Monday, December 14, 2015

Exploring Culebra and Swimming with Turtles

I fell in love with Culebra, just like I did with Key West! Culebra, which is part of the Spanish Virgin Islands, is twenty-three miles of the east coast of Puerto Rico, and it is know for Flamenco beach, which has been rated one of the world's most beautiful, exotic beaches. I completely agree! It ranks #2 for best beach I've been to after the beach on Conception Island in the Bahamas. There are no big hotels here, and the island retains a small town, low-key vibe that I really enjoyed.
 
We anchored in the bay by Dewey, which is the island's only town. The first afternoon we ate at Zaco's Taco, which has delicious tacos, burritos, and signature drinks. My carne asada burrito was sooo good, and David really enjoyed his fish and carne asada tacos. The crowd was a combination of locals, expats, tourists, and young couples who seemed to have escaped to island life for a year or two. It was a great start to our short stay there.
 
 


 
 The following day we rented a golf cart for $40 and toured the island. We started our tour with Zoni beach, which is on the northeast coast and provides views of Culebrita and St. Thomas. Next we drove back to town and snorkeled at the rocks a short swim from Melones Beach. It was one of the best snorkeling spots we have been to in a while. The water visibility was great, and there was lots of brightly colored fish, colorful sea fans, and nice coral. Unfortunately, the phone went snorkeling with us so it is not currently working, but we do have a backup phone so it wasn't that big of a deal.
 
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Zoni Beach

Zoni Beach

View of Culebrita and St. Thomas

Snorkeling at Melones Beach




Lunchtime view of Melones Beach

After a quick a ham, cheese, and egg sandwich that we bought earlier from Pan Deli, we hightailed it to Tamarindo Beach to hopefully find some green sea turtles to swim with. As luck would have it, there was a snorkel company that was leading a bunch of people into the water so we tagged along with them since they know where the good spots are. And we found some! We were in water about 15 feet deep, and we saw one munching on some grass at the bottom of the ocean floor. After a few minutes,  David and I took off on our own, and we found a couple more. They were so graceful, and I could have stayed all day just watching them swim.  Click here to see a video (the ending has the best view of the turtle).



The last destination of the day was Flamenco Beach where we stayed for a couple hours to relax under our umbrella and swim in the cool, crystal clear water. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. It was an awesome, fun-filled day, and if we don't move here like I would love to do, this will be my forever vacation spot!



Not sure how this tank got here.

 

Last pic of the day
 

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