Following 5 days in Vieques, my wife and I spent a 1/2 day at El Yunque on the east coast, about an hour from San Juan. THis is the only Rain Forest in the US National Park system. 28 thousand acres with 4 distinct types of micro climates with plenty of walking trails through out. WHEN we get back to Puerto Rico, much more time will be devoted to this beautifull spot. This could be a beautiful long weekend idea.

Spent our second January in Vieques this year. We love this island -- laid back, uncrowded and unsophisticated. Stayed at the Inn on the Blue Horizon and it is lovely and private -- gorgeous views of Esperanza Bay and unbelievable sunsets and sunrises. Staff was friendly and always helpful. Too bad about the fire at the restaurant -- the food was good and it was very convenient to enjoy the Vieques cocktails without worrying about "designated driver". Cost is probably equal to the Wyndham, which was big and deserted even at the height of the season (Do you want to eat dinner by yourself in a restaurant built for 150?) Hix House is special, especially if your are a "green" person. We heard some complaints about the openness and the mosquitos. Favorite restaurant for dinner by far was the fabulous Media Luna in Isabel II. For Breakfast Tropical Baby can not be beat (also in Isabel II). Lunches at Bananas in Esperanza. The Bio Bay experience is unsurpassed. Most user friendly is Island Adventures pontoon boat (guides love to share their knowledge of the stars and the native flora and fauna). Kayaks are for the more adventuresome. The beaches are lovely, remote (you do need a car on this island and watch out for narrow roads and wild horses) and it is not unusual to have the whole beach to yourself!!! This is a place to relax and enjoy the sun, fresh air and flora and fauna (no golf courses, no casinos). Enjoy your stay.

I believe Wyndham's building a casino in Vieques in an effort to fill their now vacant rooms. This is unfortunate since "the players" will show up. Hopefully no golf course though it probably is a question of time since there is alot of undeveloped property.Land prices in Vieques have quadrupled since the military left. what, in my opinion, will really have an impact on Vieques's identity would be to pave the roads to the beaches. I think part of the experience is the isolation of the locations.

Our reservations are set for Hix Island House and Steve's Car Rental ($45 day) for our July trip. Going to take Vieques Air Link from Isla Grande. Hopefully all choices are the right decisions!

I have been searching for Bio Bay tours and just heard the news that Elena's/Golden Heron Kayak Tours are closing in April. That sounds like bad news, she seemed like the best to go with! Anybody else have any recommendations? I think Kayaking would be the most fun.

Also, is it best to bring your own snorkel gear and beach towels? It sounds like your towels will get stolen anyway! Swim with your keys too I guess...sad so much petty theft. I still can't wait, it's going to be an awesome trip!

I've sent many of you the February issue of Gourmet - I hope you've all enjoyed it! Unfortunately, the article is not online that I can send out so Snailmail is the way to go on that one.

My wife and I were in Vieques in December and are going back with the whole family for spring break next week. We decided to stay at Hix, figuring we would either love or hate it because of what it is. We absolutely loved it and would go back in a flash (although not with kids). We stayed in the big loft with the hanging bed and were very, very happy. The other unit that looked interesting was called Matisse. I think you'd like either one. At the end of the day, you won't remember whether you spent an extra $30. We also rented a car from Steve's. If you do the same, I would highly recommend that you get some clarification as to the specific car you will be getting. It's not that our car had more than 100,000 miles, was very moldy, and had clearly seen better days. It was that it tended to go out of gear until it was very warmed up. We would be driving down the road and all of the sudden we would be in neutral with no way to put it in drive. We took to carrying our cell phones to the beach just in case. Anyway, I hope you enjoy Vieques. We thought it was a very special spot.

Thanks ccc! We are staying in the big loft with the hanging bed! The Steve's thing sounds a little leery now that you say that. I'm also extremely allergic to mold and would have a horrible vacation if that were to happen. They also don't have anything like a Wrangler 4X4 which my boyfriend prefers. I hear good and bad about different companies, I really can't decide who to go with...

Yeah, the car thing is a little iffy. We're renting this time from a place called Marcos', but only because it is the only place I could find which has minivans (which we need because of our 4 kids). There's no written or email confirmation whatsoever, so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have a car when we arrive. When we were there in December, we shared a taxi with somebody who had been there many times and he was renting from Martineau Car Rental, which is not far from the airport. They seemed to have relatively new Jeep Cherokees. If we didn't have the size issue, I think this is probably where we'd rent.

I have rented from both Martineau Car Rental (which is pricier) and Martiza Car Rental, and have been very happy with both.

Good luck.

Vieques is AWESOME! My wife and I spent 3 days there during February and it was the most relaxing time of our lives!

We stayed at a B&B called The Great Escape - decent place but very basic. A car is essential, we rented it from Island Car Rentals but I believe Martineau is the biggest on the Island. BOOK well in advance! We ran into people during our stay still waiting for a car!

We ventured into a few beaches during our stay there. Playa Navio is a must. If you are more adventurous, drive into the old Naval Base and in there are Blue Beach and Red Beach. Blue Beach was so pristine that we had tropical fish 6-8 inches long swimming as close as waist high water!

We actually ventured into this little known cove and for the entire morning we had the beach to ourselves! AWESOME, man!

As for food, Cafe Media Luna in Isabella II highly recommended. Good food, tapas style. Banana's in Esperanza also very good, and supposedly the best place in town the Blue Macau they had a fire the day before we went.

Vieques is simple, but it brings you this unique Island charm which is hard to find.

Highly Recommended!

I would not recommend Martineau's car rental. They are pricey and service is the worst kind. We rented from Marco's and were very pleased. They are a little bit older cars, but since you're driving on dirt roads (if you want to go to the beaches) I would actually prefer an older car which I can park in a thorny bush without feeling too guilty about it.

With Marco's we were able to drop the car at the airport, which gave us more time to stay on the beach and not to have the rental comapny as our last memory of Vieques.

Great Escapes is VERY basic. Some friends stayed there and they didn't like it one bit. Great Escapes adds also automatically a 10% service fee on the bill so what might have seemed like a reasonable price at the beginning is only a few bucks away from a much nice hotel's prices. We stayed at Bravo and it was a wonderful place.

Also, make sure to eat at Cafe Media Luna (need a reservation). Amazing food.

I'm getting so much great information from this post, thanks so much all! Cassie, we're going with Maritza's at $50 day and can get a Jeep Wrangler and they seem great over the phone, hopefully their service and Jeep holds up! I just got official word from Elena that she is closing Golden Heron tours and there isn't any place on the island that does that kind of 2-8 (kayak, dinner/bonfire, bio-bay) trip. I'm reading Tim @ AquaFrenzy is good and the big Caribe place has pontoon boat trips. Still haven't decided but I hear it's a popular week so we should book soon. Media Luna is at the top of our list after our Mon night at Chez Shack!

Lisa, we just returned from our trip! If you remember, we decided to stay at Hix as well ... in Adobe. We loved our house, as it was the highest up on the hill and the furthest set back. But I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong no matter what loft you stay in. We LOVED Chez Shack! Blue Beach was by far our favorite. Tried others but kept coming back to blue.

For the 2-8 kayaking tour, try contacting the guide directly ... his name is Abe and we took his biobay tour. He rocks! He told us about his 2-8 tour and we wish we had known about it ahead of time. His contact info is 787-741-2134, [email protected].

Also, noticed you were concerned about theft on the beaches. Hix provides towels, chairs and coolers for you to take with you to the beach, so don't bring any. Also, everyone made us paranoid about theft, but we didn't see anything suspicious. We still brought our cameras, etc., and just didn't leave stuff around while going on a beach walk or something. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Have fun! And let me know if you have any questions.

Ginny

Oh Ginny I'm glad you had such a wonderful time, I can't wait to go! I'm hearing wonderful things about Hix and this nice guy just got back and had 24 pics of Hix Loft 1 on Trip Advisor which gave me a good idea of the space. We did go for broke and book Loft 1 - the big one in Redondo.

I'm so happy you gave me Abe's phone and e-mail, I couldn't find any place but Golden Heron/Elena that did that tour and I even wrote to "ask Judy" and others in Vieques. I will DEFINITELY contact Abe! I guess Elena is closing up for a while and is off to the Himalaya's - what a life!

We will definitely do Chez Shack on Mon the day we arrive! Still debating on what time to take flight over from OSJ - we get in at 8pm the night before and we thought the 9 am too early, 1:00 might be ok but won't give us much time in OSJ and the 4-5something is rather late...sigh...decisions. Probably will do the 1:00 so we can sleep in after a full day travel before and have a nice breakfast in OSJ then leisurely head over. We booked El Convento for that night which I hear is wonderful. I'd love to hear more about your trip or if you have any pics to post!

Vieques is a great place for true beach lovers, or lovers on the beach. The beaches are mostly in a natural state so if you are looking for a beach scene with margaritas than this island is not for you.

I read over the other posts...renting a car or jeep is a major pain on the island. I went with

www.viequescarrental.com
email [email protected]
office 787-741-1037
cell 787-435-1323

twice and both times got screwed. The second time I should have learned. They charged me for damage both times that was not my fault. I can go into the details privately if you want.

Media Luna beach is my favorite. And also Media Luna restaurant on the island is really an incredible delight. I am a pretty hard grader so this restaraunt is quite a treat.

Sandy