|
|
|
|
Culebra is a mere slip of an island, scarcely seven miles long, surrounded by two dozen cays and islets. With its long sweeps of semi-deserted beaches and sprawling coral reefs and its lack of urban pretensions, it is perfectly suited for nature lovers. Located halfway between Puerto Rico proper and St. Thomas, Culebra showcases a refreshingly relaxed lifestyle.Culebra, named for a Spanish noble, is populated by about 3,000 gentle and friendly souls. This is a nature island. Here you'll find no nightclubs, no malls. Instead, Culebra's inns and apartments, perched atop hills or nestled along bays and beaches, mesh perfectly with the relaxed, environmentally friendly lifestyle of the island. Its seaside restaurants and bars, painted in all the colors of the Caribbean, serve up reasonably priced cre-ole foods lightly seasoned with salt air. Nightlife is low-keyed - relaxing over a nightcap, watching stars, listening to frogs - and, for most people, it ends early. What Culebra does have, in abundance, are beaches, beaches, and more beaches - spectacularly beautiful beaches of pale sand and sky-blue waters, rimmed by mangroves and shaded by seagrapes — and picture-perfect coastal views. Most beaches rarely have • more than a handful of people. Some are found alongside roads, but others make you work to see them, accessible only by hiking, kayaking, boating or bouncing along in all-terrain vehicles. And when it comes to coral reefs and their iridescent inhabitants, Culebra's snorkeling and dive sites rank among the very best in the Caribbean. Getting to Culebra is part of the adventure. You can arrive by small plane from San Juan (20 minutes) or Fajardo (10 minutes); or by ferry from Fajardo. With their reasonable rates, the ferries are good for budget-minded families. A new dock area welcomes feny riders to sunny, slow-paced Dewey, Culebra's only town. A half-dozen narrow streets and a few dozen homes are squeezed between the Caribbean waterfront and a two-mile long bay. Homes are modest, neat, and brightly painted, and a few living rooms have been converted into small markets, stores, and craft shops. The artist and artisan's touch is everywhere. You can lunch or dine in Dewey, rent bikes, and make water sports arrangements. Spanish, spoken by native islanders, and English, spoken by a committed community of U.S. expatriates, intermingle in an easy-going fashion. Roads strike out from Dewey in three directions. You can travel them by bike, by motor vehicle (reserve in advance), or by taxi vans, which pick you up and drop you off virtually anywhere for a modest price. Most first-time visitors immediately strike out for Culebra's stunning masterpiece, ! lanitiico Beach. This is the tropical beach of everyone's dreams. Low-lying green hills and shallow turquoise waters frame a huge, wide, bone-white arc. In this one place you find all your favorite beach activities as well as a government-run tent campground. Flamenco can get crowded on certain holidays, but most days the number of sun worshippers is dwarfed by the beach's size. Take the path over the hill from the Flamenco parking lot to secluded Carlo; Rosario Beach (a 20-minute walk). Slip into your snorkeling gear, and you'll enter a magical underwater tropical world. Across the channel beckons l.uis Pena Cay, and occasionally kayak rentals can be seen making their way over there. History explains why Culebra is so unspoiled. For centuries it was only sparsely inhabited, by Indians, pirates, Spanish settlers, and, between 1898 and 1975, the U.S. Navy. Yet its many islets did have large populations - colonies of migratory birds. Somehow President Theodore Roosevelt learned of this, and in 1909 he declared all public lands in Culebra a bird preserve. Today, the Culebra National Wildlife Refuge protects sea turtles and coastal ecosystems as well. Only two cays - Luis Pena and Culvhrita, famed for its back-to-back beaches and century-old lighthouse -are open to the public, for daytime use. More recently, Puerto Rico's Natural Resources Department established the Luis Pena Channel Nature Reserve to protect the surrounding waters and ensure that Culebra remains beautiful.
Search for more with Google!
|
thru
our pictures. Your donation will help us cover the expenses involved
to keep this site on-line.
|
Photos of Puerto Rico.com - 2000-2009 © All Rights Reserved | Terms of use | Privacy Statement |