Puerto Rico Episode 2

 

We got up on Monday and headed to Fajardo (about a 15 min drive without traffic from our hotel) for an all day snorkel trip with East Island Excursions. We were super excited and I had heard tons of good things about it. When we got there, we found out that the trip had been changed and we were not going to Culebra (a small island near Puerto Rico) because of high waves. So we ended up going to some other islands instead but it was amazing and we saved some money so it worked out okay!

We met a cute couple from Arizona and we ended up chatting and hanging out with them most of the day. They were great people and I love meeting cool people on vacation like that! And luckily for them, we realized that they weren’t on the boat when we were about to leave one of the islands so we told the captain and they waited for them! It pays to make friends.

Here we are doing some sweet moves off the boat into the beautiful water. Dan rocks the toe-touch!

We left on a catamran around 10am and it took about 20 minutes to get to our first stop which was a small island called Icacos. There was a big dark cloud over the area and as we jumped in the water, it started to rain. We started snorkeling around the reef and didn’t even realize that it was pouring! It was really weird to be in the warm water while it was pouring rain! We didn’t mind and it was kind of fun. The rain stopped in about 10 minutes and the clouds cleared up completely! We got to walk on the beach there and enjoy how gorgeous it was.

We had lunch on the boat and it was yummy! They had a big selection of sandwiches, fruit and other food and of course, there was soda and they made virgin pina coladas for us too!

We went to the next island which was called Lobos. This was a private island so we couldn’t go to the island and we were able to snorkel more here. The fish were amazing and there was a coral reef all around the island so we just swam in and out of the different reefs and saw bright fish everywhere. It was really another world while we were snorkeling and I would have not known if it had been 5 hours or 5 minutes. It was weird but so relaxing and really amazing.

Unfortunately, after snorkeling for a while right after lunch, I started feeling a little icky. We went back to the boat and the rocking of the boat didn’t help. I got sick and my lunch (and breakfast) came back up. Luckily it was over quickly and I had a bathroom and no one knew or saw anything. I get motion sickness really easily so I wasn’t too surprised but I felt fine right away and so it was just a minor hiccup during the day!

Our last stop was a tiny deserted island called Palominito and it was AWESOME! It was the island used to film Pirates of the Caribbean 3 where he gets stuck on an island. There was a clump of trees and plants in the middle and the entire island was about the size of a football field.

We didn’t snorkel here but just swam around and walked around the island. It was so beautiful!

Pictures on Palominito.

I wanted a jumping picture because that’s what people do in cool places right? I don’t know…

After the snorkel trip, we drove back to the hotel and got cleaned up then went to the Kiosks for dinner. We ate at La Parilla which was one of the nicer and less casual kiosks. The view was really cool because the beach was right behind us This was the part of the beach that we walked along earlier and it was dirty but the small part right behind La Parilla was really clean and landscaped. It was a pretty sweet view.

Dinner was yummy and we both had fish and Danny got a side order of Mofongo (mashed plantains). Mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish we had heard a lot about so we tried it out. It was pretty good and similar to mashed potatoes. They had these cool flowers made from leaves that I took home with me. We went back to the hotel and I was really craving chocolate so we got some chocolate flan from the restaurant below our hotel and it hit the spot for sure!

On Tuesday we went to El Yunque rainforest. It was really close to our hotel and we had lunch at a small panaderia near the entrance. It was a pretty sketchy looking place, but our sandwiches were great and the people there were so nice! I really love places and experiences like that.

We did a zip line adventure in the rainforest and we loved it! The guides were great and fun and the views were amazing.

This is our guide and he looks scary here but he was a sweetheart. They were so fun to chat with and they were funny and really nice people.

The zip line had about 10 different lines that we unhooked and re-hooked onto. The last one was at the top of the tower below and it was a few stories high! The views were awesome and we had a great time.

At the top of the tower getting ready to go down the final line!

The office for the zip line was like a tree house in the rain forest. It was so pretty and relaxing and a really cool place to hang out.

Below are a few videos we took. The first one is when we were walking along the kiosks after dinner and the second is Dan holding the camera during his last zip line. It might make you sick or dizzy!

Episode 3 coming up soon!