How to see awesome wildlife in Vieques
Updated: Aug 6
Nestled off the northeastern corner of Puerto Rico, the charming little island of Vieques has its own vibe. Here, you can soak up the beauty of nature and spot amazing wildlife, including free range horses. It’s the perfect place to connect with the great outdoors!
Crabs and wild horses at Playa Negra Beach
Playa Negra is a great place to start exploring. A large colony of hermit crabs live right under the bridge at the trail head and enormous land crabs live further down the trail in an area known as Crab Alley.
Lizards scurry across the path and orb weavers the size of your hand sway in the breeze.
When we hiked it, the beach was littered with debris churned up by Ernesto a few weeks earlier. We spotted sea sponges and fan coral fragments in the sand.
We were then joined by a family of free range horses! We gave them a wide berth so as to not freak them out but they weren't that interested in us at all. We left them alone and got some amazing pictures.
Playa La Chiva
After a good night sleep and a hearty pancake breakfast at Kristy's on the Caribe, we went to Vieques National Wildlife Refuge to see about snorkeling.
For many decades Vieques was a military base and although it has been decommissioned and turned into a wildlife refuge, there could still be unexploded ordinances. DO NOT EXPLORE BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE REFUGE! If you do, you could encounter one of these unexploded ordinances and not to mention be fined thousands of dollars.
The roads in the refuge are not paved and rutted out from hurricane Ernesto a few weeks earlier. Our first stop was Playa La Chiva which was a bust. As you drive along the main road of the reserve, you'll see a series of numbered entrances which are gravel and sand driveways that dead end a few meters off the main road. It was windy and the water clarity was poor when we got there. After unloading all of our gear and setting up our beach shade, we swam around for about 10 minutes before bailing. I know others have had great snorkeling experiences here but we hit it during less than ideal conditions. Traveling with kids means that you can either fight it with no guarantee of success or cut your losses. We packed up all our stuff and left.
Playa Caracas
After abandoning Playa la Chiva we drove to nearby Caracas beach, also within the refuge. This beach had a few amenities like shaded cabanas where you could keep your stuff and get out of the direct sun. We had a great time at this beach. We saw tons of fish and even some cuttlefish along the rocky eastern edge. At one point, I saw a turtle under the water a few meters away from where I was standing but I didn't have my mask with me so I couldn't go under the water to see it. Still, we hung out at this beach for a few hours and really enjoyed ourselves.
Playa Punta Arenas
The next day we went to the other end of the island to Playa Punta Arenas. This beach was very remote and incredible. The road to get there was bumpy and potholed.
It was worth the effort. There as only one other group of people there and they were way at the other end of the beach so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The water was calm and clear and there were plenty of fish (and more cuttlefish) to see. My daughter saw a nice sized barracuda. Submerged concrete structures from a long since abandoned sugar plantation provide a haven for fish. You can spot all sorts of amazing creatures at the rocky drop off. The waves were gentle and we spent hours playing there.
If you go there you will see signs warning about the aforementioned unexploded ordinance. Obviously, if you see something suspicious leave the area and report it. There are instructions on the signs.
Mosquito bay (bioluminescence)
Vieques has one of the, if not THE, brightest bioluminescent bay in the world! We went with a tour group and learned all about the dinoflagellates which are the little single-cell organisms that glow when under pressure.
We met up with our guide from Black Beard Sports( https://www.blackbeardsports.com/vieques-bio-bay-kayak-tour) in Esperanza shortly after nightfall and traversed the recently washed out gravel road (using the word 'road' generously here). As we pulled our kayaks out of the boat launch we could already see the water glowing around our ankles. With every paddle stroke the water glowed a fluorescent blueish green. It looked like soft lightning. What I didn't expect was that we could actually make out the blue-green shapes of fish in the water below. When the needlefish skipped along the surface you could see flashing sparks behind them. It felt like we had been transported to another planet. DEET can harm the dinoflagellates so avoid using it here.
Eating and Sleeping
There are two main towns on the island; the larger, with a population of about 10,000 is Isabelle Segunda on the north of the island, and the smaller, with less than 1,000 inhabitants is Esperanza. We stayed at an Airbnb in the central part of the island, a little closer to Esparanza so that's where we spent most of our time.
There you can stroll along the Malecon sampling from a number of restaurants (we loved Bili) and snapping pix of the little crabs scrambling down the sidewalk.
Vieques offers the perfect adventure travel experience for those interested in tropical wildlife both on land and in the sea!
