Part two: Vieques
Vieques is an island to the East of the main part of Puerto Rico, an hour to 2 hours to Fajardo (the coastal port town) then a 45min Ferry across to Vieques. I read the distances online a few weeks before and thought it would be pretty straight forward to do. HOWEVER, weirdly, it wasn't. Our hotel, other guests and online message boards were saying how there are actually no buses to Fajardo from San Juan, and if we didn't have rental car we should fly. FLY!!! We hesitated as it was only a 30min flight but a chunk of money we were not expecting to spend. After to'ing and fro'ing we just bit the bullet and bought flights....to go on one of these...
Once getting on the plane it was actually quite exciting. We sat right behind the Pilot and had windows (which were open!) so had good views.
The rest of the days were sunny and we had fun exploring the Island. We sneakily went to the W Hotel which was on the North Shore too, and hung out at their really nicely kept Beach and drank Piña Coladas. Other notable things we did was go horse riding which was funny, my horse kept side tracking to eat the trees! She was such a fatty. We also went on a night time tour to visit their world renown bioluminescent bay. It was such a beautiful experience of canoeing in clear bottom kayaks and seeing the water glow due to their unique luminescent flora and fauna. Google it, it's cool.
Overall it was nice to go for a break but Puerto Rico as a whole didn't blow me away. The food was overpriced and so-so quality, and again you really have to be reliant on driving to get a full experience. I also think the time of year we went didn't help either as it was off season and really quiet so maybe we were missing out on some seasonal fun times. It is a nice place to visit in general and I see why many Americans go there as it is a different climate and culture for many at such a short distance to travel. If I were to visit again I will maybe stay in the newer part of San Juan and plan a few more things to do properly and with purpose.
Here are more photos of what we got up too!