June ’10
Traveling to Puerto Rico is pretty easy, making your way to Culebra Island is a bit more than claiming your bags and checking into your hotel. I was traveling with two other friends on this trip, we spent the day on the mainland and the night. The next day we drove the rental car to the return station that was closest to the Fajardo ferry port. We arranged for a van to take us to the ferry earlier in the day.
We sat for about 45 minutes in a basic white station at the port, the pizza place in there actually had great pizza and for a good price! I’m glad I got a few slices before the hour and fifteen minute trip between the mainland and Culebra.
Seating is plenty, outside or inside.
The trip is basically due East and a good time to relax or have fun. No food or drinks are sold on board, so bring what you need. There are luggage racks on every deck and flat screens usually play some sort entertainment.
The port at Culebra is very basic and you’ll get to know it well since its right around the corner from a few restaurants and bars that you will frequent. Yes, you will... because there is not much else out there! But of course there are a few resorts and indi bars that exist. Many are just a few more blocks away from the port. There is a great Pizza place there called "Heathers" and she makes a mean pizza! I’ve had the crab meat pizza (real crab) for $25. for a large pie.
Stay away from Medalla beer!!! DO NOT drink this stuff, it is quite possibly the worst beer I have ever had! They have plenty of others to choose from, not to worry. If you’d like to save some cash and you drink liquor, get some duty free on the way down. One can save about $7. a bottle on rum.
We stayed at a small villa with a kitchen and shopped almost every other day for food. A rental car is a must because there are many places to shore dive and you’ll need to go to the hardware store to get your tanks.
If taking steep, rutted and mud-bogged roads are not a thrill for you (and you don’t have experience) you’ll want to spend the extra money on Jeep.
We have experience and my friends have been there several times so we had a 1972 VW Thing for our rental car.
There is one dive center that does run boat trips and they will take care of you as per normal operation. I should tell you, they are across from the ferry terminal.
The diving is nice and pretty easy. We had some 3 to 4 foot swells for a few days and with the 22 foot boat that our friend took us out on, it was a challenge to get off the boat and to get back in it too! We saw one Lion fish, I wanted to take it but had nothing to do that with. I suggested we eat it and my friends thought I was crazy. Well, that’s for another Blog. It rained the first five days we were there, so the visibility was 25 to 40 feet. Lots of snow in the water and it made photography a challenge.
All in all, it was a fun, mellow trip. It was nice to travel to the Caribbean without having to go through customs (US people only) and have Duty Free access! Not dealing with foreign currency, power & cell service was a bonus too.