PR4 Day 4 - To Culebra!

We woke early to catch a taxi to the airport. After yesterday's trouble finding a tour I was apprehensive, but this went way better than expected.  We shared the cab with two... Germans? who were only 30 minutes early and very worried they would not make their flight. I don't think they've flown from Vieques before.

We got out of the cab, walked up to our counter, and checked in. They then weighed us and our bags, and we proceeded to the gate.  After a short wait, our plane arrived, and we finally went past security - which was a guard with a key to the tarmac. I love minuscule airports so much.

The flight from Vieques to Culebra is my favorite in the world. It is, in fact, half the reason we went to Culebra.  By merit of having the appropriate bodyweight, Lis got to sit up front with the pilot! I sat behind her for the 6 minute flight, which was practically an aerial tour of the islands. And then for the landing, we had to shoot a gap between two hills, crab sideways, and touch down. Definitely my favorite airport.

We walked into town, grabbed brunch, and set about finding a boat to take us over to Culebrita.

The plan was to find a water taxi and enjoy one of the mini islands with white sand beaches where few people are able to make it.  There's no food or water on the island, so you have to take everything with you for the day.  This IS the kind of beach they put on tourist videos.  However, we vastly misunderstood what a water taxi was by focusing on the "taxi" part... you know, someone who transports people as needed.  There was a time in Puerto Rico's economy where this was the case.  But like the bio bay, this service seems to have become popular enough to be fully booked day-to-day, but not popular enough to have a supply that meets the demand of impromptu customers.  We waited until almost noon to see if someone would come, while I googled every variant of "water taxi Culebrita" and "Culebra to Culebrita" I could think of.  I called about twenty numbers to no avail.  This was another indicator that the economy is evolving while the culture maintains "island pace."

(Lis)

One of Brice's greatest strengths is his ability to peacefully accept unfortunate circumstances beyond his control and look at the bright side.  He talked me out of getting stressed and led the way to our air bnb (a quiet, seaside duplex).  It was hard to figure out which unit it was, as the management had changed and the numbering was inconsistent. (Turns out we were in number starfish, which was the same as number seahorse).  But once we dropped off our bags, we decided to have an island-pace day.  We set up the hammock, and Brice read his sci-fi while I went back and forth between Pedro Paramo and a clever skit that I was writing.  We took frequent breaks to snack and stare at the lizards, birds, hermit crabs, and gently blowing palm trees.

(Lis)

That night, Brice took me to a seaside bar, one that he'd remembered from his last visit.  We each chose different fish, and when we were done, the waiter advised us to throw the carcasses into the bay, as the gigantic cannibal fish loved tearing into them. Feeding the Tarpon was childish fun, like throwing french fries to seagulls, but it was awesome. Those kids have life figured out.

 


After dinner, we walked out onto the dock (which still didn't have any water taxis), to watch the boats bob in the moonlight, and decided it wasn't time to go home yet.  So we went back to the bar and knocked back a few cocktails while retelling our favorite stories/overtly people-watching. I did have one moment of panic when I desperately needed to pee but didn't know if - based on the illustrated door signs - I was an octopus or not. Luckily when I looked around the other option was a mermaid, which made the problem much simpler.

Finally, we walked back to our condo, relax in the night air and eventually heading to bed.