Vieques Island - Kathy

After dropping off the rental car, we then had to figure out how to get to the city of Fajardo so we could take the ferry out to Vieques Island. Vieques is part of Puerto Rico but is a small island out by itself. We liked the idea of having beaches to ourself and not being around too many people.

We found a taxi to take us out to Fajardo for $80. More than we wanted to pay but the busses weren't running so we didn't have much choice. Rafael was our taxi driver and he was hilarious.
We arrived at the ferry station and bought our tickets. We had a little while until the ferry would arrive. One of my favorite things about this trip was just chatting with the people. We always made friends with those in line. We sat around until we saw people lining up and then decided to get in line to get on the ferry. We had tickets for that time so it never crossed our minds that we wouldn't get on (although it should have due to the transportation issues we'd been having on this trip so far). After waiting in line for a while we were informed that we (along with several others) were in the residents only line. Apparently residents of the island of Vieques have first priority. So we moved to another line and then did not get on along with several others. Many people were angry but Ryan and I were used to these issues so we sat down and started waiting for the next ferry (3 hours later).

It was interesting to watch people pass the time. Many people in the station were Americans while some were Puerto Ricans going to visit family or just going to vacation. One family broke out their instruments and started singing. Wasn't the greatest music I've ever heard but it was fun just the same. Here's a short clip of it below.

It was nice being there by the ocean and feeling the cool air come off of the ocean plus it was cool to look out into the ocean. It was beautiful.

While waiting we talked to a couple of guys from the states who had been out to Vieques before. They gave us some hints and advice as to where we should go. They both smelled of alcohol and you could tell they were there for the parties but they were nice guys just the same and gave us some helpful hints.

I saw a woman who looked American sitting and smiling my direction. I began chatting with her and soon found out her name was Kathy and that she was a captain on the ferry boats and was scheduled to drive the next ferry out to Vieques. I asked her where she was from and she told me she lived on Vieques and her husband was originally from Puerto Rico but she was from Ohio. I talked with her for a while and it was a lot of fun getting to know her and her story. Ryan soon joined us. At one point it came up that we spoke Spanish and she got excited and asked how? We told her we'd served missions for the LDS church and she at once began to share her experiences with missionaries out on the island of Vieques. She had become great friends with the first missionaries there and watched them clean up an old wharehouse for church meetings. She was upset when they were transferred and vowed never to become too close to missionaries ever again because they leave! :) She was very nice and excited to get to know us but let us know she wasn't interested in the church herself but had great respect for the missionaries.

Soon it came time for the ferry to get ready to go so she left us to get ready. Pretty soon we saw her calling to us. She let us in a special gate and asked if we'd like to ride in the captain's cabin with her. We talked to her all the way out to Vieques (about an hour and a half).

It was fun to see how the ferry worked and all the instruments. Plus she was able to point out different islands and points of interest to us. We arrived in Vieques and it was dark. We met her husband as we exited the ferry. We then got in a Publico (public car) which is a big van that takes people across the island. We took the publico to the opposite side of the island (only about 3 miles) where we were dropped off at the campground on the beach of Sun Bay. One of the other passengers in the van offered us beer when he reached his house. He was just excited for the new year I guess!

We set up camp and walked out on the beach. The waves were crashing and it was awesome. There were only 4 other groups of campers in the whole campground. It was a fenced in grassy area and our spot was right next to the gate that led to the beach. Our stuff was still very wet from the rainforest. We set up the tent but it was soaking wet. I decided to just sleep outside the tent on my pad since the weather was so nice. I do remember being bothered by bugs during the night. I don't know what they were since I'm such a heavy sleeper but some rather large insects visited my face throughout the night. I woke up covered with insect bites! Welcome to Vieques!!!