With only a few weeks left before Zane's deployment, we decided to take a trip as part of his pre-deployment leave. We wanted to go somewhere fun and new but we were limited to places within the U.S. because Zane's passport expired just a month before. We are definitely beach lovers so we wanted to go somewhere "beachy" and relaxing that also had some history and other fun things to do. We wanted somewhere we had never been so we decided to fly out to Puerto Rico for a week and since it's a U.S. territory, we did not have to worry about passport issues.
So I booked out resort and we started packing. A few days before we realized that Hurricane Earl was due to hit the island right when we were supposed to be there. But since everything was already booked and paid for, we decided to go ahead with our plans anyway. After all, how bad could it be?
We first flew out to Miami and spent 2 days there. While we were there we enjoyed the beach of course but also went out to the Florida Everglades and took an air boat tour. We glided over the water at fast speeds and got to see some alligators and learn about this cool area. After our ride, we walked over to the zoo area and got the chance to hold a baby alligator! I definitely recommend going there and taking a tour if ever in the area. It was so much fun and a very cool experience.
We flew into Puerto Rico the following day and got to the hotel in the early afternoon. We stayed in a beautiful 5 star resort with a all the bells and whistles. We spent our first day enjoying the resort and pool and checking out its beaches. We were a bit surprised not to find amazing beaches there, they were pretty rocky and there was seaweed everywhere. Not really what we had expected so we hung out at the pool most of the day while enjoying some drinks and good music.
By that evening Hurricane Earl was predicted to hit the island, so after grabbing some dinner, we hunkered down in our room with Cally and hung out. From what we could see it was nothing but a little rain and some wind.
The following morning, we opened our curtains to find super strong winds blowing the palm trees and lots of rain. Hurricane Earl was officially here. We hung out on our balcony and watched the storm. It was fun and a little exciting. There were times when the wind and rain would die down so we decided that we couldn't just spend all day in the room and that a little rain and wind wasn't gonna stop us. So we got in the car and drove down to Old San Juan, the historical capital of Puerto Rico filled with with old colorful buildings and two amazing forts overlooking the water. Because of the hurricane, this lively town was quiet and empty. We were one of the only ones out. Most restaurants were closed but we finally found a place to eat and after grabbing some lunch we forged on in the wind and rain and walked to the forts. By this point, there was not a soul in site, just the 3 of us. It wasn't cold at all, just windy and rainy so it didn't bother us. Of course the forts were closed due to the weather so we walked around them, took some pictures, and checked out the area. Overall it was a great day and Hurricane Earl ended up being nothing more than some wind and rain.
The following day we were ready for something new. Puerto Rico has an amazing rainforest with all sorts of trails leading to different waterfalls, etc., and we couldn't wait to get going. Once we got there, there were huge signs everywhere saying that the national park was closed due to the hurricane the night prior. We weren't gonna let this hurricane get in our way, so we decided to continue on, ignoring the signs.As we drove up the roads, it became more and more difficult. We got to a point where there was so much debris (leaves, branches, etc.) on the road that we could no longer see it and we finally decided that we couldn't go on any more. We parked and got out and looked around to find a trail of some sort but there was nothing. We took a few pictures and finally a park ranger drove by and recommended a place we could visit in the park "tomorrow" once the park was cleaned up a bit. So we took his directions and headed that way. We didn't want to at another day since we only had a few days left there. We finally found a creek with small waterfalls and stopped there to swim, hang out, and enjoy the day. We spent a few hours there and it was wonderful.
The rain forest wasn't the only thing on our itinerary that day so after hanging out in the creek for a while, we packed up and headed to Vieques, a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. We really had no idea what to expect but we had heard that the beaches there were beautiful so we had to go. We spent some time driving around looking for a decent beach in Puerto Rico, but much to our surprise, we didn't find anything even worth stopping for. We took an hour ferry to the island and once we got to there, we got out and had no idea where to go. I found a cab driver finally and asked him to take us to it's famous beaches. He nodded and we drove a good 20 minutes to the other side of the island. He dropped us off along with some other tourists in front of the only restaurant that we found to be remotely decent in our whole stay in Puerto Rico. We had lunch there and then walked across the street to it's "famous beaches." Well it was nothing but rocks, no sand really, and the water was filled with seaweed again. This was not the kind of beach we expected here either. So Zane and I decided to venture out a bit to see if we could find something better. We walked a good mile or two and finally got to a place that was decent enough to stop. We weren't sure if the hurricane caused the seaweed to be all stirred up in the water but it was not great having to swim through it to get to cleaner water. We spent sometime in the water and laying out and then headed back to catch a cab back to the ferry and back to our resort. We finished our day back in the pool enjoying some drinks and music.
Our final day in Puerto Rico we headed to visit their famous caverns. We drove 2 hours and when we got there, they were closed due to the hurricane two days ago. There was not much to do in that little town so we decided to head back towards San Juan since we were leaving that night back to FL. On our way back, I remembered that the Bicardi Factory was in San Juan so we stopped there for a tour to pass the time. It was very interesting and entertaining and we had a great time.
Finally our time in Puerto Rico came to an end. We had a great time, even with a hurricane, but we were overall disappointed with their beaches and their food. However we got to spend 4 days together and nothing can top that!
