In search of the Perfect Beach

Gringo Beach, otherwise known as Playa Gallito

So four days after cramming as much information in as we could about the island, the property and its functioning, Eric finally packed up and we dropped him at the airport. It was now just going to be us and whatever our creative imaginations, and luck, would have for us.

We were now free to explore the island at our whim and so that’s just what we did. The first thing Chase wanted to do was stop at Gringo Beach for a quick dip to refresh himself. This is a little beach between the airport and the W Resort (the only resort on the island), so named apparently because of the white guy that used to keep it clean and tidy. This was a draw, but also was its accessibility.

Road 200 runs beside the Atlantic shoreline here and you can pull into a dirt road that stretches into a small promontory that’s just big enough to fit a few cars. Gringo beach sprawls out to the east of this. It's not a big beach, it's just a narrow strip of yellow sand book-ended by rocky outcrops; not too impressive but it was a beach nevertheless and was nice enough to take a dip. Not only that, it was convenient, no one was there, and we could leave the car right on the promontory, in plain sight, so I didn’t have to worry about anything happening to it. 

Above image from http://www.vieques-island.com/

But we wanted to find those amazingly beautiful beaches we had seen in pictures representing Vieques (like right). Where were they?

We needed to go to the Caribbean side of Vieques, which was on the southern side. This area here wasn’t sheltered enough; the strong trade winds that we had experienced in San Juan also seemed to batter this shore. We weren’t going to find any calm, crystal clear waters in this environment.

According to the free fold out map you’ll find all over Vieques, there were a bunch of beaches along the southern side, and we hoped upon hope this was where we were going to find those perfect beaches. So we headed for Esperanza, that charming little town on the opposite end of the island.

To the east of the Malecon in Esperanza in front of a huge dirt parking lot, the beach of Esperanza unfurls dramatically. It wasn’t that it was a perfect beach, but it was surprisingly charming after the dirt junk yard that concealed it from the road. 

It had an allure like the town it belonged to. It’s slender beach was dirty yellow and stretched out in either direction interrupted by a small boat launch and two piers at either side protruding into a cerulean sea, one long, the other quite short. A handful of tiny colourful boats idled lazily in this sheltered area protected by a grassy island (Cayo de Afuera) a hundred or so metres out. This scene resonates with the essence of the historical fishing village it is.

If only that ugly parking lot didn’t break the illusion. It would make for a nice grassy park area, shaded by the trees that are already there and the colourful food shacks that are situated to one side of the lot, don't you think?

One other point of interest was this statue we found of a bust standing sentinel by the boat launch. It is a memorial to Ángel Rodríguez Cristóbal. He was a Puerto Rican native, a Vietnam Vet., and an activist who became involved with the Viequense fishermen in their fight against the presence of the United States Navy in Vieques. 

After his arrest in May 1979, along with twenty other protesters who were participating in an act of religious civil disobedience on a beach in an area occupied by the navy, he was sentenced to six months in a prison in Florida. The abrupt, sad end to this story is that he was murdered in his prison cell only a month before he was to be freed, allegedly beaten to death by federal officers. While the authorities claim it was a suicide[1], locals believe he was assassinated by the US government for defending the territorial integrity of Vieques[2]. He was 33 years old.

The statue is bequeathed by The Fishermen’s Association of Vieques and translation of some of the inscription in Spanish reads:

“When the cause is just, there is no need to fear.” And,
“…Upon his assassination, he enters the pantheon of the immortals whose deaths defines a piece of Puerto Rican history.”

But back to more trivial matters: the beach quest. Esperanza beach was nice, but the water was not the clear, turquoise-tinged liquid we were looking for, nor the sand powdery fine and white. After testing the waters, we moved on. 

What about Sun Bay?We had passed the entrance to this beach on our first day here, and it was just east of Esperanza. As one of the most popular beaches on the island surely it had something to offer.

The full name of this reserve is Balneario Sun Bay. There are a number of beaches around Puerto Rico with this title and it basically means they are public beaches, that is, they are controlled by the Department of Natural Resources and the Municipal government's Department of Sports and Recreation. The name is somewhat misleading I think, it should really be called a "private beach" as it is fenced off and access is controlled by a gate where you must pay a fee if you go by car (which was unmanned this day). But it also means that it is maintained and contains public facilities like toilets and life-guard stands, and you can even camp there. This piqued my interest mainly because it must mean it was clean, which seems to be a rarity around this place.

We drove into the gate down a stretch of road that passed a large grassy parkland speckled with horses grazing and then continued passed a large car park till we seemed to be running along a country road with a charming wooden fence. We finally came to the beach and continued on a sandy path parallel to the shore. The road continued down the entire length of the beach and there was more parking along here; this made me happier again, for as you can see, that was my main priority - making the car visible.
 This was all looking much better.

This bahia, as beaches are called in Spanish, was a lot more attractive, the sea was much more opalescent in colour, though the sand wasn't quite the stuff of etheral dreams. Contained within a large protective bay this expansive beach stretches far and wide along it's arc. It is fringed by an abundance of tropical plants such as palms and sea-grape bushes which are intermittently speckled with funky looking life-guard stands. Two cays sprout up in the middle of the bay like turtle shells and in the distance to the west the only ‘real’ mountains on the island make an appearance, including Mount Pirata, the tallest peak.

From this viewpoint Vieques started looking more like the tropical island it was supposed to be, and this made for a good start. If nothing else came along this would do quite fine, though it was a little disappointing to find that this 'real' beach was a lot further from our house than we had anticipated. But still it was there, and on a nice hot day it was sure to be rewarding.


However, today unfortunately, the weather was turning and the sky was getting dark, making it not really conducive to beach-going. The clouds rolling in were really dramatic looking, as these pictures show, and while we were happy that it looked as if it was finally going to rain we weren’t really up for getting stuck in a downpour. So with our days mission somewhat complete we set off for home.

And the most interesting thing about it, that you won't get just anywhere, are all the horses just hanging out about the place grazing: in the park, along side the beach - even in the middle of the road as we found out when trying to leave...

But this was only the beginning of our quest to find the perfect beach. We'd seen Gringo beach, Esperanza Beach and Sun Bay. Next on our list was Red and Blue beach in the Wildlife Refuge on the south east of the island.

To be Continued...