Puerto Rico 2008

For our group of 13, 7 of us took a red-eye from LAX so we could arrive about 2pm in San Juan. 4 of us left San Francisco on a red-eye and arrived about 1:45pm. 2 left Denver early in the morning of the 3rd and arrived about 3pm in San Juan. We took a shuttle to Charlie's Rental Cars and picked up our 2 minivans for our vacation. For all 3 groups, the flights worked perfectly and we even arrived early to the island. The only catch the first day was Charlie's. In a Puerto Rican downpour, we were left almost 2 hours waiting for our rentals. Two different groups showed up after us and got minivans, but we waited (we were the only American group--go figure). Once we got our vans, we headed off to the Hotel El Convento for our first night in Old San Juan.

Posted 3 months ago.

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Hotel El Convento was incredible. It was perfectly located to run around Old San Juan and the hotel had such great character and feeling. It's pretty expensive, especially for us middle-classers, but it was worth one great night of luxury for the experience. We toured Old San Juan in different groups and had a great time walking the streets all around downtown Old San Juan.

On Wednesday, we left Old San Juan and traveled by rental to Fajardo. The trip took about 1:15 to arrive at the Ferry for our 2-night trip to Vieques. They have lots of parking there and we actually left our rentals there. You can't drop off the rentals anywhere near Fajardo so we had to eat the cost of 2 days without the vans and we actually rented 3 jeeps in Vieques for 4-wheeling and beach hopping. The ferry ride was $2/person and got us there in about 80 minutes. No one got seasick but I can see the potential. Once we arrived in the ferry town of Isabel II we got a "publico" (taxi van) and headed off to pick up our jeeps from Maritza's. Nothing but good things to say about them. I would use them every time I return. They were courteous and efficient. We stayed at Tropical Guest House. It was pretty cheap, but we really enjoyed our time there. It's a local/roughing it feel but the rooms were clean and cold (AC worked hard). Vieques is so tiny you can see all the island easily from any hotel so a $60/night place was well worth it for us. The first night there we drove to Esperanza (south side) and did the Biobay tour. It was one of the great experiences ever. The biobay is a mystical, incredible experience. You can't film it, so it makes even more surreal that you have to experience it to enjoy it. The second day in Vieques we beachcombed. Our favorite was probably Red Beach (Playa Caracas), although each of the southern beaches we visited had something special. Vieques was a tropical paradise. If you're looking for R&R it's the perfect place to be. Friday morning we caught the early afternoon ferry off to Fajardo and bid farewell after briefly visiting the fort above Isabel II. It was quaint and had a gorgeous view. Vieques had postcard beaches, which were nearly deserted except for us, and pleasant locals. It was definitely a highlight of a great trip we had to the Caribbean.