El Yunque & Vieques
 

Hi,

We will stay at Courtyard Marriott in PR for 5 nights. After doing some research, we are now thinking to go to Vieques for 1 night, is it worth it to go (w/o car)? We were thinking to fly to Vieques straight away from SJU (arrive around 1 pm). Do we need to make a reservation in advance? There're many air service companies offer flights to Vieques, any preference on which one?

We aren't renting a car in PR, how do we get to El Yunque? If by taxi, do you know how much? Is it better off to go w/ the tour operator?

Here's my suggestion: First, fly to Vieques from Isla Grande - not SJU. It will save you some money. Definitely make a reservations as the planes are small and often full. Airlines which fly from Isla Grande include Vieques Air Link and MN. From SJU you also have Cape Air and Air Sunshine. On Vieques you should definitely rent a car for the day. It's essential to getting to some of the awesome beaches on the old Navy property. On the way back, fly to Fajardo ($23) on Vieques Air Link, rent a car one way to turn in back in San Juan. Visit El Yunque along the way. You'll love Vieques. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Vieques is really an awesome island, you will want to stay much longer than 1 night. I just came back, loved it.

Must sees:
Red Beach, drop dead beautiful, a top ten beach on any list.
Bio Bay, incredible experience,

Just ask around Esperanza for Venito, before you rent a jeep. He'll take you to Red Beach or Blue Beach for the day, give rent you either snorkeling equipment or Kayaks. Later he'll give you a guided tour of the Bio Bay.

Rich, In our experience, beaches on Vieques can only be classified as relative stages of perfect. Did you check out Blue Beach, which is our favorite?

To ccc, yes Blue Beach is another fanastic beach. You can't go wrong with either and that's what makes this board so wonderful, the varitiey of opinions. I found Blue Beach is much longer than Red Beach, but somewhat narrower sand to shore line. The snorkeling is better at Blue, since it has a little seagrass and it has that nice offshore cay/island. Only reason I'd rate Red Beach a little better than Blue, is it has no seagrass (or darkspots), it's pure white sand bottom and a little calmer wave action. Red Beach reminded me alot of St. John. Also it's much easier to get to Red Beach, especially when you only have a day or so. Either way, I was more impressed with those Vieques beaches than with Playa Flemenco on Culebra, which is very choppy at this time of year. I just visited both islands Dec 9th to 12th.

Here is a site with great picutres of all of Vieques beaches, check it out:
http://www.viequestravelguide.com/pu...-pictures.html

If you are interested, I did a report of our trip to Vieques the first part of December. Just click on my screen name. Owa