old colonial mansion. (We heard that Clint Eastwood was actually rumored to have stayed there while filming the movie, Heartbreak Ridge on Vieques). The Bay trip itself is quite expensive at $17 per person for about 1 1/2 hours but is worth every cent. That night it was heavily booked and they were running two separate trips. We went on the first and once assembled, all got into a minibus and were driven through the vegetation by Sun Beach. We arrived in an eerily dark bay and were escorted onto a medium sized boat. Our guide carefully navigated us around the incredibly calm bay pointing out mangroves, schools of darting fish and eventually anchored in the center. He pulled a bucket of water out of the bay and placed it under a blanket on the boat, encouraging us to peer under the blanket and splash our hand. Like magic the plain water turned into a myriad of sparkling lights which took our breath away. He then invited us to get into the bay for a swim. Initially I wasn't going to get in thinking it would be cold, deep and choppy with current. In reality, although the water was about 20ft deep, it was surprisingly comfortably warm and there was less current than a swimming pool. If you want to swim, the tour organizers rightly insist you to wear a buoyancy "banana" for safety reasons. Inspired by the bucket, I decided to get in with some others. Looking back, I would have severely regretted not doing so as I got a huge adrenaline rush and high. As I jumped in the water exploded into light. I swam about splashing my arms and legs, which each looked liked Darth Vader's luminous Sword of Light. The time flew by and it was with great reluctance that I got out. When each person got out, their swimsuits were obviously wet and as such sparkled like glitter for a few seconds. This is a must and can only be done at night. During the day the bay would look no different that any other.
Tuesday, July 16th - Homeward Bound
After last nights euphoria over my Bio-bay swim, it was with a heavy heart that we packed up and prepared to ship out from Vieques. The weather was beautiful and thought of being back at work tomorrow was less than thrilling. We checked out of Sea Gate, telling Penny and Ruth that we would be back as soon as we could - this being a promise we fully intend to keep. Once again the helped by accompanying me when I went to drop off Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and then driving us down to the ferry, which was leaving at 11am (there are others at 7am and 3pm). This would give us more than enough time to get to San Juan for our 4.25pm flight. Before leaving Vieques, Ariane stopped at the town bakery and we bought some fresh sandwiches to eat on the ferry back. This time, the crossing was much smoother as we looked back and sadly watched Vieques fade into the distance. We were also able to get some good views of El Conquistador on the way back and shot some more film.