Puerto Rico &
Isla de Veiques
August 9 - 17, 2006
~ our 19th anniversary ~

1) flew into San Juan 2) drove our rental car to Lynda's in Dorado 3) visited Old San Juan

4) visited Camuy Caverns which is in Arecibo 5) flew to Vieques for five days in paradise

BBQ for lunch at a roadside place in San Juan after our plane landed on Wednesday	sitting in the town square of Dorado
Old San Juan	Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan
Fort El Morro in Old San Juan	Fort El Morro in Old San Juan
Fort El Morro in Old San Juan	Fort El Morro in Old San Juan
Lynda, Daniele & Stuart coming down stairs at Fort El Morro in Old San Juan	another shot from Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan
Governor's Palace in Old San Juan	Camuy Caverns in Arecibo
river running through Camuy Caverns in Arecibo	Camuy Caverns in Arecibo
Camuy Caverns in Arecibo	spider in Camuy Caverns in Arecibo
lunch on the way home from Camuy Caverns	you can never have enough BBQ with rice & beans
local bakery on the way home from the caverns	headed to Vieques on a puddle jumper
Stuart in seat behind me on little plane	taking off for Vieques
view of San Juan from our little plane	more of San Juan
beaches in San Juan	arriving in Vieques
sunset happy hour at Mar Azul in the town of Isabella II on Vieques	more of that sunset
Teensy on our porch	Rocco (top) and Tinka (close-up)
view at Eva Mer	view from our cottage porch
looking at our cottage	Stuart in hammock
pool at Eva Mer overlooking the sea	Stuart relaxing in the jacuzzi in our little backyard area
our 4WD Geo Tracker (not a vehicle we're recommending)	Isabella II (5 minutes from Eva Mer)
another view of Isabella II	one of our favorite after dinner spots for Haagen Dazs
Blue Beach (one of our favorites...so many beaches...so little time...)	little hut where we set up for the day
	our last day on the island
at Eva Mer

Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Brought Miranda to Logan Airport and she departed for Sweden on the 10:05pm flight. Stuart and Kim spent the night at a nearby hotel with long-term parking privileges.

Wednesday, August 9. 2006 ~ our 19th Anniversary
Left Logan on the 10am flight to San Juan. An uneventful non-stop flight and we even arrived early. San Juan was hot!!! We easily navigated our way into a rental car and had driven 15 feet when Stuart spotted a roadside BBQ place and we just HAD to stop. We split a roasted 1/2 chicken and some ribs as well as sweet plantains. Mmmmmmmmmmm. San Juan traffic and on the highway leading to Lynda's in Dorado were snarled and it took us about an hour to make the trip. Lynda's development was a welcome sight and we wasted no time getting down to the beach at the end of her street for a late afternoon swim. The water was warm and felt divine after a long day of traveling. Thank goodness for that non-stop flight. It made the trip much easier. Lynda grilled burgers and Kim made a salad and we enjoyed a nice dinner together.

Thursday, August 10, 2006
Today we all went to Old San Juan. The air conditioning in Lynda's car was not working so we took the rental car and she navigated. We left around 10am so as to avoid the rush hour traffic going into San Juan.

The congestion in and around San Juan is remarkable and the drivers were absolutely AWFUL!!! They drive all sorts of speeds in any lane they feel like (no concept of a 'passing' lane there) and they cut in front of you without warning (much worse than in New England which is fairly incomprehensible for anyone who has driven in Boston or New York). They also will stop in the middle of the highway for any reason. We witnessed someone come to a complete stop in the high-speed lane just in front of us to come to the rescue of a motorist stranded on the opposite side of the road.

OK, back to our day. It was a nice hot day, but we braved it with baseball hats, sun lotion and drinks. We began by visiting the two forts at either end of Old San Juan. Old San Juan is not very big and can be easily walked from end to end in less than fifteen minutes. The first, and smaller of the forts, is named San Cristobal. Lynda's daughter Cristina helped us tour around as she had been there before. We enjoyed everything about the fort including the killer view out over the Atlantic side of Puerto Rico. From San Cristobal we walked along the ocean road to the second and larger fort, El Morro. This fort was one of the best we've ever seen. It was quite large, had points like a star, and numerous levels. Once again the view of the Atlantic was incredible. And what a wonderful breeze to cool us!

After seeing the two forts we split up. Lynda took the girls to the Hard Rock Café and we went for some mediocre Mexican. I guess Puerto Rico isn't the best place to eat Mexican cuisine. After lunch we toured the governor's palace where the governor both works and lives. Then we hooked back up with our hosts and stopped at the bakery to get some Majorca pastries to bring home for dessert.

Once we got back to Dorado, we all went for a swim at the beach to cool off after such a hot day in the sun. The water sure felt good. For dinner we did "every man for himself" night. Stuart had his pastries for dinner.

Friday, August 11, 2006
Woke up bright and early this morning and made the drive to the Camuy Caverns in Arecibo, about a 45 minute drive from Dorado. Lynda and the girls stayed home and relaxed for their trip into San Juan that afternoon to pick up Russ at the airport.

We really enjoyed the drive through more rural Puerto Rico both on the highway and the winding road to the caverns. Today gave us a good feel for real island life outside of the city and more developed areas. The caverns were very nice despite our guide who was obviously practicing for the job of drill sergeant in the army. On the long drive back to the highway we stopped at another roadside BBQ restaurant and had chicken and rice and beans. It was excellent once again and very economical. We can see why all the locals frequent these types of places. Afterwards we stopped at a local bakery and got a treat. No Majorca pastries there though. Stuart was a bit disappointed.

After lunch we drove back to Dorado and did some riding around. We parked and walked all through the main part of town and then we did a long drive along the main thoroughfare and marveled at the amount of planned communities that are being developed in Dorado and the next town over. The area is already quite busy and when the thousands of condos are completed and sold, it will be even more difficult to navigate the busy roads. Also, not everyone is lucky like Lynda & Russ. Their place is a five minute walk to the water!! Most of these new places only have beach access that you can get to by car.

Saturday, August 12, 2006 ~ off to Vieques
This morning we slept in a bit and then finally took off around 9:30 to make the quick flight to Vieques, a small island off of the east coast of Puerto Rico just over the line into the Caribbean Sea. Finding the to return the car (it was not in the airport) took us a while and was quite a feat in the end. From there we took a taxi over to Isla Grande, the small local airport on the other end of San Juan. The flights were $80 CHEAPER per person to leave from the local airport rather than San Juan International so it was well worth the $20 taxi ride there. Our 25 minute flight took off on-time at exactly 1:00pm and we were in Vieques and at our hotel before we knew it. Marc, the host & manager at Eva Mer (the cottages where we stayed) picked us up at the airport and was a phenomenal help. The rental car people brought our car to Eva Mer and we good to go.

We wasted no time at all and had our suits and snorkeling stuff and were on the beach by 3pm and swimming out on the reef. The island is basically just one big beach all around its perimeter. The snorkeling on Vieques was alright, but not spectacular. Sort of what we expected based on our reading about the island. We saw some schools of fish, jellyfish (yikes!), some giant, ugly fish, and pretty fan coral. There are turtles around the island, but we weren't lucky enough to catch a glimpse of any.

After swimming/snorkeling in the ocean, we took a dip in the pool at Eva Mer and then tested out the private outdoor jacuzzi in the little yard outside of our room. What a day!

We started our evening on the deck at Mar Azul in the town of Isabella II, watching the sun set over the Caribbean. What a relaxing way to spend some time before dinner. From there, we headed for dinner at Uva, a fancy, schmancy place with outstanding food. We didn't realize we were dining at what the locals call "Manhattan prices in Vieques." Despite the expense though, the food was indeed nothing short of spectacular. Superb cooking and ingredients. We ended the evening with a stop at Scoops, the local Haagen Dazs dealer, where Stuart discovered a real taste for their Belgian chocolate ice cream.

Sunday, August 13, 2006
Our first morning at Eva Mer. So beautiful to wake up on the ocean with the sound of the surf crashing. It was just wonderful. Kim relaxed on the cottage porch each morning we were there while Stuart caught up on his R&R.

We drove across the island (all of ten minutes) to Esperenza for lunch at the Trade Winds overlooking the south side of the island. What a view while eating. Afterwards we took the 4-wheel drive out onto the old Navy land to try out some of their pristine, white sand beaches. It's a bumpy 15 minute drive, but the beaches are a gold mine. Deserted, crystal clear water, Caribbean blue color...too beautiful to describe. Because it was a Sunday, we had to share Blue Beach with a few families, but when you have a big long white-sand beach, it's easy to spread out and share with only a handful of people. We swam there a while and Stuart did some snorkeling and then we checked out about 3 other beaches along the southern side of the island as well.

The jacuzzi felt nice after our day at the beach. For dinner we tried Tapazio, a local place with some very tasty shrimp and lobster dishes. Mmmmmmm. Of course we stopped at Scoops again and this time we both had a treat!

Monday, August 14, 2006
Today we ate lunch at Bananas in Esperenza and swam at Red Beach, in some ways even more wonderful than Blue Beach. But each beach has its own personality and pros and cons so we of course had to test our a variety. We also swam at Sun Bay, one of the public beaches closer to town. We are traveling during their low season so it felt like we had the island to ourselves some times. What a treat. Today the only other guests staying at Eva Mer left and we had the run of the place.

For dinner we ate at Bili, also in Esperenza. Kim had salad and a delicious island-bread pork quesadilla. Stuart had the whole red snapper which he had to send back because the first one was not cooked inside. The second one was slightly better, but his stomach was on the fritz all night because of it. Or could it have been the trip to Scoops yet again???

Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Today we discovered La Viequense, the bakery in Isabella II, a 5 minute drive from Eva Mer. They had local sandwiches that were very good and much more economical than eating at the tourist places that we had already tried. After lunch we walked to the Side Street Bakery in town where Kim had a piece of mouth-watering almond cake. The owner was a woman from Ohio that has been living on Vieques for 15 years with her husband who is a dentist. This explained the strange set-up of a bakery and dentist office sitting side by side along the street.

We walked around Isabella II briefly before heading to the fort atop town. The view from the fort was quite nice and what a lovely breeze. From there we decided to enjoy our day by sticking around at Eva Mer by the pool and overlooking the ocean.

Tonight was the night we had been waiting for. Our ride on the Mosquito Bay, one of the world's top three bioluminescent bays. There are organisms in the bay that create light when disturbed and to be on the bay after dark in a boat and then swimming was nothing short of spectacular. The water was glowing under the boat as we chugged along and you could see the glowing shapes of fish as they streaked through the water moving the bioluminescent organisms. We all got to go in and swim and the water around us lit up as we moved. We both agreed that it was probably one of the most amazing things that we have done.

Afterwards we had a late supper and dessert at Bananas. What a night!

Wednesday, August 16. 2006
Our last day. We had lunch again at La Viequense and then headed back to Blue Beach. Unlike Sunday, we had the whole stretch of beach to ourselves complete with one of the old little army huts to sit under for some shade. At one point, some snorkelers were around for a few minutes, but other than that we were in our own little beach world. Quite incredible for anyone who has been to a beach in New England where you have to share the sand and water with hundreds (and sometimes thousands). We spent the whole afternoon swimming and relaxing, not wanting our last day to end. We hit the jacuzzi again before dinner and ice cream and then our vacation sadly came to an end.

Thursday, August 17, 2006
Took the 7:30am flight back to the mainland and then the 11:41 flight to Boston where Miranda's flight came in only a few hours after ours. We managed to eek out a meal in Chinatown while waiting for her. Not much opportunity for Chinese in Puerto Rico (at least not that we were brave enough to try).