Vacation Recap Part II
But now, almost two months later, I'm done with the semester, so here goes:
When I last left off, we were in San Juan preparing to leave for Vieques, a small island off the coast of the mainland. Although it's possible to get there via ferry, it's much faster to take a plane. I was in charge of making the reservations, but when I finally began the process, all the airlines recommended by reputable travel guides were full up. But! In a comment on a comment on a post in an obscure online forum, I found a phone number (no website) to another airline. I called them--they had two seats available! Of course, the TOPIC of the original forum post was "Airlines that have had their credentials revoked by the FAA," but I was sure it was just a little misunderstanding. A misunderstanding that Tom really didn't need to know about until we were in the air.
The flight was great, our pilot was super-nice (so nice, in fact, that he didn't even bother checking our names or whether we had tickets before letting us on the plane! Um, thanks?) and we arrived at Vieques in well under an hour. There was a bit of confusion on multiple fronts, including our car rental and our hotel, but it all worked out for the best as we ended up getting both our Jeep and our acommodations from the wonderful Sea Gate Hotel.
NOT ONLY did the Sea Gate have ocean views, a fridge, a porch overlooking the island, and a selection of trashy mystery novels, but it also came with a whole bunch of friendly, corporeal cats. And one ghost cat. Also, our room was under $100 a night, so we spent all the money we saved on more Medalla Light.
The most onerous task of each day was, of course, deciding which of Vieques' many beaches to visit. Did we want a nearby island for snorkeling? An entire beach to ourselves? White sand and palm trees? To be able to see the sunset? To collect vials of MAGNETIC SAND? Despite the fact that Tom was in charge of the keys to the Jeep, the answer to this question was magnet-related for only one afternoon. Most of the beaches are unmarked, and we found them by muddling through conflicting directions in a guidebook, a hastily bookmarked Geocities webpage, and a map that had stamped across it "DO NOT USE FOR NAVIGATIONAL PURPOSES". Of course we got lost. But getting lost on an island that's only about 4 miles wide means that not all that much can go awry, especially when a wrong turn is most likely to mean that you end up at another beach. Oh, or at a secret US Army radar installation, which we drove to TOTALLY by accident and not at ALL because we had any interest whatsoever in seeing what the blacked-out XXX No Access area of the map was. Definitely not because of that.
And then there was the biobay. The experience is honestly difficult to describe without resorting to the language of fairy kingdoms or Adobe Photoshop effects. Think of the Fourth of July or summer on the beach at night, waving sparklers from side to side, faster and faster until they leave trails of light behind them. Now imagine that the sparkler is a glowstick, emitting its own steady, eerie glow as it writes a path across the sky. In the biobay, that glowstick is you. Move, and a trail of sparkles moves with you. Shake, and little glowing bubbles dance with you. You can choose between kayak tours and boat-based tours....either way gives you a chance to swim, but I think the kayak tours are a little cooler if only because of the effect of silently paddling through a glowing bay. We used Abe's Snorkeling.
On a more practical note, I'd like to emphasize that while Vieques isn't super-budget-hyper-cheap, it is definitely one of the less expensive beach-vacation options out there. When we decided to vacation somewhere warm, we (okay, I) did a lot of comparison shopping. The major factor, of course, was the flight, and flights to PR are surprisingly cheap. It costs a little more to get out to Vieques, plus you have to rent a car, but accommodations on the island are more affordable than their equivalents in quality on the mainland, which means that the overall cost will be about the same. We ate out at least once a day, but there are grocery stores and vendors on the side of the road, and it would be very possible to eat well for even less money than we spent. I mention all this mostly because a number of people have asked me about the cost of a Vieques trip over the last couple months--so if you want to know more, please do either leave a comment or email me. Everyone deserves to go on beach vacation, and no one should have to go to Florida. Ever. For any reason.
Some more practical advice that I couldn't fit in to the narrative above:
- Go here. Seriously. I guess if ALL you want is to lie on a beach and have coconut martinis served to you by dudes in grass skirts, then stay at a resort on the mainland. But if you want to (a) do some exploring (b) do some activities other than beaching or (c) have an entire beach to yourself, then Vieques is worth the extra airfare.
- Rent a car. I guess it's technically possible to do Vieques without a car, but you'd miss out on a lot of the beaches, seeing the abandoned bunkers, and you probably wouldn't experience the excitement of nearly running over a horse AND an iguana at the same time. Make sure you reserve in advance, as they tend to get booked quickly.
- Stay in Isabel II instead of in Esperanza. Esperanza is cute, but super super touristy and everything's a bit more expensive. Isabel II has significantly more horses wandering the streets, plus the hotels and restaurants are cheaper.
- Avoid the rum drinks and stick with the Medalla.
- Call me when you get back so we can talk about how AWESOME IT WAS.
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