So our goal for this trip was to take things nice and slow. Honestly, with a 5 month old, that wasn’t very hard. She kept us going at a fairly slow pace. This is important especially since my automatic mode while on vacation in TURBO. It is just not my natural reaction when in a new place to sit down and relax. I need to explore and see as much of it as I can.

So, when I tell you we were in bed until nearly 11 AM that next morning, you will know that it wasn’t just an accident, or a passive choice, it was deliberate. How did Mirah do with all of this? Pretty well. Here she is with baby Zombie eyes.

She gets really fussy though, if she is inside, or in one place for too long. She is the one who eventually got us going, most mornings. But yes, we slept in most mornings while in PR. We would wake up to feed and change her, take turns when she woke up. But really, as long as we kept the room pretty dark,  her diaper nice and dry, and her belly all full, she slept in with us like a champ. 

So, we leisurely got up that morning, and made our way to the pier. We parked our car in a lot made for people like us to take the ferry to Vieques. Vieques is a little island of the coast of PR. We were later told by our cabie, that it is 12 miles long and at it’s widest 7 miles wide. It was mostly occupied by the US Navy for some reason until 12 years ago.  Besides the few roads in the small town there, there is only one paved road on this island. The rest are just dirt or grass. There is a car rental place right near where you get off of the ferry that just rents SUVs and Jeeps. You can drive around on these remote roads and find your own private beach.

So, we set off on the ferry. It took forever to get tickets. But we can’t really complain because they were only $2 a person, and Mirah was free. The problem was that if you are a resident PR you get preference, because the ferry is really meant for them.
We spoke to a women in line who live on St Thomas Island, and she said it is harder to Island jump than you would think. She can see Vieques from home, but to get there is 100+ dollars and only by plane. She was taking this trip just because she happened to have a reason to be in PR.
We waiting in line to get on the boat. Karl ran and grabbed us some food:

Pinchos. What turned out to be Karl’s favorite PR food. Chicken or Pork on a stick served with garlic bread. It was couple bucks a serving. The meat was tasty and covered in sweet BBQ sauce. Karl LOVED them. For the rest of the trip Karl would stop and get them any time he saw them.
Anyway.
The boat was two levels, with an open upper deck. We sat up top, to take advantage of the beautiful Caribbean ocean air.

We brought the stroller, which ended up being a really great idea. Here is Mirah with the captan.

She loved it. And her keys.

We were off! The trip was supposed to take about an hour, so we settled in, and let the views wash over us. The day was warm and the sky was blue.

Karl and Mirah enjoyed the gentle rocking of the boat.

It eventually made Mirah cranky  then poopy, then hungry. I nursed her on the boat, with the bay to one side and Karl on the other. She then napped on the boat too.

About an hour and a half later, we made it.

As we got off the boat, a sign caught our eye:

This totally white lady with a west coast accent was making fresh frute smoothies.



My was Mango. It was a little fibery, but the flavor was there, even if the texture wasn’t quite right.

We thought we might walk to find a beach, but decided in the end to take a cab, and it was a good thing too.
We took the old military road to Red Beach. This all used to be cleared land, but they have just let the jungle over grow all signs of the navy. Wild horses, and owned horses a like roam the island. Our cab driver said it was common for young men on the island to try and ride the wild horses if you could catch one. (Owned horses are branded on their chests so you can tell the difference.) He said he had tried to catch one with little success as a kid. The horses are like deer. They will get hit by cars at night, and just walk out of the jungle unexpectedly.

He dropped us off, and promised to be back by 5 so we could catch the ferry back to Fajardo. Red beach was one of the only beachs that had a paved road to it. Even so, it was pretty vacant.

The only issue is that the lawn that creeps up to the beach is full of thorns and bull heads! We watched a lady try and walk it bear foot…mistake. I mean look at my flip flop!

We  changed in a gazibo, before getting in the water. It was such a hastle getting dressed, we decided to not try and get Mirah into a bathing suit.

Karl went out first. Them me and Mirah.


Oh, did I mention she was totally naked? So cute! The water was so warm, that she didn’t mind a bit!

I think she just totally loved it. She was being so happy and cute was we got in and out of the water.

Our feet in the sand.

We swam, walked up and down the beach and just relaxed.



Yikes, Karl stepped on these and they went through is sandle!

Our cabbie arrived, and took us back to the port. We had time to have a bite to eat before the ferry arrived. This conch Pastelillo. We also had a beef, chicken and cheese.

We also tried tostones. They are plantan patties. Like sweet potaote pancakes. We didn’t care for them. The sause was like fry sause and thousand Island had a chilly garlic baby.

Mirah was just bummed to be back inside. She wanted to be out on some more adventures.


Sand in her toes…

We went back to the dock, and waited for the ferry.

Mirah started to fuss a little. But Karl was there with some sweet distractions.

The sun began to set, and the view was lovely.

Dark clouds began to roll in, with some of the promised rain.

Luckily, so did the ferry.

This boat was a differnt style than the one we took over. It was all inside, which was fine becasue of ther rain. It also carried cars over. The cabin was air conditioned (blessedly) and they played The Hunger Games on a couple of flat screen tv’s for the trip. It was actually quite nice. We fed Mirah again on the trip home. But it was cold and loud in there. Not a great combo for a baby.

We made it back to the hotel sometime later. We had dinner at the Hotel’s mexican restaurant  which was kind of hilarious. Then inbed by nine. Great day.