Best Place to stay on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

Owen Smith, proprietor of the most beautiful and artistic guesthouse, Casa de Amistad!!!! www.casadeamistad.com

Banana Dang coffee shop and eats!!

Love love love this place in Rincon! Delicious lattes and food. Also great place to get on the internet. Make sure to taste their green tea banana dang thing. Delicious and overlooks the beautiful view of the surf! (It's up on a gorgeous hill 50 feet from the surf rental shop!!!)

Pool Bar & Sushi in Rincon, Puerto Rico

We had sooo much fun with Dennis and his family and friends. What a cool guy and what a cool place! Great sushi, great drinks! We ended up spending 4 hours there one night drinking moonshine under the table with friends and Coquitas ( moonshine with coconut yummy stuff....watch out! You have no idea until the next day!) This place rocks! We brought Dad back later and we met up with some wonderful New Yorker girls who made our night. Happy Birthday to the girl afraid of jumping lizards!

When leaving Puerto Rico by plane...

I learned that when flying out, expect to arrive at the airport 3 hours early because there is always a line IF you are checking a bag. If you have a carry-on bag, have your boarding pass printed out and then you can get in another special line that goes much quicker! We did get rushed to the front of the line when our plane was boarding but we could have missed it! A guy told us if you fly out at night there's not as bad of a line. We flew out at 4 pm...we were tired little beach puppies.

Rincon, our next home!

We found our home in Rincon. We spent our first week there and returned for our last 2 days. We found community and plenty of gringo-friendly services like Banana Dang coffee shop ( you must try their green tea/banana dang.) DANG it's good! Walk 50 feet to MaraSol surfboard rentals. On the same drag (famous 413) is a great bakery and a great bar & restaurant. Soooo much to make you feel comfortable! Along the route are plenty of walking people and homeless pets, so drive with care. We could move there tomorrow.

Isabella Beach

Isabella beach was fun & "happening" but not really crowded! People were dancing, paddleboarding, surfing and playing in the water. Completely underdeveloped, bring most of your own food (in case the few restaurants aren't open) and carry your trash out! (There was a cool bar overlooking the water with Ok food and great mojitos!) Trash is a huge problem here so stow it in your car till you find a big dumpster to keep it from overflowing out of the beach trashcans.
Our favorite Isabella surfshop Alamar, with the cutest & coolest baby, parents and surf school! She does serve fruit, yogurt, and great smoothies for the surfers and health conscious. She's like the cool surf sister you always wanted! ( And a world champ!) Alamar surfing school 1-787-379-1990.
The whole family was so freakin' beautiful inside and out that it was hard not to stare!

First priority, tips for safe driving in Puerto Rico!

Traveling around PR is easy (super easy if you read Spanish) and have the most critical item- A TINY RENTAL CAR! The roads are wide enough for 1 &1/2 cars. We almost got hit by a bus head-on the first day in San Juan. Neither one of us wanted the other one to drive because we were constantly swerving to the right to keep from being hit. It was Nerve Wracking! Expect to drive on the right shoulder of the road anytime you see a car coming. Go slow, people will pull out in front of you and expect you to let them in. Do so. Also beware of cars swerving to the right ahead of you (appearing as if they are turning right)only to make a wide turn left!
Practice your inner Grandma. All of our fights were based on The Driver trying to be speedy on narrow, windy roads and The Passenger feeling that she was going to be visiting Heaven while on vacation! Driving feels like a near death experience here but it's worth it to see this small island that you can cross in 3 hours, oddly enough! The map looks so big but you can't believe how quickly you can get from one place to the next. A variety of maps helps also.