Travel to Vieques, Puerto Rico – Episode 401

Hear about travel to the island of Vieques off Puerto Rico as the Amateur Traveler talks to Ira Winston from Philadelphia about his recent trip there.

“Vieques is an island that is 8 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico and it is a relatively undeveloped island because of the military presence there until about 10 years ago. We are big fans of Hawaii. We like Hawaii for its deserted beaches. We are not big casinos and nightlife people. Vieques felt like maybe Hawaii that I did not have to travel for 10 hours and change 6 time zones since we only had a week. This is in the United States so there is a little less hassle in traveling. Basically Vieques you have two choices every day, which beach you go to and which restaurant you eat at. There’s also a small feel to it. Everybody knows everybody else so you can also master the whole island.”

Vieques is known best for its beaches and for its Bio Bay with bioluminescent plankton that makes the waters glow as you traverse it in a clear kayak. Ira and his wife also took a small book snorkeling cruise to Limon Reef which had some of the best coral he has seen in his travels. They also snorkeled at a mangrove swamp where you could see the roots of the trees growing into the water.

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Booking.com

Show Notes

Vieques Island
Bio Bay Tours
Little Boat Sailing
Sol Food
After the Mortgage
El Quenepo
Cafe Mamasonga
Biekes Bistro
Bravo Beach Hotel
Chris Elliott

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Community

feedback on Travel to New Jersey – Episode 398:

Hi Chris,

Just a quick comment for you. I have found a number of your travel podcast interviews helpful, but the recent episode on New Jersey left something to be desired. No offense to you or your interviewee but the program seemed to be lacking in terms of interesting facts or compelling reasons to visit New Jersey. Of course, the natural scenery was mentioned, but I think it’s a given that nearly any of the 50 states are going to have some natural beauty to be appreciated. I wonder if you could have a follow-up episode that could point out some more specific elements that would better fill up a week or two of travels?

Thanks for reading,

David

feedback on Travel to the West Bank / Palestinian National Authority – Episode 256:

I listened to your West Bank podcast and was surprised to find that your interviewee didn’t mention the most interesting bit about Bethlehem- the apartheid wall! This 25 foot razor-wired and guard-towered wall runs around the whole West Bank but can be seen best in Bethlehem. Guides make their entire living off driving tourists around the wall and showing them the beautiful artwork. The famous graffiti artist Banksy has numerous works on the wall, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd has enscribed his own opinions on the wall, but moreover when walking along the wall one will see thousands of murals and pieces of beautiful artwork in all languages of the world, depicting optimistic and peaceful messages. Some of the guard towers are also black and charred out from past intifadas. This is an absolute must-see and quite frankly I was surprised it got no mention. To be honest it dwarfed the church of nativity in terms of awesomeness- both in the beauty of the
peaceful messages and the horror of apartheid

hope this helped! I am working right now but if you’re interested I can send over some photos! I was even lucky enough to snap some shots of Israeli soldiers tear gassing Palestinian stone-throwing youths

Thanks,
Daniel