Things to do in Vieques
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Bahía Mosquito
Locals claim that Bahía Mosquito, a designated wildlife preserve, has the highest concentration of phosphorescent dynoflagellates not only in Puerto Rico, but in the world. Indeed, it's also known as Bioluminescent Bay - and it's magnificent. A trip through the lagoon is nothing short of psychedelic, with hundreds of fish whipping up bright-green sparkles below the surface as your kayak or electric boat passes by, but the best part is when you stop to swim: it's like bathing in the stars.
Don't ever accept a ride in a motorized boat - the engine pollution kills the organisms that create phosphorescence. You can just drive east on the rough Sun Bay road (you'd better…
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Island Adventures
Island Adventures offers 90-minute tours ($30) in an electric boat just about every night, except when there’s a full moon (take the trip to learn why!).
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Duffy’s
Esperanza’s newest bar is a sleeker and slightly more refined version of Banana’s next door. It fills a gap in the market with fresh salads and creative seafood, but still nurtures an undone Caribbean flavor. Opening out onto Esperanza’s main strip, the laid-back street atmosphere infiltrates the shady interior where expats and locals mingle over beer and scallops.
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Caribbean Fly-fishing Company
Fishing is sublime in Vieques. Imagine Florida Keys with about one-tenth of the fishermen and enough bonefish, tarpon and permit to stock a mini ocean. Fishing boats can also allow you access to isolated stretches of coastline in the former naval zone. Caribbean Fly-fishing Company has received a favorable New York Times review.
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Caribbean Walk
Tiny, but full of local art, this creative shop in Isabel Segunda harbors intricate jewelry and plenty of other dexterously sculpted crafts.
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La Tienda Verde
For groceries, La Tienda Verde near the baseball field in the center of town is your best bet in Esperanza.
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Morales Supermercado
If you’re looking to stock up on provisions, try Morales Supermercado.
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Area Arqueológica Hombre de Puerto Ferro
You will find this site marked by a sign on Hwy 997, east of Esperanza. About a quarter mile east of the entrance to Sun Bay (Sombé), take the dirt road on your left (it heads inland). Drive for about two minutes until you find the burial site of the Indian known as the 'Hombre de Puerto Ferro', which is surrounded by a fence. Big boulders identify a grave where a 4000-year-old skeleton (now on exhibit at the Fortín) was exhumed.
Little is known about the skeleton, but archaeologists speculate that it is most likely the body of one of Los Arcaicos (the Archaics), Puerto Rico's earliest known inhabitants; this racial group made a sustained migration as well as seasonal…
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Chez Shack
What have ’60s psychedelic band the Mamas and Papas and Vieques’ most bohemian restaurant got in common? They both owe at least a part of their success to expat impresario and restaurateur Hugh Duffy. In the 1960s, Duffy owned a restaurant called ‘Love Shack’ on the nearby island of St Thomas, where he hosted folk-music nights with a quartet of spaced-out hippies called the New Journeymen. It was an important first break. But while the Journeymen changed their name to the Mamas and Papas and headed off to LA for some California Dreamin’, Duffy transplanted himself 13 miles to the west where he opened up Chez Shack, a quirky Caribbean hangout that quickly began…
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Museo de Esperanza
This tiny museum, on the Strip in Esperanza, is operated by the Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust (founded in 1984 to save the island’s bioluminescent bays). The museum contains exhibits on the ecological efforts of the trust, the island’s natural history and its early Indian inhabitants. Donations are welcome. Behind the gift shop, the museum runs what is supposedly the smallest aquarium on earth, a series of tanks in which baby sea creatures are displayed for a few weeks before being returned to the ocean. There’s also a rotating exhibit on the island’s flora and fauna, and an internet facility.
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Belly Button’s
Make a beeline for breakfast at Belly Button’s and bring a good appetite. Your belly will be more than happy after you’ve heroically demolished the three Frisbee-sized pancakes that appear rather magically on your plate here. Consisting of a small collection of alfresco tables located outside a kitchen trailer on the malecón, this expat-run breakfast phenomenon conjures up enough food to keep you going until 6pm. Grab a copy of the San Juan Star, help yourself to a mug of gourmet coffee and make plans for a day of breathtaking action – or indolence.
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Café Media Luna
Romance is not dead in Vieques’ original ‘posh’ restaurant where candlelit tables and a tiny street-side balcony add panache to any meal. And there’s more. Isabel II’s music scene more or less begins and ends in this attractive colonial building where smooth live jazz accompanies lamb chops, seared tuna and rather authentic pizza. OK, so the price is a little steep, but with a comprehensive wine list and free entertainment provided by the pizza-tossing chefs in the open-sided kitchen, you might just be inspired to dust off your credit card.
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Blue Macaw
No birds here, but plenty of fancy metal curves and elaborate downlighting. One of a trio of plush new eating houses that could quite easily have been plucked straight out of San Juan’s SoFo neighborhood, the Blue Macaw was fire-damaged in 2005. Relaunched in 2007 in polished chrome, it’s reignited itself (the restaurant, not the fire that is) with all its old vigor, displaying a menu that’s as delicious as the decor is plush. Try the scampi, the lamb tenderloin or the tempura trout and leave room for a lavish dessert.
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Topacio
The newly opened Topacio has already cemented a firm reputation among those with a penchant for delicious seafood served Caribbean-style. Sheltered on an outside patio underneath colorful lights, you can sample the generous paella, fish in a creole sauce, seafood mofongo (mashed plantains) and lobster cooked in garlic. Unpretentious, efficient and brimming with fresh and locally caught ingredients, this place offers great Puerto Rican authenticity without sacrificing on the quality.
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Panadería & Repostería Lydia
With a 4am opening call, this veritable hole-in-the-wall bakery-cum-coffee bar is ideal for insomniacs, late-night party animals and ferry workers on the graveyard shift. On a quiet weekend morning in sleepy Isabel, it’s one of the only places likely to be open. Stop by for caffeine, pastries, sandwiches and sweet bread, and fight with the locals for one of the two plastic tables that furnish the sidewalk.
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Golden Heron Ecotours
Golden Heron Ecotours offers excellent snorkeling trips to almost virgin reefs that are reachable only by motorboat. The company only uses the boats of local fishermen and has a strong environmental ethos (helping people protect rather than exploit their local landscapes). Boats for up to six people can be chartered and the trip with a qualified guide lasts all day. Children are welcome.
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bbh
With its high-end magazine cover setting in the Bravo Beach Hotel, you would expect this restaurant to be trendy and chic. And naturally, it is. This place is foodie heaven, with European cheeses, New Zealand lamb and plenty of infused local ingredients. Tapas are the specialty, but there’s also a wine room and the poolside Palms bar where you can enjoy an alcoholic appetizer.
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Scoops
Junk food hasn’t arrived on Vieques yet but, if you need something fast and palatable, you can grab a cheap pizza here and watch the local teenagers as they gamble away their pocket money on the arcade machines. An adjacent room holds more tasty treats with Häagen-Dazs ice cream and fresh fruit juices. They’re ridiculously expensive, but what the hell?
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Vieques National Wildlife Refuge
This 18,000-acre refuge occupies the land formerly administered by the US military. The 3100-acre western segment – used mainly as a storage area during the military occupation – was instituted in 2001. The 14,700-acre eastern segment, which includes a former live firing range (still off-limits), was inaugurated two years later in 2003.
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Fortín Conde de Mirasol
This small fort, on the hill above Isabel Segunda, is the last Spanish fort constructed in the Americas (1840s). Although never completed, the fort has ramparts and a fully restored central building that houses a history and art museum. It currently serves as a museum that showcases the island’s 4000-year-old Indian and colonial history.
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La Viequense Deli
If it’s breakfast you’re after, this is the place to come for your 6am pancakes or hangover-curing coffee. If you miss the 11am cut-off you can feast instead on decent baked goods, tortillas and sandwiches. Service is no-nonsense and fast, the decor clean and modern, and the clientele local with a smattering of in-the-know tourists.
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Bili
Bili is the recently rebranded restaurant at the Amapola Inn. Offering the island’s finest selection of vegetarian food, it’s also a haven for noncarnivores who’ve grown tired of eating omelets. The yucca salads are good as is the seafood and you can shoot the breeze alfresco as the malecón crowds steam past.
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Blackbeard Sports
The island’s biggest and best dive shop is Blackbeard Sports. Based out of Isabel Segunda, these guys offer two-tank scuba dives from $100 and Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) certified basic open-water courses from $350. You can also rent your own snorkel/scuba gear for $15/50 a day.
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El Quenepo
The new kid on Esperanza’s seaside block, El Quenepo has a lovely interior and an equally delectable menu. The food’s catch-of-the-day fresh and the decor is – by normal Viequesian standards – remarkably chic. A new trend?
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Island Café
Cocooned in the Crow’s Nest in the lofty barrio of Florida, the Island Café features a variety of Caribbean mains served on a 2nd-story terrace with great views of the main island. Try the fiery West Indies pork and plantain stew with coconut.
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