Isla De Culebra is located on the East coast of Puerto Rico right in between PR and St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands (I didn't realize how close we were to the Virgin Islands). We drove down to Fajardo where we decided to catch the ferry over to the island. We had been trying to call the phone numbers we had for the ferry for a few days to make a reservation (because we were told we should) and ask them about the dogs. We never got through and just decided to chance it. Matt and I brought our camp gear as well as our kite gear. We got to the the ferry terminal about an hour and a half early to find no one selling tickets. A lady came over to us and said that we were probably to late to get tickets. She then took us over to another lady selling goods by the ferry terminal to ask her. She said to come back an hour before the ferry leaves and somebody will be selling tickets.
We got all our luggage out of the car and took the girls into the ferry terminal to eat. A lady waiting for the ferry asked us if our dogs were going over to Culebra we said yes and she asked if we had kennels for them. We told her we left them at home because we never got a hold of anyone to ask. She said they would need kennels to get on the ferry, even to sit outside! We asked a ferry worker and they confirmed it even told us they could travel in one large kennel together. She and someother people told us there was a Walmart and Kmart in town about 15mins away. We thanked them and headed to town. We found Kmart, bought a kennel and headed back to the ferry. Madre' and Padre' got tickets and Matt parked the car.
It was dark by the time we headed out, thankfully it was not raining and the stars and moon were shinning bright. The ferry ride was about an hour. When we got to Culebra we walked up to Mamacita's Guest House were the parents were staying. The only beach that allowed camping was Flamenco Beach. We saw a bunch of small buses that advertised transport to Flamenco Beach. Matt talked to one of them and they said it takes about 8mins to get there. We knew we needed to drop some of our stuff of in the parents hotel room. It was late and the parents invited us to stay with them the night because they had a big room. We were so thankful but disappointed that we would miss a night of camping.
After we got settled in we walked a few blocks to the Dinghy Dock restaurant and had some fish n' chips (not realising it was a whole fish!). We had some delicious chocolate cake for dessert and called it a night.
In the morning we walked back to the water front in town to get some breakfast. We decided we should rent a car instead of taking taxi's everywhere. The car rental company picked us up and took me and madre' to the car lot. Once we got the car we picked up the boys and dogs, packed up our kite gear and headed to Flamenco Beach. This beach was a state park with pay camping, bathrooms, employees and such. We were told that we could not camp with the dogs! Good thing we had a room ;-) They had food kiosks that they did not want animals begging for scraps which is understandable. They were allowed on the Eastern most part of the beach away from the food so we decided to go to another beach we were told was good for kiting and visit Flamenco another time.
Zoni Beach was dog friendly and so beautiful. There was a light breeze and a few white caps so the boys decided to pump up and if it was not rideable at least there was enough room to do a downwinder. Matt barely made it work and by the time dad had walked up wind to launch the wind had basically died. We were all hungry and packed up. There was a sign for a restaurant in a hotel near by so we went there and yet we didn't see a sole. We had a map of the island and saw 3 restaurants on the southwest side that we hadn't seen yet. Guess what, all 3 of them were not open for lunch! We were told of a bar that was one of two restaurants on the island that sold lunch, we had been to the other one the Dinghy Dock. This bar was perfect, cold beer and hot food. After we fueled up we went back to Flamenco Beach it was getting later in the day and we hoped that most of the daytimers had packed up. It was another beautiful beach and there was wind! Matt went back and grabbed his gear and my harness so we could switch off. The waves at this place were amazing! Some of them were double over my head and I felt about 10 years old again playing in them. Madre' joined me and we were all giggles it was so fun. Matt and I need to invest in boogie boards.
Matt got a decent ride in just as I ran out of memory for my camera he offered me his kite. Even though it was the 14 meter kite, our biggest and my least favorite I had a great time. The waves were scary though and I didn't even see any really big ones. The sun was going down so I came in and we drove to the west side of the island to catch the sunset. We got there in time but the sunset was a dud.
Time to clean up, get dressed and get some dinner. We went to one of the 3 places we tried to go for lunch and it was packed with people. The bartender told us it would be about 10 mins to get a table. We waited at the bar and had a drink. As we sat there we noticed a group of people sitting on some couches that were obviously waiting for a table, people coming up to the bar to get drinks and pay for drinks, the bartender running around like a chicken without a head, the manager looking not so happy after she had been told by the bartender that a table wanted to speak to her and table of people that I had seen order at least two bottles of wine before they got their food. We started to think we were in for it when the bartender asked us if we were ready for round number two. We laughed and Matt said "Well actually you said it would be about 1o mins and its been 1/2 an hour". He apologized and said he would get the next table for us (even though the people waiting on the couches were here well before us). We looked at the menu and decided to order a few appetizers thinking they would get to us faster. The people on the couches got a table and I swear not even 5 mins later they stormed out saying they couldn't wait any longer just as another couple passed them saying they waited 2 hours for there meal! It reminded me of a scene from Hell's Kitchen.
We asked the bartender if he knew how much longer for our appetizers and he went to check and brought out 2 of the 4 things we had ordered. No napkins, plates or utensils we dug in. The food was delicious but we couldn't wait any longer for the other two appetizers and by that time we weren't hungry anymore! The bartender said the drinks were on him, we paid and left. Its a real shame we had that experience because the food was great. Anyway we thought we could get some chocolate cake at the Dinghy Dock but they were all out. We drove through town and Matt saw a Chinese restaurant that was open and dad and I found a vending machine with candy! What a day.
Our last day was pretty chill, we got breakfast and drove back out to Zoni beach. Matt tried to kite but didn't have much luck, neither did I. We decided to give dad a try on our kite but that was a bad idea with the wind being so light. We packed up and got everything out of our hotel room into another room to store while we spent our last few hours on the island hanging out. The car company took us to the bar we liked so much El Bate. The girls were so tired and Kristah found herself a comfy place to nap in my lap. After lunch we walked back to the hotel got our things and made our way down to the ferry landing were there was already a huge line being formed.
This ferry was a little bigger and more stable in the water. We left at 5pm perfect timing to catch the sunset. Matt played around with my camera getting shots of the huge wave the boat was making. We even saw a hump back whale breach completely out of the water it was amazing! To bad I didn't have my camera out. The last picture of the little island was just one we passed that looked like something out of a movie.
