Vieques, the Spanish Virgins

Sailing to Vieques, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands off of Puerto Rico.

We arrived a few days before Christmas.

Green Beach on the west shore. We have always wanted to visit here and Vieques did not disappoint us. It's a beautiful, laid-back island.

Green Beach is clear water and a beautiful strip of sand edged with palm trees.

Mérengue anchored off Green Beach.

View of the town of Isabel Segunda from Fort Conde de Mirasol which has been restored as an art museum.

Just a day at the beach!

The beach at Sun Bay near the town of Esperanza. We spent the holidays here. First time we ever went to the beach on Christmas Day! For New Years Eve, the town closes the main street and sets up a stage. The bands started at 9:00 p.m. with the last one scheduled to go on at 3:15a.m! We left the festivities shortly before midnight so we could watch the fireworks from our boat.

Waterspout forming a couple of miles offshore. The conditions were right this day and we saw 2 separate spouts form over a period of about 10 minutes.

After leaving Esperanza, we sailed east to an anchorage in Ensenada Honda. Originally part of the U.S. military land on Vieques it is undeveloped and peaceful. But the water was full of jellyfish, so no swimming there! The next day, Jan 3rd, we left to sail to the island of Culebra.