Every day we all rise and shine and go about our daily routine, but how many times do we wake up thinking “Today I will go to one of the top 10 most exotic beaches of the world?”
That is exactly what we got up thinking. We aspired to go to Culebra.
Culebra is an island 20 miles off the north-east coast of Puerto Rico and has been ranked as one of the Top Ten Beach and Sun Destinations in the World by TripAdvisor.
The ferry to Culebra leaves from Fajardo (Terminal De Lanchas) and since we were staying in Fajardo (north-east of San Juan, Puerto Rico), we simply had to go!!! Our hotel concierge presaged that travelers to this desired location would be camping out to buy the tickets from 0400AM. Likelihood of securing the tickets seemed bleak since it was July’s long weekend; however we were going to try our best.
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
0600AM – Although, it is not a journey of a thousand miles, getting to Culebra is an adventure in itself. My hero hubby got up at 0600AM, drove to the terminal and stood in line for the tickets from 0630AM. (Gosh!! how sweet is that). The tip off was true, and there were tourists in line from 0400AM.
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| Fajardo Terminal |
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| Tickets to Vieques and Culebra Island |
0815AM - My toddler, mom-in-law and I got ready, packed all the required stuff for the day and took a taxi to the terminal. I then, stood in line and gave some well deserved time off to my hubby.
The line moved at the pace of a tortoise and I was just hoping that we could win the race!! Whenever someone bought their tickets they would yell "YES” and jump up and down and it would just spark a little bit of hope and excitement in other tourists waiting in line.
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| My boyz waiting in line to get the tickets |
0930AM - Just one more traveler ahead of us at 0930AM and the ticket counter closed. No Culebra after all this effort??!!! I still stood there dazed and talking to all the disappointed tourists behind me and just then like a movie scene, the captain of the ferry made an appearance and said something in Spanish. All I understood was CULEBRA and I wiggled back to the counter and got 4 tickets. Of course I yelled "YES" and jumped up and down!!! They gave out a total of 6-10 more tickets...
We literally had to run to the ferry and went up to the upper deck. We stood outside the whole time. The sea breeze and water on our face felt so gratifying. The ferry ride takes about 1 to 1.5 hours. Initial excitement stalled (for me) as the sea got rough after about 45 minutes and I felt a little woozy. The guy who was in front of me, who later became our friend, advised me to stand in the direction we were headed and to look at the horizon (the mountain that we could see up ahead) and that REALLY helped and I didn’t get seasick (WHEW)!! My baby was not troubled at all and stood out the whole time.
Upon reaching Culebra port, we saw a lot of taxis waiting outside with placards that said “Flamenco Beach - $3”, however the first thing we did was buy the famous and delicious passion fruit ice-cream “Parcha”. I think we all had about 3 of those per day. We then sat in the taxi and off we went...
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| The middle one - Parcha the best ice-cream ever!!!! |
On our way to Flamenco, we stopped at the airport to see if we can catch a flight back to Ceiba (South of Fajardo); for the sake of thrill, however they had only 2 tickets for the 5.30PM flight which they eventually cancelled due to rains in the evening.
Our Destination - Flamenco beach
Flamenco Beach Ranked # 2 in the top 10 most exotic beaches in the world. The beach is also protected by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources as a Marine Wildlife Reserve ~ Wikipedia
Once you enter the beach, there are a lot of food stalls where you can grab tasty food to eat. After a refreshing coconut juice and tasty and fresh Mexican food we headed straight to the beach
We had a great family time at this place and we wish and hope to come again ... The trip was so worth it.
We took the 0500PM ferry back and our return trip was very smooth and relaxing. We reached Fajardo, got our car from the parking lot and after getting some dinner, we reached home by 08PM!!!
After we settled our exhausted beach baby and mom in our hotel room, hubby and I got our second wing and went for our night adventure at 0900PM ... I have no clue where we got the energy for that one... and it was a MUST- DO. A brief write up on that coming up next...!! :)
Send me a note or feel free to ask any questions about Culebra or our Puerto Rico itinerary!!! Let me know of your experience when you go there, or if anyone has been there - done that!!
6 comments:
Yet another thrilling adventure!!! So glad that you got the tickets on time (that was a looooonngg wait!!)...and had a fantabulous time. Loved seeing the blue waters, and I cant stopping thinking about the "Parcha" and coconut water:p.....So happy to see Rishi playing happily playing in the water..fun fun! Its wonderful just to read about this exotic beach, and thanks to you I felt like I was a part of this adventure myself..looking forward to your next post..best wishes!!!
Gaya - Thank you for your comment and wishes. We had almost lost hope of securing the tickets.. but the wait was so worth it!! :)
Hey Deeps,
As always beautiful writting. Thank god you got the tickets. Your writting gives an effect of watching either a suspense or thriller movie. I loved reading it. Waiting for your next script. Publish soon.......
Thanks Deepa for your lovely comment :) .. my next "not so much of a suspense thriller" coming up soon.. :)
Hey Dips! First of all, what a great post :). I feel like a part of your adventure. I enjoyed reading it a lot :)
You were always the traveler... but I really and truly admire you for pursuing your passion for travel as a Mom! Rishi seems to have enjoyed the adventure just as much (if not more). Kudos! Looking forward to more :)
Oh! Bittu such a lovely comment!! I felt really nice reading it. I was immediately transported back to the past, recalling our Kerala trip together and all the fun we had. You have given me another idea of writing an article or making a photo album of all the travel adventures of Rishi :)
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