Camping in Culebra, Take Two

Earlier in my sabbatical, my husband took me to the beautiful island of Culebra, Puerto Rico…to go camping.  Without much of a grumble, I survived.  (See my blog on camping in Culebra.)

Since that time, the rankings were published and Culebra's Flamenco Beach was voted one of the top ten beaches in the World!  Since we decided to return to Puerto Rico for our couples trip, it was agreed that we had to take the gang to this remote island and newly famous beach which was the only beach in U.S. territories to make the top ten.Best Beaches in the World

Our numbers were constantly changing, but at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning 10 brave and slightly hungover souls embarked on the journey from Isla Verde to Flamenco Beach.  With one rental minivan and one cabbie van, we made the one hour trek to the town of Fajardo.  At the port, we purchased our $2.25 tickets for the ferry ride to Culebra.  The ferry has no open-air seating and we could not all find seats to sit together in the cabin.  Some complained that the ride was a little rough and had witnessed several around them getting sick.  Although I am prone to motion sickness, I was luckily seated in a steadier area where the waves lulled us gently back and forth until just about every passenger had fallen asleep.

The trip lasted a little over an hour and we were all happy to disembark at the tiny little village in Culebra.  As we tried to make a plan, a low hanging cloud burst into a downpour.  Some of us dashed for a cab while the others waited for our detailed organizer, Mark, to retrieve our rental six-passenger deluxe golf cart as our mode of island transportation.

By the time we arrived at our Flamenco Beach villa, the rain subsided and everyone was happy to put their toes in the sand.  We walked to the beach kiosks for some sandwiches and then spent the afternoon soaking up the sun and marveling at how different Flamenco Beach was from Isla Verde beach across the way.  Flamenco Beach is a half moon bay with beautiful white sand and rolling waves made for bodysurfing.  Our villa wasn't grand, but we had the penthouse condo that slept eight and had a wraparound deck with amazing ocean views.  (Plus, it had many more amenities than the tent that I slept in the last time I was on the island!  

                                                                                      

                                                                                        

There is not much to do on the island, especially after dark.  We spent our days at the beach, and our nights grilling out and playing card games.  If you surround yourself with quality people, it doesn't matter where you are in the world or what luxuries you have at your disposal…you can and will have a great time.

However, if  you are looking to get away from it all, Culebra is definitely the place for you.  It is a little difficult to get to Culebra with the car ride and ferry, but our over-achiever leader surprised us all by booking a charter flight back to SJU airport.  We dropped off our golf cart at the rental shop which just happened to be directly across from the airport.  With no security gates to go through, we walked out onto the runway and boarded our private plane.

 I was lucky enough to sit in the co-pilot's seat and saw some spectacular sunrise views of the islands.   After a short 15 minute flight, we landed at SJU and one couple walked directly to boarding for their U.S. Airways flight back home. Four of us, however, still had three more days of vacation and were headed to Rincon for one final adventure!