One of the main reasons for my parents coming to visit again was to go and see Isla de Vieques. Vieques is on the East coast and is considered part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. One interesting fact about Vieques is that up until 2003 the United States Navy used the island as a bombing range and testing ground. The areas that they used are now wildlife refuges and are considered restricted grounds as they are still removing shells. On a lighter note Vieques has some beautiful beaches, fun restaurants and wild horses roaming around!
The girls tucked in nice and cozy ;-) for the ferry ride over
My task was to get off the boat first, get the girls out and find a taxi. After 3 taxi drivers looked at me and then looked at the girls and said no. I found the fam and had dad find a taxi. We shoved the girls back in the kennel and shoved our luggage into this huge van and headed to the south side town of Esperanza.
We went straight to Banana's where madre' and padre' would be staying while the kids would be camping out in Sun Bay. After a bite to eat we walked up the road with our camp gear and walked into the park entrance to find horses grazing everywhere. There was no official person to ask where we camp (oh and I had called a couple of weeks earlier to confirm that we could camp with the girls and the lady said no problem) so I found a fellow camper and he told me where to camp. We set up and walked back to town via the beach to find people camping and what looked like living out on the waters edge. We all said we would move camp tomorrow.
After bumping into a police officer walking the girls in the morning we relocated camp to the beach because she said the dogs were not allowed in the park, go figure. The plan was to rent a car and explore the island. Matt did a great job calling all the rental car companies he could find with no luck. Someone told him to call back in a couple of hours, so we went on a short hike.
To bad pictures don't always do what you see justice. This was a huge cliff Sin's lead us too that looked over Sun Bay, the beach we camped on.
The rental car company found us a car but said it was 2 door jeep, a little tight for 6 people and two dogs ;-). Barnes rented a scooter and took Dad to rent the car. We all got to enjoy the scooter, best way to see the island.
This is a 300+ year old ceiba tree, coolest tree ever.
After a great dinner and one Belgium beer (that pretty much got me drunk) we (minus madre') all boarded the Fun Brothers short bus to go tour the best bioluminescent bay in the world.
I'm pretty sure even the girls noticed the glowing bio
luminescence. I couldn't get a picture of it to save my life. Eventually I gave up and just enjoyed.
Karlene and Barnes got the two SUP's the company had and we traded out in the water. I think we all agreed that was the way to do the bio bay. You could see so much more from that vantage point, including fish that got scared and darted off leaving a glowing trail behind them.
A reggae band to top off a great day.
Our last day we drove around to see more of the north side of the island before we had to catch the ferry back to Fajardo (the main land).
Matt and I taking a turn on the scooter, so fun!
Walking down to the black sand beach
The black sand was hiding under the white sand
While waiting for the ferry this man cut down some coco for himself and one for me and Karlene!
