- Re: Culebra Report: March 17-23

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Culebra Report: March 17-23

Author: Aaron (---.cinci.res.rr.com)
Date: 03-25-05 12:07

We just got back from Culebra and I thought I'd give my impression of the island.

Places to eat:
1) Bahia Marina: This place was awesome, great food, great service, prices werent bad. Definetly eat there!!!!
2) Mamacitas: Great atmosphere. Good bar, food is ok- kinda pricey. Service was good. I'd eat there again.
3) Barbara Rosas: Good food, great prices, looooonnnnggg wait. There are only 5 tables and the one lady does everything. I would probably eat there again. BYOB
4) Juanita Bananas: Nice setting, expensive food, food was OK. If you get the chicken you have to wait 40 minutes! It was alright, but I'd only eat there if I was tired of every place else. BYOB
5) Dinghy Dock: Neat setting, bartender was nice, but waitress was NOT. Food was ok. It seems like a place the locals enjoy, but maybe not so much for tourists.

Things to do:
1) Take a trip to Culebrita. Tortuga was the nicest beach in all of Culebra, and also the spot I proposed to the greatest girl in the whole world!! You can snorkel on the other side too. It was a lot of fun.
2) Snorkel at Carlos Rosario and Tamarindo. These were good spots for snorkeling, but not good if you just wanna lay on the beach.
3) Flamenco was a really nice white sand beach, unfortunately when we were there there were a couple thousand people, but other than that it was nice.
4) Drive to Zoni and find a private spot on the beach.
5) Pretty much every beach on Culebra has something to offer. We didn't make it to Melones or Punta Soldado, but they seem like they'd be good places for snorkeling too.
6) We rented a car from Jerry for 3 of our days there. Jerry provided a great overview of the island, he took us on probably a 30 minute tour plus gave us a pretty good map too. It was $50 a day and nice to be able to jump in and go where you want. The 3 days before that we just took a taxi wherever we went. It was $2 per person each way. If you want you really good go whereever you wanted to on the island, except for Zoni, just using a Taxi-but a car does give you some freedom. Carlos has new Jeeps, which looked nice. It seems like he had a ton of them though, so my guess would be if you want very individualized attention and to feel like you've got a friend on the island, rent from Jerry, if you want a nice new car, rent from Carlos. I would guess also though, that when you rent a brand new car, its alot easier to see a scratch or ding if you do something to it.
7) I would take the ferry from San Juan. We really thought we were going to die on our flight with Isla Nena. It was a nice view, but other than that I would't fly again.

Hope that helps. Have fun on your trip

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Re: Culebra Report: March 17-23

Author: Debbie (---.asm.bellsouth.net)
Date: 03-25-05 13:04

Did she say yes?

What didn't you like about the Isla Nena flight? The landing? The plane itself is one of the most comfortable there is to take to Culebra - a/c, leather seats, great pilots. . . I'm really curious why you hated it.

Happy Diving!
Debbie

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Re: Culebra Report: March 17-23

Author: Debbie (---.asm.bellsouth.net)
Date: 03-25-05 13:06

Did she say yes?

What didn't you like about the Isla Nena flight? The landing? The plane itself is one of the most comfortable there is to take to Culebra - a/c, leather seats, great pilots. . . I'm really curious why you hated it.

Happy Diving!
Debbie

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Re: Culebra Report: March 17-23

Author: JM (---.nyc.rr.com)
Date: 03-25-05 16:02

The seats might be comfortable on Isla Nena but I always bump my head getting on and off the plane! That doesn't stop me from flying Isla Nena when that is the only flight available, but I personally prefer Air Flamenco and Vieques Air Link.

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Re: Culebra Report: March 17-23

Author: Aaron (---.cinci.res.rr.com)
Date: 03-25-05 18:16

Hi Debbie, she said YES! We're really excited. I'll copy what I posted on another topic to explain why I didn't like it.

Once we got to San Juan, there was no one at the ticket counter. Our flight was to leave at 5:00 and no one showed up at the ticket counter until 4:50. The guys kinda seemed like they were just taking there time, talking to thier buddies and our flight didn't finally leave until almost 6:00. I was somewhat disappointed because I had hoped to see the island in broad daylight to orient myself.

Once we actually got on the plane, this is when the "excitement" really began. We had never flown on a small plane before, so the fact it shook around more than your usual jet had us a little nervous. Keep in mind, no one from the company has really even talked to us to this point. When we walked up to the counter, he just held his hand out for our paper work and when they walked us out to the plane, they just pointed us where to go. Then, about ten minutes into our flight while we were still flying over the mainland, we start hearing a beeping noise. We had no idea what it was, but tried to stay cool. About a minute later, the pilot cuts the engine back about 50% and the plane starts going down. At this point my girlfriend was freaking out and I was pretty scared myself. The plane continues to descend pretty rapidly for at least a full minute while all we can see is an open field. I figure, "wow, were going to crash land, we might die" Not really what I was expecting to do on my caribbean vacation. At the last minute out of no where we see a little tiny runway and proceed to land and pick up another couple, just to take back off and land in Culebra 15 minutes later.

Now I have no problem stopping somewhere, but they should have let us know. We were scared to death and thier professionalism was non-existent. Everywhere else we went on Culebra, people were very friendly and helpful (except for one waitress at the Dinghy Dock) and we had a great time other than that. The views were great, but if we went again, I think we would just take the new ferry from San Juan. It probably would have been just as fast for as long as we waited around for Isla Nena, and I doubt we would have nearly had heart attacks. Have fun on your trip, but I don't think I'd fly with Isla Nena again. Thanks.

I will say the people we talked to on the phone before we actually went on our trip, were very helpful. But the people that dealt with us once we arrived, were the complete opposite.

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