Vieques – It’s Worth it.

Vieques is a tiny island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. Both are part of the US. If you’ve never heard of Vieques there are probably many good reasons for that. Vieques is underdeveloped and the locals seem to like it that way. There are no brand name hotels, no chain stores, no Starbucks or McDonald’s. There is no port for cruise ships to dock at. The airport is tiny and accommodates only small propeller-driven aircraft like the ten-seater we flew on. Another way to get there is by ferry from Puerto Rico, but you can’t bring your car, and the locals have first dibs on ferry seats. This helps to maintain the island’s tranquil atmosphere.

And it’s like this for a reason. There is a purposeful lack of commercial development, the vision and philosophy of the residents, which is a key factor in Vieques’ appeal. It’s a place where visitors can experience a more genuine, less manufactured version of island life. This limited development is a conscious choice by the residents, and underscores the importance of community-driven tourism and sustainable development. The home we rented, Eco Casa, gets eighty-five percent of its electricity from solar panels. If you’re looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of more crowded tourist destinations, Vieques delivers. The most people we ever saw at the beach were six. Most days we had the beach to ourselves.

I am not a beach person as I get sunburned very quickly, even with sun block. But almost every beach we visited I was able to find natural shade. I planted my chair under some trees, went for a refreshing swim in the warm water, and then sat in the shade and read a good book. It was perfect. There are dozens of beaches to explore. They are all really nice. Some have seaweed, most do not. None of them had litter. Pretty impressive.

If you have heard about Vieques, perhaps it’s because the US Navy used it as a bombing range for sixty years. After many protests the Navy stopped the target practice in 2003 and turned the affected areas over to the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The remnants of decades of bombing, using munitions containing depleted uranium, have caused an elevation in cancer cases, especially in children. A good portion of the island is off limits as cleanup and remediation continue.

Vieques is about twenty miles long and four miles wide. You can get around the island pretty quickly and there are no traffic lights. And you have to rent a car from a local company as you’re not allowed to bring one over on the ferry. As we drove around the island we saw some horses. The rumor is that Vieques has six thousand, or three thousand wild horses. I found that to be a stretch. Using Google’s Infrared-Night-Vision-Thermal-Imaging search option, I counted only about six hundred horses. Most of them are not wild and are pretty well taken care of, but they do roam freely, adding to the “wild” label placed on them. They are a particular breed of horse with an interesting gait originally brought by the Spanish hundreds of years ago.

Our accommodations at Eco Casa were great. We could walk to shops and restaurants and even the supermarket. The supermarkets were small and somewhat lacking. The only thing we could garner for a vegetarian dinner on our first day there was pasta with frozen broccoli and corn, the only two frozen vegetable options. The produce section was borderline horrible. The restaurants were equally challenging as vegetarians. After a few days of eating out – veggie burgers, fries, deep fried fake chicken sandwiches with more fries, etc., we had to dig deeper. The restaurants on Vieques are open on somewhat of a weird schedule. Some places are open Monday through Friday, others Thursday through Monday. We did end up finding a few more vegetarian options but had to plan around those schedules. We did hear about a farmers market on Tuesday mornings so we got up early to check it out. We were delighted to find a long table with super-fresh produce, but none of it was from any local farm. It was trucked over from Puerto Rico on the early morning ferry. We stocked up on berries and veggies and made the best of the rest of the week. I cooked a few meals back at Eco Casa. And anyway, there is always dessert!

The island is sparsely populated, with about eight thousand residents. A lot of the homes are abandoned, along with many cars. Hurricanes come and demolish things, people give up, and many leave. Perhaps one out of three homes are occupied. Many are in disrepair, and for sale. The abandoned cars just sit there.

Driving around the island to get to the beaches we ran into some interesting sights. Among them a three hundred and seventy five year old Ceiba tree. One of the notable things about Vieques was the lack of litter, which was a pleasant surprise.

The beaches were great. I think we visited a different one every day. The weather was perfect, eighty degrees with a little breeze every day. The water was so warm I went swimming at almost every beach we visited.

One of the highlights of our trip was a night tour of the Bioluminescent Bay. The brightest in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records. We went out on a boat at night with an expert guide and stuck poles in the water and watched it light up to a blue-green color. It lights up due to a single cell organism called dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense. It was pretty impressive and fun. The road to the bay was almost impassable. I inquired about the condition of the road. And the answer fit right in to the vibe of keeping the island unique, as it is. It’s delicate balance between tourism and environmental preservation. If the road was smooth and paved dozens of tourists would make their way down every night. Then perhaps there would be litter, and certainly over crowding of the area. No one is allowed into the water, only certified tour operators. No one gets to swim in it. It’s a great attempt at preserving this wonderful, unique bay. The island values its natural beauty and is willing to make conscious choices to protect it.

In addition to the horses there was some wildlife if you slowed down and watched carefully. A bonus was there were no bugs during our stay. There is however a constant clamoring of roosters cackling. In Vieques, where a more natural and less manicured environment is valued, the presence of free-roaming roosters is very common. The sound becomes a part of the experience. I imagine it irritates some people because they cackle about twenty hours a day, not just at sunrise, which is a myth. Vieques is doing a great job at keeping things local, low-key and beautiful. Maybe between the roosters and the local population’s philosophy, Vieques can remain under-developed and still magical. I would definitely go back.