We went to Puerto Rico this year for the kids’ winter break from school! We started the trip with a stay in Vieques, the island off the east coast of PR. Vieques is known for being very quiet and not built up, with beautiful beaches, wild horses, and Mosquito Bay, a bioluminescent bay. It’s also known for being a former Navy bombing range!
We got there via a connection at San Juan to a tiny plane run by Cape Air. I think it was a 9 or 10 seater, the smallest plane the kids had been on. Sarah was pretty terrified — I asked her if it was the bumpiness or something else that was bothering her and she told me no, she’s just afraid of dying! Poor Sarah. We all survived the trip though!
We settled into our airbnb and went to dinner in the nearby town, Isabel Segunda. The next day we hit our first beach, called Playa La Plata. It was beautiful, almost empty, with clear blue water and soft white sand.
For our second dinner we went to a place outside of town which was a combination of a BBQ and a sushi restaurant! Everything was very tasty.
The next day we headed to the western end of the island to a beach called Playa Punta Arenas. It had a view over to the main island but otherwise wasn’t our favorite spot; the sand was a bit coarser and there were boats stopping there on daytrips.
So we left early and got some ice cream at “D’Frozz”.
We had some dinner at the house and then headed back out for the highlight of our trip, our night time kayak trip through Mosquito Bay. It was amazing! I don’t have pics since it was completely dark, nothing would have come out. But here’s a pic from the staging area, and of the blacklight decorating the inside of the van.
The bay was fantastic, I’ve never seen anything like it. The water is full of a kind of algae called dinoflagellates, which light up when the water around them is disturbed in order to seem larger and scare off predators. So whenever we paddled through the water, or touched it with our hands, the water would light up a white/blue color. It was like magic! We had clear kayaks so they’d light up under the boat as we paddled and looked like a Star Wars lightspeed special effect. The effect is greatest during a New Moon when there is little light at night, and we timed our visit to coincide with the new moon so it was totally dark. It was eerie to be out on the water and not even be able to see the people in the next boat.
The next day we hit another beach! This time Playa La Chiva, which draws a bigger crowd than La Plata but we got a nice secluded spot under some palm trees. Until we were joined later in the day by an extended family of French people who were refreshingly unmodest about changing right on the beach! Ha. We had a delicious dinner that night in Isabel Segunda at the Coqui Fire Cafe.
There are horses all over the island, called paso fino horses, and apparently they are all owned by locals but just roam around. So the next day we made a last minute decision to go for a horseback ride! It was beautiful, short and sweet.
After our ride we had lunch nearby in Esperanza.
Then we went to see a lighthouse, which had some scary signs warning you about the areas with potential unexploded devices!
Then we spent our final afternoon back at Playa La Plata!
On Thursday we returned to the main island to spend the remainder of our trip in San Juan. Which meant another small plane! This one was even smaller, a 6-seater which took us across the water to Ceiba.
Our plan was to rent a car in Ceiba, drive through and see the El Yunque rainforest, and end up at our hotel in San Juan. Unfortunately our plan failed in two ways — first, Hertz messed up our car rental and did not have any cars available! Second, it was impossible to get a pass to drive into the rainforest! Andrew was on the park website right when it opened multiple days and never managed to get a pass. We think most/all of them must go to tour groups.
Oh well! We changed plans and got someone to drive us to San Juan. We stopped en route for some lunch near Luquillo beach.
We arrived early at our hotel, the Condado Vanderbilt, but we were able to spend the extra time poolside, beverage in hand. Here’s the view from our room:
We walked to a nearby restaurant called Havana for dinner (Sarah’s favorite of the trip because she ordered an adult portion of steak!).
We decided since we missed the El Yunque rainforest the day before that we’d cave and buy a tour through the hotel for the next day! But first, a yummy hotel breakfast buffet!
Unfortunately, when we were picked up by our tour guide we found that we’d been booked on a “serious hikers” tour! Ugh. We were in the wrong footwear, and the kids were not enthused. We tried to keep up for awhile…
But quickly realized the kids were not going to make it to the top!
So, Andrew took them off to some lesser sights and encouraged me to continue on with the other, mostly younger and fitter, adults, for a 1.5 hr hike in teva sandals to the top of Mt. Britton.
I did fine, apart from wishing I had worn more supportive shoes, and enjoyed the views from the top.
We met back up with Andrew and the kids at the bottom and continued on to the other sites, first another tower, and then a waterfall.
Sarah discovered numerous lizards to photograph, so here begins our “Lizards of Puerto Rico” series.
From there we went swimming in the river in some natural waterfall formations (not pictured) and then it was off to a yummy lunch of chicken and rice, pastelillos, and fruit smoothies. mmm
That night we got a sitter at the hotel and had a beautiful meal at the hotel restaurant, 1919 restaurant.
The next day we went into Old San Juan and saw the El Morro fort.
The view from the bathroom:
Blaine loved this triangular staircase:
Sarah loved all these giant lizards — or are they iguanas? — sunning themselves on the walls.
Blaine’s 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Acobes, is from Puerto Rico! She recommended that Blaine check out the restaurant in Old San Juan where the Pina Colada was invented. So after we finished at the fort we walked through the city to lunch.
I read that the streets were made out of a blue stone that was used as ballast in the ships from Europe in the 18th century. Beautiful!
A short walk later we’d made it to La Barrachina, home of the pina colada.
And now, back to lizards!
That afternoon we hung out at our hotel’s infiniti pool and enjoyed the views and the breeze.
Then we reluctantly headed back to NY the next day! We managed to get a little snow at the end of February and Sarah took full advantage to build this snow panda. He only lasted a few days, and that was the extent of our snow here in Larchmont for winter of 2023.
