Culebra – Tacos, cruisers and beaches

Culebra is a small island that is part of Puerto Rico just east of the mainland.  It, and a few other islands, are sometimes called the Spanish Virgin Islands.  We had never heard of Culebra until this last summer when our friend Brett who was travelling with us introduced us to some of his friends who had a house there.  They made it sound pretty awesome so when we saw it in our path we made sure to stop.  We were only going to stay 2 days but the combination of tacos, cruisers and beaches made us reconsider and we were there a week!

The tacos were at Zaco’s Tacos and on our first foray to shore we went there and were hooked.  Yum!  The place is cute and has a fun vibe and the food is awesome!

We knew before we came in that our friends on Starburst were there and so we dropped the hook right behind them.  Unfortunately Matt was up in the states, but we had a blast hanging out with Jo!  Starburst had been there for 2 weeks before we got there so that qualified them as locals and Jo was able to show us about town and give us all the good gossip!  She also introduced us to several other boats and we had a great dinner aboard Orion one night.  Culebra seems to be one of those places where cruisers get stuck and end up staying years, or at least longer than they intended.  Everyone was super friendly and happy to share their knowledge on Puerto Rico with us. The community there is great and we had a fun time.

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Ryan and Jo at the Dinghy Dock restaurant.

The beaches on Culebra were stunning.  And I can say that having been in the Caribbean a while now we know our beaches.  🙂  Flamenco Beach comes up regularly on lists of the prettiest beaches in the world.  The sand is so fine that you practically inhale it when the wind is up and the water is gorgeous.

Flamenco Beach:

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We rented a golf cart one day and explored the island.  We went to a less popular but just as beautiful beach called Zoni Beach.

Around the island:

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Zoni Beach:

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There is also a really nice snorkel spot at Melones Beach where you can snorkel just from the beach.  We had to check that out and enjoyed the views there too.

Melones Beach:

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