Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: Caribbean

Vieques Snapshot

Last year, I started a new tradition of creating a “snapshot” post from our travels with a summary of superlatives and sidebars. It’s a fun way to me to reflect back on specific moments, so to continue that tradition here is my Vieques snapshot!

Best Moment

Once again, one of my most favorite moments was water-related, a true testament to how comfortable I’m getting in the ocean. I loved snorkeling at Mosquito Pier! I’ve never swam around a structure underwater like that, and it was fun to explore. And I certainly welcomed the opportunity to swim with sea turtles again.

This trip was also the first time I’ve been away for a whole week with my sister and brother-in-law, and it was a special trip for that reason. I really enjoyed the time we all spent with each other: the adventurous outings, our chats, meals together, and even the quiet moments. So if I can wrap that all up into one Best Moment, I think that counts.

Worst Moment

My apologies for the graphic description, but it’s simply one of those things about traveling: when you drink or eat something your body isn’t used to or even meant to digest, your insides feel like they’re attempting to evacuate your body. I suspect I ingested some sea water while snorkeling, and if you’ve ever looked at a magnification of a single ocean water drop, you know I gulped down all kinds of critters. Thursday evening and much of Friday I simultaneously battled a stomach bug and pouted that I would miss out on the last opportunities for local cuisine.

I also had the displeasure of seeing one of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen (outside, thankfully), but the stomach bug was slightly more unpleasant so it wins the Worst Moment title.

Best Meal

I loved the food on this trip. Probably my most favorite meal, and Chris’s as well, was from Sol Food. Chris and I shared a Cuban sandwich and an empanada and both were keep-talking-about-it-all-week excellent. If you’re on Vieques, make sure you stop by on the weekend since they’re not open during the week. Our dinner at Coqui Fire Cafe, the number one restaurant on Vieques according to TripAdvisor, was also incredible. My enormous smothered burrito for dinner made a perfect lunch the next day as well.

Something We Learned

We learned lots of Spanish words! Chris and I both took French in high school and college, so neither of us are fluent at all in Spanish. Learning some words here and there inspired me to get going soon on one of my bucket list items to learn the language.

We’re Thankful We Packed

Our new PacSafe came in handy to secure a few belongings while at the beach. Vieques has a minor petty theft issue, and we were instructed by the car rental agency and fellow travelers to keep our cars unlocked with nothing inside. The PacSafe allows you to stow small valuables and secure the safe to an immovable object (tree, fence, post, etc.).

We Didn’t Need To Bring

A safety whistle. I brought one specifically for use on the bioluminescent kayak tour. If I was drifting off to sea in the darkness, I wanted everyone and their dog to know about it. Our life vests included a built-in whistle though, so I didn’t need to pack mine. That, and we were perfectly safe. Our tour guide kept a close eye on us and we checked in periodically with a group count.

Trip Regrets

I regret my failure to take a photo of the four of us together! I also didn’t do any video filming, but I’m kind of okay with that. The vibe on this trip really didn’t call for a lot of documentation. We spent a lot of quality time chatting and relaxing, and it was nice not to have a camera in my hands as often as usual. At least I do have one photo of everyone at some point.

Reasons To Go Back

I feel like my “Reasons To Go Back” category is often related to food and this time is no exception. Sol Food was out of ham & cheese empanadas and we really wanted to try one! I think we’d also like to see the island another time when it’s completely clear of seaweed.

Favorite Photos

Chris’s favorite photo of Punta Arenas/Green Beach, on the left below, was taken with the iPhone. I love having it handy for quick snapshot like this!

And my favorite image is the one Chris took of my sister and me. We don’t have a lot of pictures together as adults, and I’ll cherish this one.

July 6, 2015
Photo Friday – Opuntia

I’m not great with plant identification, but I think this one is a prickly pear from the opuntia cactus family. We spotted several interesting cacti on Vieques, and being that I’m better with photos than I am with words, that’s all I have to say about that. Happy Friday!

July 3, 2015
Kayaking on a Bioluminescent Bay

This post is going to be a bit of a departure from my typical photo-heavy entries because when I signed up for a bioluminescent bay kayak tour on Vieques, I decided to leave my camera behind for once and enjoy the experience without documenting a single moment. I knew that properly capturing the bioluminescence of the dinoflagellates would require the low-light capabilities of my SLR, and there was no way I was going to attempt balancing on a sit-on-top kayak with the 5DMIII in my hands. My waterproof point-and-shoot doesn’t have manual controls so I opted to be completely present and out from behind a camera for the tour.

This is all to say that I have no photos to show you.

After failing to see a bio bay two times on previous trips, I had my fingers crossed that the third time would be a charm. The first attempt was in 2000 when my friends and I took a Caribbean cruise and signed up for a bio bay kayak tour at the Puerto Rico port of call. Sadly, a storm made the waves too choppy for kayaking and the tour was canceled. The second time was in 2013 when Chris and I stayed in San Juan for a week, but the exact same thing happened: storm, waves, choppy water, canceled tour. I was determined to see the bioluminescence this time, and I even consulted the moon phase chart to ensure we picked the darkest night to see the bay. Astronomy for the win!

On the night of the new moon with no storm in the forecast, Stephanie, Arne, Chris, and I took the 7:30pm Bio Bay Glass Bottom Boat Kayak Tour with Fun Brothers located in Esperanza. We met our guide near the bamboo hut shown below (photo taken during the day) where we boarded a very small school bus for some off-roading on a narrow dirt path through the dark forest.

After the bumpiest ride I’ve ever experienced, we arrived at the sandy entrance to Mosquito Bay. Despite the name, I don’t think any of us felt any bug bites that night, but we might have been lucky with a dry day and a good breeze. Here’s the part I didn’t expect – we were instructed to remove our shoes and leave them on the bus. And here’s the other part I didn’t expect – we walked in the dark through shallow muddy water to enter the kayaks.

Bare feet + darkness + black water with mud and other things in it = me shrieking uncontrollably.

I managed to make it into the kayak right away without capsizing, but it did take me a good five minutes on the water to settle down and feel comfortable. I’ve only been in a kayak one other time (in Alaska) mind you, and that was in the middle of the day. Our guide, Nelson, set out paddling ahead of us and we followed him. Our tour group of ten people met him in the middle of the water for a brief overview of the dinoflagellates before free time to explore. We stayed together for Nelson’s briefing by holding onto his kayak, which meant we were all clustered together quite close. I didn’t get to enjoy his information and jokes because I was concentrating on not tipping over while the other kayaks bumped into mine.

Once he gave us the green light (no pun intended!) to go off on our own, we paddled away from the group, noticing a faint glow as our oars dipped into the water. I’ll be frank: at first I thought, that’s it?! I walked through creepy sludge and paddled my way out into the darkness just to see a bit of light when I paddle?! But as we let our eyes continue to adjust, we started to see other things happening: glowing bubbles under our glass-bottomed kayaks, the luminescent outline of each gentle wave forming and breaking, and shimmering schools of fish darting past. I noticed that the farther we paddled away from the lights of the town nearby and the more I stared at one dark spot in the water, the better I could see the glow. Something pretty big and glowing swam underneath me and gave me a startle, but I managed to stay in the kayak or else this post would have a very different it-was-the-worst-thing-ever tone.

We spent at least thirty minutes on the bay experiencing this natural phenomenon, and in the end I decided that it was definitely worth the unpleasant barefooted moments. If you’re planning a trip to Vieques, this really is a neat experience and you’d do well to book with Fun Brothers. They kept us safe and informed, and we all had a great time. Plus the glass-bottomed kayaks do add to the experience. If you are on the fence about this tour because you’re not crazy about the idea of being on the water in the dark, we’re in the same boat (pun totally intended!) and I had fun so you can absolutely do it, too.

July 1, 2015
Snorkeling Mosquito Pier

In my Vieques research and planning, I discovered one of the most frequently recommended snorkel locations, Mosquito Pier. Off of Rt. 200, a mile-long pier extends out to sea splitting the northern shore in two. If you fly into Vieques from the mainland, you can easily see the pier shortly before landing. The pier originally began as a U.S. Navy project in 1941 to create a sea wall that would connect Vieques to the main island of Puerto Rico. The project was never completed, and now the spot is a popular site for snorkeling and swimming. The calm waters to the left of the pier (facing out to sea) provide an excellent place for snorkelers and divers to see healthy corals, large schools of fish, and sea turtles.

To enter the water, the four of us drove to a chain-link fence maybe half-way down the pier and parked our Jeep. (Side note: we followed the rental agency’s advice to leave our car empty with the doors unlocked since petty theft is a minor issue on the island.) A set of stairs to the left of the fence provided easy albeit slippery entry into the ocean. Along the rocks in the shallow water there we spotted sea urchins, blue tangs, bar jacks, trumpet fish, needle nose fish, sponges, and corals.

Following the pier out to the west, we found all kinds of interesting sea life around and attached to the pilings. I originally hadn’t planned to swim underneath the pier because it seemed creepy and maybe a little dangerous (I kept an eye on the water level and the waves so we didn’t hit our heads), but once we were out there we spotted turtles so off I went. It was a little murky and dark, but there was so much to see that my fears melted away. Chris and I swam around with a couple of turtles, and I also saw the tiniest sergeant majors ever, no bigger than my pinky fingernail.

As a bonus, a very special 375-year-old Ceiba Tree sits near Mosquito Pier, so we stopped by to pay homage to this sacred site. I meant to have a seat and take a photo with the ancient tree, but close inspection revealed that it was covered with little red bugs, so I probably don’t need to further explain why I didn’t sit down. I’m getting really brave in the water, but I still don’t want anything to do with bugs!

Up next: the story of how I went kayaking on the ocean…in complete darkness!

June 29, 2015
Photo Friday – Crabby

This photo is a good example of something I’ll pull over and stop to capture while driving around and exploring. Chris is awesome at responding to my random spur-of-the-moment pleas to stop the car. These pockets of colorful art around the island of Vieques were one of my favorite things to photograph!

June 26, 2015