PUERTO RICO
2023
We here at Seven Rivers made a fantastic discovery when we decided to visit Puerto Rico and explore some of the rivers and beaches it has to offer. We were excited to get away, but little did we know just how much adventure was avaialable and, mostly, very accessible. Critical to the quality of our excursion was the accompaniment of our Daughter and Son-in-Law who brought our 10 month old grandson in tow. They are super adventurous and had been to the Island before and mapped out many of our adventures.
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CEIBA
After landing in San Juan, we drove our rental car to the East Coast town of Ceiba, settled into our AirBNB and rested for the next day. The next morning, we drove to the Fajardo River where we parked in a private lot and hiked about 1/4 mile up a mild slope until we reached one of the popular pools on the river.
There, we swam in a large clear pool, viewed a minor water fall, swung into the river from a rope swing and jumped into the water from a stone outcrop about 10-15 feet above the water. At this pool, we saw several groups of tourists and locals with paid guides to take them to the hot spots. Most of them were decked out in helmets and life jackets to keep them from drowning and hitting their heads on the rocks.
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From the first pool, we hiked up a short distance to a more substantial waterfall where we saw a small guided group sliding down the waterfall into the pool below. Seeing how it was done, we jumped in and gave it a go. The water was exhilarating, and the rock slide was exciting.
Las Tinajas Falls
Heading back down stream a short distance, we graduated to plunging down a larger waterfall slide and higher cliffs.
Las Paylas
Not content with just one river trip in a day, after a brief lunch, we headed to another natural water slide at Las Paylas, along highway 983 near Luquillo. This was a single, longer slide with a large deep pool. There was gravel parking on the main road and only a short walk down a path to the river.
Fajardo Beach
We rounded out our first full day in Puerto Rico with a trip to Fajardo Beach to enjoy the sunset. A pleasant and beautiful stroll wound us down for the evening. But the biting gnats were active, so be sure to spray down with bug repellant. Enjoy these shots:
VIEQUES
Next morning, we took the ferry out of Ceiba to the island of Vieques. Vieques is off the East Coast of the main island and has several notable towns, with the chief being the town of Vieques. Vieques is notable for the hundreds of wild horses that roam the streets, neighborhoods and countryside. It also happens to have fantastic scenic beaches.
Here we settled in at another AirBNB, rented a golf cart and made an outing to a place called "Secret Beach".
Secret Beach
Playa Esperanza
Our second outing on Vieques was to Esperanza Beach, probably one of the most popular beaches on Vieques. However, we arrived in the late afternoon on a weekday, and it was not crowded at all. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking with small islands close to the beach. One of the islands is connected to the main beach during low tide by a narrow stretch of land. The view of the two bays separated by the narrow neck of beach is stunning. We snorkeled the beach and collected seashells and chorals.
Mosquito Pier
On day two on Vieques, we drove to Mosquito Pier, which is a large concrete pier built out on the end of a long jetty. It appeared to have been formerly used as a ferry pier, but, as far as we could tell, is only used now by fishermen and turtle watchers. Locals told us it was a good place to see turtles, but we were not fortunate enough to see any. Here we snorkeled along the jetty where we saw a great many starfish, sea urchins and small, colorful reef fish. We also saw much larger fish underneath the pier, some as big as a grown man. On the way to Mosquito Pier, we stopped and took pictures at the Ceiba Tree which is a little over 300 years old.
Playa Negra
(Black Sand Beach)
To round out the day, we went to Playa Negra, a black sand beach to the west of Esperanza. The beach was beautiful and unique.
Mosquito Bay
(Bioluminescent Bay)
A "must see" adventure on Vieques is the bioluminescent bay at Mosquito Bay. We picked a moonless night for this trip and paid for one of the many guided tours that explained the nature of and how best to enjoy the bay with a bonus lesson in star gazing. We tried our best to get pictures of the excursion, but none of them turned out due to the extreme darkness.
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Mosquito Bay itself has a very interesting history. It gets its name, not from the biting insects, but from a small pirate ship that was uniquely able to navigate into the narrow pass of the bay and hide from authorities.
The bioluminescence of the water is created by microorganisms that light up with movement, much like fireflies do. There are two chemicals that come in contact with one another when moved causing them to produce a flash of light. When anything moves the water, it created a blue glowing light. Every stroke of the paddle creates swirls of blue light. If you toss the water into the air, it lights up the sky. When fish move in the water, you can spot them by their blue light trail. There are only a handful of bioluminescent bays in the world, and this is reportedly the best.
La Soplaera
After two days on Vieques, we ferried back to the main island and headed West to the Soplaera waterfall near Penuelas. There was a moderate hike to the waterfall where we enjoyed swimming and a picnic. The water here was colder and the pool at the bottom of the falls was very shaded.
La Parguera
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Cayo Caracoles
From Penuelas, we traveled further West to the festive village of Parguera where we had dinner at a restaurant on the square and watched the town sing, dance and play music in the courtyard. The next morning, we hired a boat to take us out to Cayo Caracoles, four very small islands just off the coast. Cayo Caracoles is a family of 4 small islands that are barely above sea level in low tide. They are covered in Mangrove trees where you can hang a hammock and spend the day swimming and snorkeling. between the western two islands, the water deepens into a choral and reef fish garden. We spent most of the day here enjoying the unique playground.
Cabo Rojo
Our next adventure was Cabo Rojo, on the in the southwest corner of the island. This part of Puerto Rico was much drier that the other parts of the island we visited. At Cabo Rojo we hiked an unsheltered trail along the scenic cliffs of the seashore and then up to a historic lighthouse. Back down from the lighthouse, there is a sheltered bay with a beautiful beach. The trees along the beach offer great shade and a perfect place to hang your hammocks. There were hundreds of large Hermit Crabs and a few nice shells. Take lots of water for the hot, dry hike.
Rincon Beach
From Cabo Rojo, we drove north along the West coast to Rincon where we found a beach with great snorkeling. There were old reefs just off the beach where we found, lobsters, flounder and plenty of reef fish.
Charco El Pilon
From the beach at Rincon, we drove a precipitous mountain road to the waterfalls at Charco El Pilon. This was my second favorite waterfall of the trip. I required a long hike through shady rainforest, but the trail was rarely steep. The waterfall was high with a crystal clear and deep pool at the bottom. But for those who have the skill and upper body strength, you can scale the walls to the top of the waterfall and beyond to a beautiful scene of rock shelters, a deep slot crevice carved by the streem and small cascading waterfalls. We strung up a hammock, had a picnic and made a day of it.
And after 8 whirlwind days of adventure, you know what we did on the flight home!
