The preparation was a little crazy coz i have to find cheap/reasonable tickets and also the place to stay. We rented a vacation rental this time instead of staying in the hotel. I think we really saved money on doing that. Anyways after weeks of searching and multiple inquiries i found one that is reasonable and also by the beach and close to everything and to starbucks as well!
Coral beach apartments. Literally by the beach. It's a big apartment complex and have amenities like gym and an olympic sized pool which is very clean btw and also a kid's pool. The owner was really nice i thought it was a scam at first because she was asking me for the whole payment before we even get there unlike some of the inquiries i did which only ask for the deposit but whatever i just paid with my credit card and prayed it's not a scam or anything like that. Called her the night i made my first payment she got back at me the next morning.
The apartment was located at Isla Verde, Carolina. About 5-10mins from the airport (SJU). Everything is expensive or basically same price in the US since it's located at the tourist area. Meals costs about $7-15 each when you eat out. We have a kitchen at the apartment and we bought groceries at the supermarket nearby. We made breakfast for the 2 mornings we were there.
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| Isla Verde |
Our 2nd day, we had our breakfast by a restaurant near the shore. Then we went swimming by the pool and at the beach we also rented jet skies and had fun at the banana boat. To rent a Jetski for hal an hour it cost about $70 they were having a promo so they gave it to us for 50bucks which is still expensive but worth it. I was able to see a big turtle while we were jet skiing.
3rd day was swimming at the pool and drinks very relaxing. The trip to culebra was cancelled d/t the big waves.
after half day of swimming we decided to have our dinner and visit old san juan. We ended up visiting Castillo de San Cristobal.
The View
4th day: Culebra Trip.
What a beautiful island. We first went to Tamarindo Beach which is really for snorkeling but because of the big waves and the wind, the captain advised that it wasn't too safe to go snorkeling there. So we went to the other side of the island, not much of corals but it was a good time to practice snorkeling since i haven't done it for a really wrong time. I think this one of the highlight of my trip. It was a rough travel to the island bec of the big waves but it was sooo worth it.
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| East Island Excursions |
We had some drinks and snacks at the boat while on our way to culebra.
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| snorkeling |
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| Culebrita |
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| Flamenco Beach, Culebra |
On our way to culebra we saw a Humpback whale and her baby. It was awesome!!!
5th day: El Yunque Rainforest + Bioluminescent bay
So the 5th day we decided to take the combo tour to El yunque and Fajardo Bio Bay (Kayaking at night)
I was upset because my gopro was acting up i wasn't able to record the night tour and the guys advised us not to bring our cameras when we go kayaking coz it might get wet and damaged. The rainforest was really nice. It was a 45 mins one way hike. Wasn't too bad. Me and my love had a good bonding moment. He was my personal photographer lol. I took a dip n the waterfalls and oh my it was wayy too cold for me. We laso met new people. A nice lady which looks very young for her age. She traveled to a lot of different places i was quite jealous. And there's a also another couple with us. It was kinda nice to have a very small group. The tour guide was also nice to feed us trivia and information about the coqui frogs and the rainforest. The early tour was cancelled so they combined us with the later group around 830pm. we were done with the forest around 5pm so the driver brought us to Luquillo area where all the Kiosks (little stores) are. We had our dinner there and oh my!!!! so good. They we 60 kiosks. A long strip of food place and stores. We went to eat at kiosk #2 La Parrilla
Seafood was fresh and just taste good! I had a very expensive meal so i really pushed hard to finish all of it.
THE FOOD! I wish i took pics of all the food esp the very special quesadilla we had at El taquito. (A mexican resto) but i was too hungry lol :) In the philippines, almost all the meal comes with rice, In PR almost everything comes with Plantains.
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| Tostones. |
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| Mojito |
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| Mahi Mahi |
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| Steak Mofongo |
KAYAKING AT NIGHT
Kayaking at night going to Laguna Bay (Bio Bay) was tiring but super fun. I never kayaked before. Jose and I were struggling at first but eventually we were like a pro! lol. It was full moon the mangroves are pretty with the light coming from the moon but the down side of it is you can't really see the microorganisms much but with the help of the tarp that the tour guides gave us it helped us see the glowing microorganisms. It was just amazing that the water will glow as soon as there's movement. This is their defense mechanisms against predators but they are not doing very well because by doing that they are actually attracting them. Let the water run in your arms and you can see them more clearly. Like mini light bulbs. There are only 5 Bioluminescent bay in the world, 3 is located in PR. If you go to PR this is a must see if you have the time go to the Vieques Island one because that bay is protected very well.
I had a really great time! I can say this is one of the best vacation ever!
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