The kids had a nice little breeze, and a fun place full of empty mooring buoys to sail around.
The fisherman’s dock isn’t getting a lot of use at the moment. Vieques is only open to residents and those that can afford to fly in (the ferry has been residents only for months now). The few cruisers passing through go unnoticed. We rented a golf cart and took off to see a bit of the island from the land side of things.
Horses are everywhere in Vieques. People call them wild, but really they are just feral, and the majority of them are owned—owned but not kept. They roam around freely, but apparently tend to stick to their same couple of areas, and when their owner wants/needs them they just go search around and find them.
Some of them were comfortable enough to walk right up and attempt to nose around in our bags for something to eat.
The town square is a hive of activity.
Half the island of Vieques is a Wildlife Refuge. Closed for COVID.
At least we found a nice beach for a nine-year-old to rip around on a golf cart for a while.
A massive 300-year-old Ceiba tree is the centerpiece of this small park.
Ceibas seem to have evolved specifically to appear as awesome climbing trees until you get up close to them.
We were laughing at this little fitness park having a fence around it. Then this horse walked up and showed us why it was put there. He could either throw all his weight at the fence as a backscratching post, or he could do it on the stationary bike.
10 Comments on “Around Empty Vieques”
Early training on a “Barbie Jeep” ( I think it was or similar battery car when they were little) helps in learning to drive a golf cart. What fun! Glad to see you all back on the water.
You are probably right about that – man did they beat that Jeep up. Lowe would absolutely die (it’s the only thing on his Christmas list this year) for a new dinghy with a steering wheel. Like this: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/dinghy-swap-ab-highfield
Looks like a great place to be!
A few items about Vieques…Those horses are descendants of Spanish Paso Fino “fine gait” horses . Wife and I visited Vieques in late 1970’s looking for real estate (ocean front was about $2000/acre then). Didn’t buy as house that was non-caretaked was subject to vandalism. Local kids would hop a ride on the horses by holding a carrot or apple within a rope loop harness- when the horse went to eat the apple, the loop went over the horses head and kid jumped on back. Horse ridden to destination and harness removed. We stayed in Esperanza at Casa Del Francis which burned down 30yrs ago. Story is- Built by a Frenchman around 1900, then brought his wife to the island- she hated island living, left within a month and sold sometime later. In the late 60’s the movie Lord of the Flies was filmed on Vieques and PR and some shots done around Esperanza and in late 70’s there still was a barn there used by film crew with “Lord of the Flies” painted on the side. At the time you could swim in Bio luminescent bay. We also rented a jeep for day and went to Blue and White beaches on the SE shore. While on the beach, destroyers cruised by 1mi offshore and fired guns at land targets on eastern tip of island- strange experience. An island with target range on the east, ammunition dump on the west and 5000 scared residents in the center.
I’m glad you had some good experiences there, and it seems like it still has a 1970’s feel to it compared to many of the Caribbean islands.
Thanks, Doug. Pretty interesting place for sure.
First the golf cart and then in a few years, can I drive the 356?
For sure! Both kids will learn to drive a manual in the 356. Pat hasn’t fixed the clutch in a few years anyways. haha https://www.bumfuzzle.com/clutch-hitter/
Assuming you can get there, the bioluminescent bay is totally worth it – I’d probably rent kayaks and do a “self-guided” tour…
We thank YOU for your love and support of our tiny island. During this time frame it has been very challenging and
not all tourists have been as awesome as your family was.
businesses look forward to the time we can all be open and back to the full swing of things
again, thank you for your upbeat beautiful reminder why we all love Vieques in the first place.
Thanks, Kate. We could definitely enjoy it some more. Good people, gorgeous scenery, and horses. What’s not to love.
Hears hoping to a better 2021 for your businesses. Merry Christmas!