If my heart hadn’t already been stolen by a 6’1 man with a knack for making me laugh, it’d now permanently reside in Vieques. I didn’t think much could top the first part of our honeymoon, which was comprised of sleeping with the rainforest & fort exploring, but I was wrong. As we stepped onto the island, we were met with wild horses roaming the town streets and beaches, which I was both shocked and excited by. Soon, we got used to them being everywhere, and we saddled up for a wild ride.
We ate, drank, walked on the beaches, relaxed, ate, and drank some more. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, there were small shipwrecks all over the coastline, which made for the coolest exploration possible as we felt like we were in Lost attempting to piece all the “What happened?!” stories together.
Vieques has, by far, some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. There are so many to go to that sometimes you’ll stumble upon one and be the only people there. And don’t even get me started on the water, which in some bays was so warm that it felt like bath time. We snorkeled, swam, explored the many caves surrounding the bays and relaxed in the {very hot} sunshine. It was heaven.
One of the coolest things that we did was go to the Bioluminescent Bay at night. It’s a bay that contains dinoflagellates, which are bacteria that glow when the water is disturbed. We kayaked in the bay while it was pitch dark, and were surrounded by neon blue glowing water wherever our paddles or kayak went. Think Avatar. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen – I wish I had pictures to show you!
One of my favorite activities that we did was paddle boarding. It was a 4 hour excursion where our guide talked a lot about the ecosystem surrounding Vieques. We learned about red mangrove trees, which surround many of the Vieques bays and are one of the key contributing factors of the Bioluminescent Bay.
Below you can see us wading through the trees; the bottom felt like murky, watery, rough clay. Apparently that substance is very nutrient dense, because at one point our guide grabbed a ton of it and started rubbing it all over her face and body, saying it’s a natural anti-aging solution. Of course we followed suit, and the result was an interesting looking crew of paddle boarders. Side note: My skin felt amazing afterwards.
Another awesome experience? Sailing & snorkeling. We took a catamaran around the island and stopped at a coral reef to see the ocean in its prime.
All was going fine until the group saw a shark, at which point I started screaming “Araahhh! Noooope!” through my snorkel and grasping Doug’s flipper. Don’t judge, it was the only thing I could hold at the time. Doug literally set up a stance in the water with his fists clenched in front of him in ninja position, ready to punch the shark. In hindsight the entire situation is hysterical.
The guide laughed as us and then proceeded to swim right up to the shark, snapping the below picture. He’s nuts if you ask me, but I have to say I admire his bravery.
All in all, it was an amazing, relaxing and adventurous time. We’re already planning our next trip back – anyone want to join? Namaste!
12 comments
This looks like a DREAM!
This pretty much seems like it’s out of a dream (or movie!). What an incredible place to spend part of your honeymoon. I can’t believe horses just wandered around the island like that! I think I might have been a bit freaked out at first, but I definitely would have wanted to go for a ride, too!
So freaking amazing. Doug is a good man for rubbing clay all over his face with you!
That’s gorgeous! You really were in paradise!
Oh my gosh this is so beautiful it doesn’t even look real!! Looks like you had a ton of fun!
http://www.madeintheshadeblog.com
ahhh SO cool! I’m jealous you got to see a turtle! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
I think we need to go here to take brand posts ASAP. Just sayin’
Nice photos! 🙂
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The Bioluminescent Bay experience sounds absolutely incredible!!
Bailey
aka Bailey
Oh my goodness, swoon! I would love the be there right now!
xx Kelly
Sparkles and Shoes
I love this post! I might just put this in my list of favourites 🙂
I am all into visiting a place with a preserved past.. Something you can still see. The small shipwrecks are on the top of my list. The Bioluminescent Bay sounds awesome too! I usually just see that in photos!
xx,
Jen
http://thecasualwanderer.blogspot.com/
It is SO beautiful there oh my goodness, I have been gawking at your honeymoon photos for like 20 minutes now haha. I want to go there so badly (like asap) and I haven’t even heard of it before now but your photos have convinced me that it is somewhere I need to be.
XOXO
Jess
http://jessprainstyle.com