TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico Spanish Virgins

We have bare boated in the Grenadines and BVI and are trying out the Spanish Virgins this year. I love crystal clear water and white sand beaches. I grew up on a boat between Grenada and Puerto Rico but we spent most of our weekend trips going to Green Beach on Vieques and longer excursions were to the Grenadines. Any must sees for the Spanish Virgins? Keep in mind that I lived there in the days when you couldn't go to the south side of Vieques because of the bombings.

I'm chartering in the SVI for the third time next month. My past trip reports are here: Islandtime.

Of the beaches on Vieques accessible to charter boats, I like Blue Beach (Bahia de la Chiva) best, but it can be rough for overnight. Definitely get to Playa Flamenco on Culebra -- it's "busy" on weekends, but lays back during the week. It's sort of like Grand Anse (Grenada) on a non-cruise-ship day, but prettier, and has the convenience of kiosks selling local food (we like mofongo so much we named our race boat Mofongo). My favorite beach is Bahia Tortuga on Culebrita; walk to the end, and enjoy the Jacuzzis (but be sure to wear sturdy shoes).

SVI is great as stated. We found this cruising guide invaluable: http://www.amazon.com/Cruising-Guide-Pue...+cruising+guide

The only negative is you must return to Fajardo to fill your water tanks

Culabrita is on my must-do list. It's a nice hike up to the light-house with spectacular views, and the Jacuzzi's are wonderful.

Anchoring off Esperanza and having dinner in town. The BioBay is awesome!!! PM me about which service you should not get a tour with.

Green Beach at the end of Vieques - beautiful, tranquil.

If you're on a cat (or land-based) a visit to Playa Flamenco on Culebra is a must. This anchorage gets a surge and could be VERY uncomfortable in a monohull. We were on a 41-foot cat and ok, but it was still a little bouncy.

We pulled into Puerto Del Ray for 2 days, rented a car and went into the rainforest. The hike to La Mina falls is a level 2 difficulty on the 1-3 scale. Bring good tennis shoes, snacks, and water! The falls are beautiful and refreshing if you want to take a dip!

Hope that helps!

Eva,

Will you let me know what the mooring situation is when you get back. I checked out your past trip reports (they are great) and noticed that between 2011 and 2012 the mooring ball availability had diminished. Not that I mind anchoring, I'm just curious.

I've been wondering about Stephen Pavlidis' cruising guide. Since it was published in 2002 I was worried it was outdated. I will check it out. Has anyone used Donald Street's guide? I grew up with his kids in Prickly Pear in Grenada and he was known then for having good cruising guides because his boat had found every reef there was!

I believe the Pavlidis guide to Puerto Rico second edition is from 2010. I have read the SVI section of both that and the Street guide for the area. I found the Street full of anecdotal stuff and not much navigational info, but to be fair, he has a fair amount of "sailing directions" on the back of his Imray charts for the area, which I recommend. I found the Pavlidis guide more useful for its sketch charts but lacking some important info, like what areas of Vieques are off limits ( or would have been at the time of printing). A couple other options are finding an older version of the Scott guide to the VI, which has a section on SVI; I think ours is from 05-06. Also Bruce Van Sant's Gentleman's Guide to Passages South has a section of about 30 pages or more on SVI, also with good sketch charts. You might check eBay for these last two. Have fun!

We lost our chartplotter midway to Culebra a few years back. The entrance can be very tricky and visually misleading. We used Pavlidis' entrance instructions and made it in without indecent. It's always nice to plot a course on paper, very rewarding.

I will definitely report on the latest info about the SVI. Only days until I get there....