Connoisseur Travel Planning - passionate about educated travel

JOAN AND DAVE VISIT VIEQUES

Joan and Dave spent a wonderful week in Vieques in early February.

Where - and what – is Vieques, you might ask! This small island lies off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico (accessible by a puddle-jumper flight from San Juan , or a 90 minute ferry from the eastern port of Farado ). Most of you will remember Vieques when reminded that this is the controversial island where the US Navy held artillery exercises until about a year ago when they finally left the island. This lovely island is not the place for you if you’re looking for ritzy resorts, casinos, golf, shopping or museums and culture. It is refreshingly unspoiled, safe, and friendly and the main activities are relaxation and visiting the many beautiful beaches. There are also opportunities for snorkeling, kayaking, hiking and biking. And you must not miss an evening trip to the best bioluminescent bay in the world where a dip in the warm waters will have you tracking eerily beautiful and ghostly trails of light with every motion. The main town of Isabel Segunda is fairly businesslike and not terribly attractive, but is where you’ll find ATM machines, grocery stores and other necessities. Esperanza on the other hand, is a small, attractive and funky strip of good restaurants, bars, a few small shops, and a diving and kayak shop. Options for lodging on the island range from the new Wyndham Martineau Bay Resort where we stayed (lovely mid-sized plantation-style resort with two pretty small surf beaches, tennis courts and a spa – but also only so-so food and spotty service. Our ocean front room was beautiful, roomy, and comfortable with the most gorgeous bathroom we’d ever seen.) to the romantic and small Inn on the Blue Horizon outside of Esperanza, cozy B&B inns with kitchenettes, both on and off the ocean, and many rental properties. And we found excellent dining at several restaurants around the island. You’ll definitely need a rental car to get around to all the beaches and eateries, but driving is easy and the island small enough to master in a day or so. Go before this unspoiled island loses its unique charms…we’ll definitely return!

Here’s a recipe for the signature “Carribbean Cosmopolitan,” invented by Randy, the bartender at the Wyndham Martineau Bay .

WHAT’S ON WHEN

As a part of our regular service, Connoisseur Travel Planning offers suggestions on restaurants, tour guides and sightseeing musts. However, many clients like to check out the latest cultural offerings before deciding just where they want to go. Sometimes that one special concert, ballet or opera might be the deciding factor for your next trip. Below are a few web-sites you might enjoy exploring:

www.whatsonwhen.com Festivals, concerts, museum exhibitions, cultural events

It is hard to find someone who visits Costa Rica and doesn’t love it. This small tropical Central American country, about the size of Massachusetts, bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south, is a paradise of tropical rain forests, beautiful beaches, gorgeous flowers, waterfalls, and fascinating animals. It is very easy to reach from the states - a 5 hour direct flight from Philadelphia or a 2 hour trip from Miami. With year-round weather in the low 70’s – mid 90’s, a strong economy and 97% literacy rate, Costa Rica is both an economical tourist visit and very safe.

The major tourist attractions of Costa Rica are the spectacular natural wonders of the country. If you are looking for museums, concerts, opera, gourmet food, and fancy shopping – this is not the trip for you. If you enjoy hiking through rain forests, white water rafting, snorkeling, walking on hanging bridges, windsurfing, riding a zip line through the trees, river boat cruises through the jungle, observing turtles laying their eggs, seeing an erupting volcano, repelling down a waterfall, seeing gorgeous flowers, trees and animals, playing golf, horseback riding, soaking in the hot thermal spas, or relaxing on the beach – then consider Costa Rica.

We chose to visit for 10 days in early March during the dry season, which runs from mid-December through April. This being our first trip to Costa Rica, we decided to hit some of the most popular spots: the capital city of San Jose, the Arenal Volcano, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Manuel Antonio Natural Park on the Pacific coast.

Since neither of us speaks any Spanish, and with Costa Rica being famous for its lack of road signs and poor road conditions, we decided to hire drivers to take us to each of the areas we wanted to explore. This turned out to be a terrific plan. Our drivers not only had a wealth of information about the country, but they knew all the locations for spotting wildlife – sloths, iguanas, monkeys, coati mundi, snakes, toucans, parrots and alligators – and were willing to stop on a dime for those wanting to take photos.

Lodging in Costa Rica is quite reasonable and runs the gamut from simple B&B’s and inns to luxurious resorts, hotels and plantations. We stayed in five different places, starting with a small, elegant B&B outside San Jose called Finca Rosa Blanca with seven rooms run by a couple from California, followed by two lodges at the Arenal Volcano observatory and the Monteverde Cloud Forest area. Our three night stay on the beach in the Manuel Antonio area on the Pacific coast was at the luxurious Makanda by the Sea with a huge secluded air-conditioned villa (which was needed for the 90 degree heat) complete with hammock and table on our balcony where we were served breakfast daily. For our last night, we took a short flight from the Pacific back to San Jose ( 70 degree weather) at perhaps our favorite room at Xandari. At this former 40-acre coffee plantation, amid five waterfalls, beautiful glorious flower gardens and a spa, our wonderful suite (150 sq. feet) came with a patio, private inner courtyard and original artwork, all for $220/night. The resort restaurant featured excellent, creative food at very reasonable rates. Food in most restaurants in Costa Rica, though not always sophisticated, features excellent fresh fish, tropical fruit, and fresh vegetables.

We send several extremely happy clients to Costa Rica every year, using one of our favorite companies which gets us the best rooms, drivers and rates. Their expertise helps us ensure you a perfectly planned experience.