Puerto Rico Day 4-Dec 12

Vieques is known for having a large population of wild horses. Turns out there were also a lot of Wilde horses. ha!

This was the road to the most fantastic beaches ever. Or some of them. This is why they only rent 4-wheel drive vehicles. And almost exclusively Jeep Whatever-we-had.

Totally worth the crappy road. We got to Orchid aka Secret beach and it was so nice. It even came complete with a few little huts. Shade! Somewhere to hang stuff!

Michelle fought off all those who tried to take our hut. (note: there was a few locals girls and their dog who came to surf and then a couple of couples who came later but further down the beach)

Family picture.

Family picture, silly faces. I had to bargain with Hazel to get her to take a nice picture.

I don't know why she is making this face.

Michelle on the cliff. True Fact: Geoff was also taking a picture of Michelle at this location and time, but from the other side of the cliff.

More handstands were done.

I don't remember what else we did. Ate some food, went to other beaches, played games, these are all possibilities, but I don't recall for sure.

Hands down, Orchid Beach was my favorite. I loved the little huts, I loved that it was at the end of a crazy road and when you broke through the foliage, bam! awesome beach. Plus, the fact that we were on Vieques during the low season, and thus never encountered many people didn't hurt.

Puerto Rico Day 3-Dec 11

We took almost no pictures this day, and the ones that were taken are pretty ridiculous.

After a busy day running from beach to beach (and some people getting sunburned), we decided to take it easy in preparation for staying up late to go to the Bioluminescent Bay that night.

There was much dancing and playing of Monopoly Deal and more dancing and reading books and playing on the lawn and walking down to the rocky little beach by our house. But, mostly just hanging out.

Then we went to the Bio Bay. It was fantastic and amazing and magic and there is nothing that I can type or say or photo (ha!) that will even begin to describe the amazingness of it. Every single person should experience it. Preferably on a dark, dark night.

A few stories o' the bay

- It was DARK, almost no moon and very little light pollution from the "city". I was paddling around with Lynne in my boat when we hear Hazel start screaming and then hear Geoff scream. Hazel was already a bit leery of paddling around at night so her scream was not nearly as worrisome as Geoff's. But, when I heard Geoff start, I started paddling. I don't think I have ever paddled as hard or fast in my life. I made Lynne just pull in her paddle (she was not great at it). We get over there just as the guides are using a flashlight to find the needlefish that had jumped in their boat. Of all the boats! Why did it have to jump into that one?? Hazel jumped into the "upper deck" and was straddling the top of the canoe. Funny to me, but she is still not finding the humor...

- It is virtually impossible to take a picture in the bay. It is so dark and the lights are so small and the long exposures that I have seen don't really capture the magic little creatures. Not really a story, but an excuse. And a reason everyone should go to Vieques.

- A rain storm came in and as the storm came over the bay, it would light up as it hit the water. It was so cool. Seriously, there is a reason I work with numbers, I do not have the skillz to describe.

Anyway, it was awesome and awe inspiring and whatever adjectives work in this situation. I am so glad we got to go see it and I hope one day my child realizes how incredible it was and what a fantastic experience she had, even if a scary fish jumped in her boat.

Puerto Rico Day 2-Dec 10

Wow, I am behind...

Everyone made it to Puerto Rico. We got our rental car (a Jeep, that we utilized to the full extent of its off roading capabilities) and some groceries (which were extremely expensive and did not include much produce) and went out to hit the beach.

This was our first beach in PR. I don't know the official name, but we called it Crab Beach. Hazel wrote a story about it in her travel journal and it was adorable. 

As you can tell, we were the only people on the beach. There was a little inlet that was protected and warm and included a nice palm tree for shade.

It was also great for hand stands.

Hazel and Tutu spent a long time covering Hazel in sand. Tutu sacrificed herself to protect the sand. This is where the name of the beach came about. Tutu and Hazel were playing and when Geoff came over he noticed a whole bunch of little crabs in the area. He pointed them out and insanity ensued. A bigger crab showed up and Tutu got pinched (PINCHED!) on the toe. Hard enough that it bled! BLOOD!!

So, we left Crab Beach. And went to Sun Bay. It is the most developed beach on the island, with a few picnic tables and a restroom. It is beautiful and warm and we watched the sun set, until Tutu chummed the water with her bleeding toe and then we went to find food.

Geoff at Crab Beach.

A cute house. I uploaded these pictures a couple weeks ago, so I may not remember why I chose them. But I love this color scheme.