Exploring Vieques has been a very busy time! Vieques has two main towns, Esperanza and Isabel Segunda. We are anchored at Esperanza and it has a beachy vibe with cool local restaurants and an oceanfront Malecon. We knew that we needed transportation to get to the town of Isabel Segunda in order to get our Covid test completed on Friday. So, on Monday, we started calling around to secure a vehicle. We contacted three of the rental companies and were told that they “perhaps, maybe, possibly” would have a golf cart on Friday. Three more were completely out of any form of transportation. It was at this moment that we realized that our “Covid Plus” existence was coming to an end. Covid Plus was the fact that while travel has been difficult for us the past year, there were some pluses which included never having to compete with other tourists for anything. Not any longer! All of the rental places shared that this week they were sold out of vehicles and all of the restaurant owners reported being much busier. So, excellent news! Start your traveling again…the world is waiting! One of the restaurant owners said she could tell that the Americans had been locked down for a year because all of the forty somethings were acting like they were on Spring Break. Great for the local economy, not great for getting to town for our Stupid test. After striking out with getting transportation over the phone, Bill set out in person to find a golf cart treasure. He found a place that had two golf carts available. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to take his credit card and ID with him so he dashed back to the boat to get them. In the twenty minutes that it took him to come back to the boat, the two golf carts had been rented! The rental girl took pity on him and told him that a cart would be returning at 4pm that day so if he could get there at that time, he could have it. Needless to say, he was ready and waiting at 4pm! We voted that sailing from Florida to Puerto Rico was not as difficult as finding a golf cart on Vieques!
Our first adventure of the week was a tour to Mosquito Bay. Mosquito Bay is the top bioluminescent bay in the world. We were curious to see how it compared to our first bioluminescent adventure in La Paquera. We went on a night with a new moon so it was pitch black. The tour group had glass bottom kayaks but I was doubtful that we would see much since we had to swim in the La Paquera bay to actually see the bioluminescence. Swimming is not allowed in Mosquito Bay. We hopped into the kayaks and began to make our way out into the blackness. With the first dip of the paddle, a magical world appeared. The bioluminescence poured over the paddle like fireflies. Looking through the glass bottomed kayak was like watching the Star Trek Enterprise travel at warp speed. As fish swam by, they would leave streaks of light like a meteor and as they jumped out of the water, they glowed. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. You look down into water full of sparkle and you look up to see a million stars. Once again, if not on your bucket list, add it! On Thursday, we set out for our first adventure day in the golf cart. First, we visited Hombre de Puerto Ferro which is known as the Vieques Stonehenge. Well….maybe not but the rocks were definitely an impressive size. We headed out to Puerto Ferro which is a lighthouse that was last used in 1926. It has fallen into decay but the views on the point were spectacular. We then went on a great snorkel at La Chiva reef and toured Isabel Segunda which took all of about ten minutes. We headed to the local Black Sand beach which is where we had a close encounter with the Vieques horses and a wild tarantula. The horses on Vieques wander freely. They were originally brought to Vieques by the Spanish conquistadors. They are everywhere! Which leads us to our new game that we invented. Vieques has wild horses. Vieques was also used as a military practice range from 1941 to 2001. Vieques has paved roads but the potholes are deep and they fill them with sand to repair them so you can imagine how well that works. So, what is the game? If we were computer programmers, we would make a computer game called, “Poop, Pothole or Bomb?” Instead of race cars, the game would have golf carts. Instead of hazards such as mafia, cops or street gangs, the game would have piles of horse poop, huge potholes and unexploded bombs. The adventure would be making your way through Vieques deciding whether to drive through poop, hit a pothole or venture off road with the knowledge that you could easily explode from an old bomb….oh, wait a minute…..it isn’t a game…..it was our two days on a golf cart in Vieques! I know that you probably think I am exaggerating so I took a picture of one of the signs as proof that you are warned in certain areas not to venture off road because you may explode. Seriously? I know the military needs to practice and I am all for it…but did it never occur to anyone to possibly use, oh, I don’t know, perhaps….fake bombs?! We even had to change our anchoring plan for the weekend because the bay we had chosen sits directly in the middle of the “if you anchor here you could hit a bomb” zone. That’s comforting. After successfully avoiding bombs, only hitting a few potholes and running through more horse poop piles that I want to remember, we reached our destination for the week. The lab for our Covid tests so that we could apply to enter St. Thomas, USVI. The test was simple and thankfully, unlike her American counterpart last June, the Puerto Rican lab tech did not feel the need to shove the swab completely through my brain. I am sure that you will be as surprised as we were that we tested negative…. Tomorrow we set sail for Culebra, possibly Culebrita and then St. Thomas. We should arrive in the USVIs mid-week if all goes well. Until then, take my word for it…the correct order to win the game is Poop, then Pothole….and if no other course of action….Bomb! ***More pictures on Pictures tab
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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