Flying to Culebra

So after check out Ponce  on the South Coast & Rincon on the west coast, we decided we needed to take drastic steps to find our dream beach.  According to our Eyewitness Top 10 Travel guide, one of the Top 10 things to see was the island of Culebra- off the east coast.  We’d had our fair share of driving & we’[d have to get up very early to catch the ferry, so we splurged on flights (~$150 per person if I remember correctly) and hoped to see some incredible beaches on our last day.

Flying over the coast, we passed by the Marriott beach, where we’d totally crashed their parking lot & borrowed some lounge chairs for a few hours on Monday after our tour of Old San Juan.

One of the things I really love about flying is the different perspective you get from an airplane.  We’d already spent 10+ hours on the streets of Puerto Rico, crossing the island, but seeing the city laid out from above is novel & interesting to me.

Luckily, the inter-island flight took off from the smaller airport & it was a breeze to drive right up & park- no security or anything!  We flew over the main international airport as we flew east towards the island of Culebra.

Although the coastal areas of Puerto Rico are fairly flat for a few miles, there are some pretty decent sized hills & mountains in the center of the island.  We drove through them on our way to Ponce & they created their own weather pattern on Friday with localized thunderstorms in the hills.

We were on a tiny plane- maybe 8 total people & this was my view- mostly a giant wing & engine, but I still tried to grab a few shots around it.

I was very excited when we finally got to the wide open beaches with rolling waves and beautiful countryside.

The town of Fajardo sits on the east coast & looked like a neat place.  There were several things to do there according to our guidebook & I’m the Bioluminescent Bay kayaking & swimming were one of the few things we didn’t get to do.

I think the total flight time was only about 25 minutes & we were quickly over the 10 miles of ocean separating Culebra from the main island.  There were tons of tiny little islands and reefs breaking up the surf and creating gorgeous patterns and stunning colors.

The island of Culebra is serpent in Spanish and it was named for its winding shape that creates miles of shorelines & tons of protected coves and beaches.

Now I’m generally not a nervous flyer & it takes a lot for me to gasp, but the landing into the airport- where we quickly dove down to just above the tree tops & banked hard towards the runway was certainly one for the brave.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My mom is now reading the blog!   ::waves to mom & John::