The Isla Vieques

 "We remodel the strength of Vieques... decontamination. recovery. development."   -- from the mural on Esperanza's volcanic boulder

Until 2003, the island of Vieques off the east coast of Puerto Rico was used by the United States Navy as a base and a bombing range. Then, they packed up, designated the majority of the bombed area wildlife refuge and peaced out. The relationship, we're told, isn't entirely resentful because the US military did rebuild the schools and water system after a devastating hurricane in the '80s, but they did also leave the island with areas cordoned off by "NO TRESSPASSING, DANGEROUS EXPLOSIVES" signs and have yet to finish cleanup of the island.

Despite all this, in the past decade, the island has begun to attract tourists from all over the world and many of the people who have been vacationing here for decades decided to set up house. So now the island is populated half by Puerto Ricans and half by Cape Codders looking for a place to work the winter months, which conveniently is Vieques' main tourist season. This also means that half of Chatham was in Esperanza the last week of March while we were there and Mum & Dad actually ran into people they knew and hadn't seen "in, like, forever" and were able to reminisce and ask about other mutual friends they hadn't seen in, like, forever. (Please note that this vacation directly followed the first weekend of March's Cape Cod Day in the Tampa area where Floridian Cape Cod expats who haven't seen each other in forever get together and reminisce about when you could still drive out on North Beach and exchange information on other old friends they haven't seen in forever but someone's niece's daughter's best friend is dating their next door neighbor). Cape Air even runs the puddle jumpers that run the service from the Big Island to Vieques.

So what attracts all these tourists and Yankees to a bombed out, half-restricted, possibly-radioactive tiny island? Well, let's start with the fact that if you're from the Cape, you probably know someone who has a house there who has invited you to come escape the cold and visit their tropical island home. And then there's the water. Oh. my. god. the water. It goes from light aqua at the shore to bright turquoise to bright blue to cobalt to nearly purple in the depths. Vieques and its sister island, Culebra, are affectionately known as the "Spanish Virgin Islands" and are very boater friendly. People sail from all over to thaw their northern toes and enjoy the sunshine and fishing. Esperanza even has an unofficial harbor master and valet boat parking, Sharkey, who, if adequately compensated, will make sure your motors are not liberated by the locals in the night. There are also a few pretty good little reef heads off of Esperanza for snorkeling (diving not really necessary, as it's only about 15-20 ft at the deep parts. There's also a sunken mermaid statue somewhere near Blue Tang but were never able to locate it. Vieques is also home to one of only about 7 of the world's really strong areas of bio-luminescence. "Bio Bay" as it's affectionately called, is a perfect storm of natural conditions that breeds phosphorescent dinoflagellates that basically cause the water to glow when disturbed. The island also boasts really impressive beaches from the wide white sand of Blue Beach (Playa de la Chiva) and Sun Bay to the black sand of Black Beach (Playa Negra) and the cliffs in between. And, it's now a haven for generally touristy activities. Companies run kayaking tours out to the lighthouse, locals selling artisan works in the evenings, pontoon boat rides and horseback riding through town. There are a couple of families on the island that own the majority of the horses that run tours, but otherwise leave the horses to roam the island and graze (or get drunk off of fallen mangoes as occasionally the case may be) which gives the island a quaint, wild-west kind of feel.



There is now one real resort on Vieques, the W, on the other side of the island from Esperanza in Isabel II but, for the most part, Vieques is not for the prissy, pampered vacationer. The horses run free; no one keeps their dog on a leash; there are about 4 bars and restaurants along the Malecon, Esperanza's downtown; When you book a tour, the guide picks you up along the Malecon and you all pack into his sandy pickup truck; there are 2 grocery stores in town: one open during the day, one in the evening, and staples like butter are not guaranteed; everyone drives too fast through town with their windows down blasting Black & Yellow; and the island boasts 2 gas stations and 1 ATM, all of which are in Isabel II; and the roosters. oy vey. every 3:30 am.

But, for us, this all added to the charm. We were 2 for 2 with friendly locals, which was a nice surprise. The 3 of us stopped on the way walking home from dinner one night to watch the baseball game and I had a mostly successful conversation in Spanish with a very friendly (very patient) young Viequense woman who didn't speak any English. She told us that baseball is really the only recreation on the island for locals and that they have 3 baseball teams which play against each other on the weekends. (Hmm sounds kind of like Chatham). We also had a bit of a misadventure coming back from Black Beach in which we got lost in the woods trying to find the road and had to barrel our way through heavy brush to get out and ended up walking along the road back to Esperanza hot, tired, scratched up and covered in thorns and stickers, until a nice local man and his dog took pity and invited us to hop in the bed of his truck for the rest of the ride back to town.

We felt like we got the hookup, too, staying with people we knew who took us places and gave us recommendations and insider tips and introduced us to the people we needed to do the fun stuff we wanted to do. Besides, half the fun was just getting to visit with our friends. We stayed with Dad's long-time friend John and his fiancee Valerie, who run a yoga studio and small inn in Esperanza. We were only in Vieques for 5 days, but I'm pretty sure we packed in as much as possible. We went to the beach every day, including Playa Negra, the first black sand beach I've ever seen. The black sand is very fine and seems almost glittery at times and is a great contrast to the light sand that covers most of Vieques (please note that in the beach trips were extensive hammock napping, iced tea drinking and trashy magazine reading, which I felt were essential components of any decent Spring Break). We snorkeled 3 of the 5 days and saw tangs, lion fish, sea cucumbers, conch and lots of other tropical reef fish I used to know the names of, along with lots of brain, fan, and elkhorn coral. We booked Captain Austin for a half-day fishing charter in which we only caught barracuda but had a lot of fun swimming and snorkeling and soaking up the views. Mum, Dad and I got a private kayak tour of Bio Bay with Moses, Austin's friend, who explained why it glowed, the conditions that affect it, etc. as we paddled, and we got out and swam in the middle of the bay as well. It is officially in the top 3 coolest things I've ever seen. The only way I can describe this level of bio-luminescence is that it looked like the Northern Lights all around you in the water and when you pulled your hand out of the water, it still sparkled just for a second. It is also, regrettably, not photographable with my wimpy little digital camera. It was absolutely amazing, though. We also went sailing on a 50' catamaran with a family that John and Valerie know from (surprise) the Cape, and spent the day swimming, snorkeling, sunbaking and feasting on a freshly caught 8 lb lobster. We also did a good bit of indulging in paella and mango sorbet during our time on the island.

We all came home tan, tired, mosquito-bitten and smiling. As Dad and Joe would say, "This doesn't suck."