Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. It’s right up there with painting.
So for 2024 Spring Break, my hubby and I decided to take our kids and go on a tropical vacation. Our kids have been to the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston when we lived in Houston and after, but tropical vacations have alluded us for many years. With our oldest going to graduate in only 3 years, his sister a year below him, and our youngest two years below her, we realized there are only 3 more spring breaks for our whole family left.
Time to make some memories!
My husband has always wanted to go to The Island of Enchantment. It lived up to this nickname. I’m up for any vacation and was so excited he wanted to go! It was enchanting from beautiful beaches all the way around the island to the bioluminescent bays that sparkle at night to the delicious BBQ open air restaurant (shown on Food Network). It was a wonderful vaca!
Getting to Puerto Rico was a somewhat easy event (minus getting our giant bag checked). I lucked out with 5 direct roundtrip flights from Dallas to Puerto Rico and back for only $960 total. Yep, that’s right! It was a Wednesday to Tuesday trip and just before the official days of our schools’ Spring Break. This was the dealmaker for my man because if we left 5 days later the price would have been almost $2000 for a roundtrip with a stop and plane change each way. Totally worth pulling the kids out of school for a couple days.
Just a word of caution, if you are flying out DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) on Spirit be sure to get there 2 hours ahead if you are checking bags. It literally took 1hr 30min. We were scared that we were going to miss the flight! Thankfully my sister dropped us off 2 hours ahead because we usually just try to get to our flights 1 hour a head. (Thank you sister!!!)
Getting off the plane was much easier and so laidback at the PR airport. Getting our rental SUV was also a breeze because my husband booked it and just found it easily in the car rental area. We checked out at the booth on the way out of the airport. Easy peasey!
The first day we drove from the San Juan airport to our AirBnB near Stella, Puerta Rico on the West side of the island. It was a nice place in the middle of the little town. There wasn’t a view except of the Burger King next door which actually turned out to be helpful to find our condo. (FYI… there are so many Burger Kings on the island!)
Stella is also very close to Rincon which has a neat town square with cafes and restaurants and shops. I like when there are outdoor places to eat and watch the world go by…
We also checked out the lighthouse nearby and the bar overlooking the gulf while surfers were riding giant waves. The beach there is only for experienced surfers as it is known to pull people out and under the sea. My oldest explored down a trail from the top of the hill where we were enjoying some cola and drinks watching the beach below. We actually went there 2 times because it was so picturesque and there was a small market with a couple tents offering jewelry and food. We bought a couple pieces of jewelry and some drinks and food.
While we were in PR, we went to about 4 or 5 beaches. There were lots of critters in the water like sea urchins (be sure to bring your water shoes!), different subdued colored tropical fish, a feather duster, three different colored crabs, a seahorse!, & dun dun dunnn… a lionfish. YIKES! Some of the beaches were easy to find and some included a hike, parking besides fields with donkeys or cows, or others with a somewhat secret entrance. The different types of beaches are plethora!
Be careful of some of the beaches’ currents. It can get a bit crazy depending on the beach you go to. Some of the beaches are protective coves with calm water and some are wide open with strong currents. Some have secret ways to get to them (see the photo of this tiny alley below). And some are just right beside a roadway. There are so many different types of beaches on this island! Even one that has ancient pictorial cave drawings. I definitely need to go back for about a month to see all the type of beaches. *Contemplating how to move there.*
Anyone want to sponsor us? (Doesn’t hurt to ask, right?)
Check out this narrow walkway to find a beach with a cove and then also a crescent beach. We saw a couple crabs, lion fish, seahorse, and other fish. Plus little worms and tiny crabs on the lava made barrier that protected part of this beach area. My adventurous kids (wearing beach shoes) climbed all the way to the top and could see the Gulf as far as the horizon. So cool!
It was so cool to see the sea animals in the wild just swimming or floating along. So neat.
On the way back to the condo from this beach, we stopped through the quaint little town, Aquadilla, to grab some dinner.
Just so happened we had two super delicious pizzas at Little John Pizza. This is going to sound crazy but this pizza was on par with pizza places in NYC.
I’ve eaten my fair share of NYC pizza over 48 years of visiting family on the East Coast. I have a feeling the guy running the place in Aquadilla had some Italian ancestry because I felt like I was in my dad’s BFF pizzeria in New Jersey who literally came over from Napoli. The real deal.
While our pizza was cooking, I took the kids for a walk around the town square. Most places were closing up for the night but there was still enough sunshine left that we could enjoy the beautiful bright flowers.
We also watched some domino games playing in the square. It was neat to watch and enjoyable to see all the pretty
If we ever get to go back to Puerto Rico, I’m hoping to take the car ferry to the outlying islands…
- Vieques Island has excellent snorkeling from many of its beaches, with Blue Beach & Playa Esperanza headlining the list.
- Culebra Island, Carlos Rosario reigns supreme; Flamenco Beach Swim with the majestic Green sea turtles in their native sea grass beds in Tamarindo Beach of Culebra & Cay Luis Peña. Swim next to green sea turtles. https://www.tripsavvy.com/weekend-on-culebra-isl&-1621864 COST: 5 roundtrip tickets = $30 Puerto Rico Isl&s Ferry Service: Ceiba – Culebra
- Culebrita, West Beach has abundant marine life, & on the south side of the island is the Culebrita Reef. Playa Shacks has its famous “Blue Hole” snorkeling spot Best Snorkling spots list – https://calicase.com/blogs/blog/no-passport-necessary-the-best-snorkeling-spots-in-puerto-ricohttps://www.puertoricoferry.com/
We’ll see! Maybe we’ll win the lotto. LOL
One of my favorite things we did in Puerto Rico was taking a boat ride to the bioluminescent bay in La Parguera. It was MAGIC! We took a big pontoon boat ride with 40 of our closest friends. It only cost $20 per person plus optional tip to the guy swimming in the dark water stirring up all the glowing critters.
There were two or three glass bottom areas under the boat, a captain, and a guy that swam in the water to show people how moving the water would make the teeny tiny creatures to give off beautiful blue light in the water. It almost like a parlor trick with the guy jumping in the water and swimming to stir up the enchantment. Then they hoisted up two black buckets on either side of the boat for people to wave their hands in the bucket and see the blue start to swirl in the water and pulling out your hand to see the blue flickering on your hand. So neat!
Here’s a little more information about one of the few places in the world to see bioluminescent life forms –
La Parguera is a bioluminescent bay found in the southern town of Lajas— a two-hour drive from San Juan. One of three bioluminescent bays found along Puerto Rico’s coastline, the bay’s glowing effect is made possible by micro-organisms called dinoflagellates, which emit a short burst of light when the water is agitated. Various tour companies offer nightly kayak or boat trips to explore the bay’s waters. Contrary to the other two bio bays found in Puerto Rico, La Parguera is the only one where swimming in the vivid waters is allowed, so don’t forget to pack your bathing suit.
For you culinary folks, be sure to check out La Manada Ribs V8 The Place Km 0.3 Carretera 3131 Barrio Barrero, Guayanilla 00656 Puerto Rico. It is only open on Saturdays but sometimes not or other times for classes on how PR BBQ is done. Be sure to check their Facebook page and make a reservation (https://www.facebook.com/lamanadaribsv8/info?tab=page_info) Some of the best BBQ I’ve had. That says alot since I’ve had Arkansas Delta, Louisiana gator, Texas BBQ sauce, AND was born in Memphis (mmm Rendezvous down that alley on 2nd). Mmm. This was a delicious stop on our vaca and I highly recommend! The atmosphere is an open air establishment with lush trees and plants and near to the El Yunque National Forest. We did over order but was able to eat on that giant platter of food for several days. Mmmmm! I was so excited about it that I got a picture of the owner and chef. He was so nice to let us have a picture and all the people making this restaurant a success. Highly recommend!
Our family’s first time in a rainforest was in El Yunque National Forest – the only National Rainforrest in the US. The road to get there was twisty and turn-y. An adventure in itself. We actually missed seeing any of the bazillion amazing waterfalls in that area of PR and other areas of PR. We really need a month to explore it all or maybe 3 months! We were on a paved hiking trail just off the main entrance and I still felt a little lost. Every year I think at least a couple hikers get off the beaten path and get lost. Be sure to let someone know what your plans are for hiking if you are going into the jungle. Better yet, stay on the beaten path! We were amazed by all the flora and fauna. Just gorgeous! We were there on a Saturday so a mini market was just past the entrance where you could see a mini mini zoo of some of the parrots and other animals you might see in the forest. So neat! Be sure to bring lots of water with you and buy a map from the giftshop. I’d love to go back and hike to the top of the highest point in PR. So many things to do and see in this world we live!
Another place we checked out on this vacation was the Castillo Serrallés – a mansion located in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, overlooking the downtown area. It was built during the 1930s for Juan Eugenio Serrallés, son of businessman Juan Serrallés, founder of lthe Destilería Serrallés. The Japanese garden is above the castle and also has a cool bonsai tree area that was so neat!
After checking out the upper garden, we joined the castle tour. It was gorgeous! The architecture was beautiful and innovative for the air conditioning “system.” The furniture and place settings and all the tile work and carvings was amazing. At the bottom of the castle was another amazing garden that could be seen from one of the terraces. You can also walk through that garden as well. Just beautiful!
There is also a giant cross that you can take an elevator to almost the top and see the city of Ponce all the way to the Gulf. It is such a amazing monument.
Our last touristy event was to see Old San Juan. WOW! It was gorgeous. It kind of reminded me of a European village – minus the giant cruise boats in the harbor. There were so many people checking out this historical place with two huge forts with underground tunnels. We just barely made it in time to go into Castillo San Felipe del Morro that is managed by the National Park Service.
Old San Juan also has old buildings, what was left of an old chapel from a couple hundred years ago, touristy stores, restaurants, a yummy coffee shop, ate dinner at an outside restaurant and more to see.
We stopped by the very packed Anita Gelato shop.
It took about 45 minutes to get our scoops of deliciousness.
Be ready to have to wait for a long time especially if the cruise boats are at dock. Still worth it!
This vacation was such a great trip! Spring Break 2024 was one for the books. I can’t believe we got to go and see so many amazing things and places. Who knew we would ever get to hike around a rain forest or see people surfing on the north shore, or eating world famous bbq, and best of all creating memories that I hope my kids will look back on and remember our family time together during their childhood. We are so blessed and I thank the Lord for protecting us through all the places we’ve been. The world is full of wonder and blessings. Puerto Rico sure was one for us!
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