Honeymoon Day 4 - Snorkeling and more beaches!

Today we decided to try our hand at snorkeling!!! Our caretaker Marc supplied us with snorkeling gear and marked a map that had all the great snorkeling spots. So today we journeyed to the west side of the island to Green Beach. This side of the island used to be Navy property so its very undeveloped and pretty remote.

An old church we passed on the way to Green Beach

The road was very pitted with lots of puddles (which Suzanne just loved...right honey?). We arrived at Green Beach which really wasn't a great beach but the view across the ocean of mainland Puerto Rico was incredible.

View from Green Beach of Mainland Puerto Rico

We got our snorkeling gear and got in the water. The water was very calm on this side of the island and crystal clear. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. There is just another world under the water and its incredible. When we first got in the water we were literally surrounded by thousands of little silver fish. It kind of grossed Suzanne out but as we got a little ways from the shore they disappeared.

Once we got past the silver fish then we saw all sorts of colorful fish hiding amongst the rocks and coral. It was like an underwater garden with big lumps of brain coral and big huge sea fans that swayed in the current like they were blowing in the breeze. At one point the sea fans were so tall they were almost touching us which Suzanne didn't like very much.

At one point we stopped and chatted and I expressed a desire to see a stingray. We went under the water and not two seconds later Suz was tugging at my arm and pointing to a stingray gliding across the sand.

I wouldn't be able to begin naming all of the different fish we saw. Most were small and quite colorful. We found out later that we had seen barracudas. They are long and skinny and swim near the surface. They rarely attack humans contrary to what you hear in movies and so on. Here's a picture of what we saw.

After a couple of hours, we were sufficiently water logged so we relaxed on the shore for a bit and just enjoyed the beautiful view.

Due to the mosquitos and lack of beach we decided to explore the island a little bit more and find a good lunch spot. We drove to the Caribbean side of the west side of the island to Playa Grande.

Now here on Vieques there is an interesting phenomenon. There are stray....horses all over the island. It was just weird to see horses everywhere....in town, on the side of the road, on the beaches, you name it.

Here are couple of pics of the roads that we had to drive on. As you can see they are very narrow and overgrown!

After I took the picture of the road I turned back and saw a stray horse that had wandered into the road. So funny!!!

Playa Grande was beautiful and very peaceful. We had a nice lunch there, relaxed under a palm tree and took a nice walk down the beach. Its funny how we are on such a small island yet each beach is unique and totally different. The sand is different colors, some are more fine, some more rocky, some have waves, others don't, etc.

We got back to our cottage at Evamer and decided to go out some place nice for dinner that night. We took our time cleaning up and just relaxing. As you have probably gathered by now, relaxing was the overall theme of this trip.

We got cleaned up and dressed up and decided to take a sunset stroll on the beach right in front of our cottage (Playa Montesanto). Once again it was nice to be all by ourselves on the beach and it was nice to just walk down 10 stairs from our house and boom...we're on the beach. The sunset was beautiful and it was such a peaceful evening with nothing but the crashing waves and the sunset. Ahhh...we could really get used to this place.

After our romantic sunset walk, we went into town to have dinner. Peter's restauarant was AMAZING. It was a small little place with only four or five tables but it was elegantly setup and our meal was one of the best we'd ever eaten. For dessert we had their triple chocolate bread pudding which was to die for! We LOVED Peter's hands down and would have gone there again had we had the opportunity.

After dinner we wanted to explore the town a bit and find the ferry dock. Well....I wasn't quite the navigator I thought I was and we drove around in circles. By this time I needed a restroom in a big way. We finally found the dock and across from the ferry station is the little LDS church. Lo and behold the lights were on so we went in and met the senior couple serving there along with the elders. They had just finished a book of mormon class and were preparing to lock up. We used the facilities there and enjoyed chatting with the missionaries. What a fun surprise!!! We explored the town a bit more and then drove home! It was a great way to top off a great day!