We travel to STJ almost every year - and will be back in Feb 2015. We had heard great things about Vieques and we visited there in December. What follows is the text of a TR we posted on another site.
While we have only been coming to STJ for 12 years we think that Vieques must be close to what STJ was 20 or 30 years ago.
Not a lot to do except go to the great beaches. Only 1 nice gift shop in the island which was fine by us. Lots of reading and relaxing. We will be back.
Trip Report
We got back yesterday from a great restful week in Vieques. I received a great deal of help from this forum wanted to pass it on with a short trip report.
In terms of background we are “St. John/Coral Bay side” people, having been 5 or 6 times. We have also traveled to St. Martin, St. Thomas and spent a week on a crewed cat in the BVI’s last March. I had been following Vieques informally since the press started around the military pull out in 2003 and when we had time for a short trip decided to give it a try – and we are so glad we did.
Lodging
Our ultimate goal was to stay at Quinta Jabali but only 4 days were available – so we booked that and then three days prior to that at Cima Del Mundo
http://www.vrbo.com/483467 . This was recommended by a friend who travels to Vieques often and knows the O’Keefe’s.
We really enjoyed our stay at “Cima”, they are great hosts, and the place is new and immaculate with a great view. We also enjoyed the proximity to Isabel as we found we enjoyed learning the island from a base at that end. Would highly recommend.
What can one say about Quinata Jabali. Quiet, relaxing, CO privacy, very tastefully furnished. It is a beautiful home that provided a great 4 days of relaxation. The lack of internet was a slight bother but AT&T is available from one part of the villa and we were able to do email with few issues.
Beaches
We tried not to see the entire island on this trip – we started out at the far eastern end of the refuge and worked our way back from La Plata, to La Chiva to Pata Prieta. On the other end we drove out to Green beach/Punta Arenas. Out favorite was La Chiva or Blue Beach. It was the only beach we did twice. Loved the wide expanse of it – on Tuesday of this week at 2:00 there were 6 people on the entire beach that is perhaps 700 yards long. Wonderful. Pata Prieta was small but nice and ranked it as our #3. Our #2 was La Plata where we shared the beach with two other couples.
Green Beach was a huge disappointment. The road is not only horrible, which we could deal with but it’s a LONG bad road. Once out there we kind of looked at each other and said “Huh?” . The beach was just not that nice compared to the others, narrow, not especially scenic. I know some love it but we would not go thought that drive again – there are just too many alternatives.
Food
The place we ate at the most for breakfast was Buen Provecho, next to the art gallery in Isabel. Great service, breakfast sandwiches, an excellent breakfast burrito. Liked it better that Roy’s Coffee Shop which is also popular for breakfast. Got take out sandwiches for lunch one day which were also good.
Other hits were:
1. Spending a night at Noches del Cultura at Conuco – a wonderful mix of art, dance and food.
2. Tin Box – I know a bit about BBQ and this was pretty good – a solid A-.
3. Sabores for apps – wonderful pork bits and lots of them.
4. Taverna – Very Good Pizza. Lot of ex pats.
5. Lazy Jacks – friendly service from Noel – good drinks and pizza.
6. Next Course – A new waiter - but he was trying hard – and the food was great.
7. El Patio/Bieke’s Bistro. This was out first meal and was very good. Understand they had a new chef and might be going through some struggles but our food was good.
8. Sol Food – Huge sandwiches, great brownies. A fun stop twice.
Misses
Sadly our most disappointing meal was the one we had saved for the last night, El Quenepo. The setting was OK, the service outstanding but the food was so so. It was just too complicated – I had steak and my wife had grouper. My steak was tough and medium well instead of medium rare. The sides that accompany the main courses were just a mishmash of flavors. It seemed to us that someone was trying too hard to be something out of Top Chef instead of offering a clear tasteful meal. Sadly we might skip it the next visit.
Misc
Had a wonderful massage at the villa from Ingrid at Vieques Massage. The fort was just OK (with many exhibits presented only in Spanish) no reason to go back, as was the “bunkers” and the Ceiba tree. Flights were great and on time on Cape Air – got “shotgun” on the way back to SJU which was fun.
Rented a Jeep from Maritza’s and it was a 100% good experience. Both villa owners recommended them and we would rent there again.
Summary
We love Vieques. We felt very safe, even when wandering Isabel at night. There is a robust police presence – there are police cars driving by every time you look. Our host at the first villa told us there are actually three different entities.
It was a slow week on the island we were told by many people but felt fine to us. In terms of comparison to St. John I would say that it is even more laid back that STJ.
It is such a small island everybody knows everybody. We would run into the same residents all over the island, in a variety of places. And when you mentioned a person they of course knew them well. Maybe that’s why the driving we found to be very cooperative and low key – can’t really get too wired on island time much less honk at someone.
There is little to do on Vieques other than the beaches, no real hiking opportunities, not a lot of shopping to be done – but that’s OK. We did not do any snorkeling this trip but I would say that STJ wins that category as well.
There is defiantly a place in our heart from now on to VQS. We will be back, while we also plan our next trip to STJ.
Thanks to the individuals that post here – I’ve been lurking and reading for a couple of months and it was a big help!
