Vieques Puerto Rico-A Treasure Often Missed

Walk the stunning, fine-sand beaches without crowds of tourists, sign up for the bioluminescent bay at Puerto Mosquito tour (read journal), Scuba or snorkling, Underwater Nature Tour, and biking around the island.

Quick Tips:

This is a low-key island - quite different in many ways than its very popular, very expensive Culebra.

If you're seeking a quiet, inexpensive place to visit that is easy to reach from the United States, this is it.

Best Way To Get Around:

I took a ferry from Fajardo(telephone 863-0705) Puerto Rico which took 1 1/2 hours and cost only a few dollars. I decided not to take my car to the island which was a mistake - I wish I had spent the extra money to have my rental car. Ferries go to the island several times a day. The ferry arrives at the town of Segunda.

You can also fly to Vieques from the Munos Marin International Airport in San Juan or other smaller airports.

Once on the island, you can walk to the beaches - a long walk - but you are really limited. There are many publicos or shared taxis that travel around the island, but, then again, I often had to wait for up to an hour at times. I did rent a bike one day which was enjoyable.

I love to camp, to be outdoors, to experience the natural beauty of a new place. I also appreciate the low-cost of housing when I camp. So, after spending two days at the Sea Gate Hotel, I camped at Sun Bay--an experience I''ll never forget.

First of all, the campground is very primitive - it''s basically a field next to the bathhouse at the Sun Bay Beach. Once you register,(if you can find someone around to sign you up), you can use their bath facilities - which were dirty.

Now for my unusual experience. I''m in my tent, it''s around 3 am in the morning, and I hear noise - almost like a herd of horses galloping. Must be dreaming. I attempted to go back to sleep but suddenly something brushed against my small tent. Suddenly I''m really scared. Slowly I open my tent flap and shine my flashlight around. I wasn''t dreaming. There they were - horses running around this campground pasture.(See photo of horses and my small tent in background). Now these horses were not tame, domesticated horses but WILD horses.

Needless to say, I did not sleep that night-and moved back to the Sea Gate Hotel for the remainder of my stay.

I should have been warned - there were no other campers on this field. The park guy who took my $5 never mentioned the "horse problem". After sharing my experience with the hotel manager, he informed that that Vieques is full of wild horses and can be dangerous. A close call.

Stay away from this place - at least for camping.

I found this hotel after getting off the ferry. It was a short walk. Without a car to explore, I picked this place because it was inexpensive and right on the ocean.

If you need a basic place to stay which is inexpensive, this is a good choice. There are 16 rooms which are very basic but clean. The big plus in staying here is myriad of views of the sea and fort from just about every room.

I had a room with private bath, a balcony, and comfortable bed for around $40.

The restaurant also serves breakfast for under $5.This is an optional choice for you but since I get up early, I took advantage of the open restaurant.

Another advantage of staying here is the closeness to the ferries; the location is very convenient.

This is a very popular place on the island which serves delicious fresh fish. It has a lovely outdoor terrace. The atmosphere is lively, the service friendly. You quickly get the feeling that this is THE place many locals hang out...great food and decent prices.

If you're not into seafood, they also serve grilled meats, ribs, chicken and even pizza.

The night I was here I had a delicious lobster with crabmeat - it was my last night on the island and I decided to blow my budget. No regrets.

You can get a good meal with an impressive array of home-made desserts for around $20-25.

There is also entertainment - rock, jazz, and reggae music keep this place very much alive.

What a beach - you can walk out for hundreds of feet without getting wet above your waist. This is an ideal place for young children - it is safe without any undertows, or dangerous sea creatures-like sharks.

This is also a great place to scuba dive or snorkel. Being a diver, I rented diving equipment at the Blue Caribe Dive Center (744-2522) and spent a day diving around-clear water with many colorful fish and decent coral.

Pictures are worth a thousand words so look at these photos.

This is a must to experience - this place is one of the most important and best-preserved places on this earth to experience the bioluminescent effect which is created by the movement of unicellular microscopic organisms, dinofagellata, which are found in warm and calm tropical waters. The millions of micro organisms emit a glow when the water is disturbed by any movement, such as swimming.

I joined a tour to this bioluminescent bay (Cost around $30-worth every penny). You really can't do this on your own-the tour people put you on an open truck and you go some distance through unpaved, unmarked roads. Then you board a boat to the bay. There were around 20 of us on this particular night. (You need to go at night of course to appreciate the wonder of this experience.)

Once we reached the Bay, we were encouraged to jump overboard to experience first-hand this bioluminescent wonder. Jumping overboard felt strange-to be jumping into millions of these micro organisms that actually glow in the dark. Moving around in the water creates a fabulous spectacle, an unfortgettable experience.

I signed up with the Blue Caribe Dive Center for this tour. telephone-741-2522.

To fully appreciate this interesting and beautiful island, you really need to spend a day exploring by car or bike.

As you may know, since 1941, approximately 70% of Vieques belongs to the United States Navy, who run two naval bases, Camp Garcia and Navy Base, situated at the eastern and western ends of the island. Many tourists have stayed away from this island due to Naval bombing practice and an occasional death to civilians. Vieques has been in the news of late with protestors demanding that the Navy leave this island. The US presence has decreased substantially over the last several years but there is still an obvious military presence with planes and helicopters a common site in the skies above Vieques.

You can enter the military areas, such as the beaches at Camp Garcia, which are even more beautiful and peaceful than Sun Bay. Once on the base, follow the unpaved road for a considerable distance until you reach the barracks...continue further and you will see a sign for Red, Blue and Garcia beaches. I found RED BEACH to be the best beach on Vieques if you are a good swimmer since the surf is quite strong. This is also an excellent place to scuba dive.

There are many enchanting beaches, often inhabited by wild horses, a fort built by Spain in the 1840's, and many quaint villages/communities.