Vacation to Vieques, PR

So Bryan and I went on a week long vacation to Vieques, PR. Our logistics getting there was a nightmare. I left his set of paper tickets at home so they said since they were paper tickets we couldn't get e-tickets. Not like we could go home and get them since we didn't fly out of our local airport, we were 3 hours away. Had to pay 300 dollars in change fees, 100 in lost ticket fee, and re buy his tickets at 700 dollars. What a nightmare. We should get reimbursed for his tickets. So we were a day late and a lot of dollars short but we made it.


We got there and the first day we learned some of the island and met up with a group to Kayak the luminescent bay. We kayaked the bay into some Mangrove trees and it was so cool in the tunnel of trees. We then kayaked to a private beach on a small island. We watched the sunset and had a snack. Bryan didn't eat but I did, later it came to haunt me. We then went into the biobay and say the micro organisms that glow green when you touch them. There are 72,000 in a gallon of water. It was amazing. We could see fish darting back and forth through the water because of these organisms. I started to feel more and more nauseous which happens a lot after the surgery. I got sick on the way home but since I had surgery I can't vomit so I dry heaved for forever...what a fun way to start a trip.

Monday we drove around the island looked at the fort and searched out some beaches.

Tuesday we were supposed to have a historical tour but the guy never showed. We ended up going to some private beaches and snorkeling around. That night we rode horses around the island. The guide took us to the top of the hill where you could overlook most of the island. It was amazing. We then rode through some woods to the beach. My horse didn't like the sand and was trying to stop when I noticed my saddle was slipping. I tried to jerk it back up on the horse but it was going so I had to jump off. It was almost dusk as we rode our horses on the shoreline in the sand. We stopped to take pictures but it was getting too dark so they were a bit blurry. We then rode our horses down the street of Esperanza. We stopped at Duffy's bar and the own brought us out our cocktail of choice to us on our horses. We sat on our horse and enjoyed our Adult beverage and then continued to ride down the street. It was so cool. A tourist that had arrived that day took tons of pics of us at the bar on our horses. It was so fun.

Wednesday we wanted to get breakfast and get on the ferry to go to the main land. We missed the ferry by one minute because Bryan forgot where he was driving to when I realized he had driven halfway across the island when he needed to be where we were at for breakfast. We barely missed it. We decided to try to catch the cargo ferry but they left 20 minutes before they were supposed to. Finally we decided to pack a bag and stay the night. We caught the 4:00 ferry and made it over there. We explored part of the El Yunque rain forest before it closed and then headed to the El Morro Fort to see it at night in all it's huge glory. I was so impressed. We checked into the Sheraton at Old San Juan ordered room service and got some good sleep.

We got up early and headed back to the El Morro Fort and the Cristobol Fort to see it in the daylight before the 9:00 ferry. Bryan had to be back to snorkel. We get back to the house and the next door neighbor who was keeping an eye on us and the grounds had called the police since we didn't come home. We didn't even realize she would have been worried we felt so bad. Luckily they couldn't file a missing persons report till 24 hours after we were gone and we were back before then.

Bryan headed out to scuba and I decided I would lay by the pool because I didn't want to get sick again. He was supposed to be there at 11:30 and he left in plenty of time. He comes back at 11:30 and said he forgot his wallet (thanks TBI) and I didn't even think to call the people to wait. He missed the boat by like 2 minutes. I was so upset for him I almost cried. He has loved scuba every since he got certified at Walter Reed. He had no other chances to go . It broke my heart.

Friday we were due to get on the pedal jumper at 1:30 for a 30 minute flight. And then we didn't leave San Juan till 4:30. We decided to skip the flight and head to the ferry at 6:30 am to go back to explore the rain forest more. It was amazing. We hiked to the biggest waterfall I have ever seen (bigger than the ones in Hawaii) and got our pictures taken. We saw a hummingbird making a nest and an African Snail. I loved it. We were completely disgusting for the plane ride but at least we made the very most of our time there.

I can't wait to go back and explore more of the rain forests and caves. Thanks www.vacationsforveterans.org for giving us the house for the week. You guys are amazing.