Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

The Uber driver told us, “The tourists enjoy the wild horses more than the people on the island!”.

Well, I felt the same way!

We enjoyed the beaches and the wild horses more than the people on Vieques Island!

I’m not sure if that’s a unique personality trait of the island people, but we’ve traveled to many places and have never been treated like this before!

When I began planning our trip, Tim mentioned that there are other islands we could visit. So, I went back to do more research about the islands in Puerto Rico.
I found that Vieques is bigger than Culebra and offers more beaches.  Plus, there are many one-day tour packages to Culebra Island, so that’s why I chose Vieques for us.

Here’s what you need to know:

Getting there by Ferry:
– The ferry terminal is called Ceiba Ferry, (sounds like Zebra but there are on “Z” and “r” in it!) about an hour’s Uber ride from Condado. We paid about $65 for the ride that day.
– You can take the ferry for about an hour’s ride, costing about $2 each. You can bring a small bag or carry-on for free, but they charge $1 extra for each large item. To book the ferry, go to…https://www.puertoricoferry.com/en/
– Remember, there are “Passenger Only” and “Passenger & Cargo” ferries.  In our experience, they are about the same.
– If you can’t get the ticket online, you can always try to get them at the ferry terminal. They said they sell only 20% of tickets online and keep 80% for local or walk-in passengers.
– If you have a rental car on the mainland, they DO NOT allow you to take it to the island. You can park your rental car for $25 per night.
– We bought a 3 pm ticket, and they said the boarding time is 2 pm. In fact, we still had time to get there before 2:30 or not later than 2:45 (if you already have the ferry tickets). We started walking to sit inside but started boarding around 2:45, and the boat actually left at 3 (I still saw people running to the boat!).
So we arrived at the island around 4 pm.

To get there by Small Airplane:
When I tried to use Google Flights to find a domestic flight from San Juan to Vieques, it was about $300 for a round trip per person. But we had two big suitcases, so I’m not sure how much we would be charged for those bags. And it would add significantly to the cost for our two-night visit to the island.

When we arrived, I expected to see taxi drivers, but instead, we were wandering around.  We tried to ask the ladies wearing the GOLF CAR for rent t-shirts, but they ignored us, taking pictures with local people and talking on the phone.

So we weren’t really sure what they were doing there. That really ruined my impression of the island already!
Then a nice taxi guy called out to us and asked where we wanted to go. I think he was the nicest person on the island!

Our resort is in the south of the island, and I think we liked the south more than the north (where the ferry and airport are). The north looks more like where the locals live (or AirBNB???), with more houses than beaches. The south is more beautiful and closer to the beaches!
We paid $25 (cash) to the taxi driver from the ferry to the resort.

Once we arrived at the resort, there were four staff members at the counter chatting. NO ONE OFFERED TO HELP OR GREET US AS NEW ARRIVAL GUESTS! Until they finished their conversation and turned to say hi to us!
I felt really exhausted, and when I’m upset, I tend to stay quiet!

When we were checking in, the lady asked us what we wanted for the welcome drink. I heard “Coconut water,” so I chose it, thinking it would be fresh coconut in its shell.  But she handed me a small coconut water in a box that tasted nasty!

We asked where we could rent a golf car, and the tall guy told us to walk about 10-15 minutes to the main area (where most guesthouses and restaurants are), and then he said, “We can take you there for a fee!” I don’t mind paying for the ride, but the way he said it was so unfriendly!

Then the lady tried to say that she wanted to show us around. She didn’t say that she would take us to the room first, but considering we had two big suitcases and had been traveling all day, I thought about how difficult it would be to carry those suitcases down the five steps.

“Do I have to walk back up?” I started to ask before stepping down there, because we didn’t know where she was taking us!
Then she said, “Oh, it’s okay, we are going this way to your room too!”

This was another time that I was disappointed with the island.

Once we got into the room, it looked very run down.

Free WiFi, A/C, and a fan BUT NO TV, an empty fridge (no complimentary bottled waters the whole stay!), and the bathroom was more challenging!

I woke up with a cockroach sleeping next to the toilet bowl! I’m okay with that; I don’t scream when I see those bugs, but is this what we paid almost $500 per night for?
The beach in front of the resort is rocky, and it didn’t seem safe for us to play in the water unless we wanted to risk our lives.

The best thing about this resort is the OCEAN VIEW (which you can see everywhere on this island) and the 24-hour service swimming pool. And that’s it!

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND this resort (Blue Horizon Resort) at this cost (~$500 per night).

 

The taxi driver told us that El Bok is better, and when I checked their prices, it’s much cheaper (more than half the price we paid)! El Bok is closer to the main area, restaurants, tours, or golf car rentals (you don’t have to walk 15 minutes like us).  Or you can try AirBNB if you can find one with a nice host!

I don’t know how much the other guests paid at the same resort with us because there are different room types here.

But I’m already counting down the days until we leave!  

We didn’t get the golf car to rent that evening.

When we called them, they said they were closing at 5 pm (and it was about 4:45 pm when we called).  So it was too tight if we walked there now; we weren’t really sure if it would take us 15 minutes to walk or not and when we got there, they might already left since they strongly mentioned that they are closing at 5pm on the phone (no convince conversation like if you are coming now, we will wait for you…!)

But then it started raining, so we ended up staying in and having dinner at the resort. In fact, it wasn’t too bad to have dinner at the resort; the prices were not different from the other restaurants!

The constant fog and cicada screams made it difficult for me to sleep all night. You’re welcome to give it a try!

And it’s also a good idea to rent the golf car tomorrow morning because it’s 24 hrs rental, we would have to return the car the next day at this time and walk back to the resort at night???

If you need the contact information for the most courteous taxi driver in Vieques island, please leave a comment below!

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Read through and learn from our mistakes!

>> Trip Itinerary : Cost Break Down : Pros/Cons
– Condado Beach
– Old San Juan
– Pinones Beach
– Vieques Island * You are here
– FULL DAY IN VIEQUES ISLAND
– Fajardo at El Conquistador Resort
– Culebra Beach Day Tour by Catamaran from Fajardo