Since things are squared away for our November trip this year we've already began planning the Feb 2012 trip. What we're finding is that a lot of the rentals we like are already booked for the month of Feb. We've considered maybe trying a house on the northern side of the island, but have yet to really committ to it. We'll probably have house/houses booked within the next few weeks. You have to book well in advance for the peak season on Vieques. I'm afraid to look at airline tickets....
About Us
- Curt and Lorrie
- Indiana, United States
- Empty nesters...ready to stretch our wings. Life is good and we plan on making it even better. This blog is mostly about our trips to Vieques Puerto Rico, with a few odds and ends thrown in about our life after the mortgage.
Oh, to be planning the return trip would be great. November is about the time we start constantly talking about going back and by February we have our trip booked! Have fun!
ReplyDeleteCurt,
ReplyDeleteWe are coming up on our anniversary trip. Can you remind me which restaurants you think should not be missed?
Also, I found our airfare to be not too bad. Atlanta to SJU has been consistently running $250 to $280 round trip since April. Vieques Air Link also gave us a buy one get companion free. Might be worth asking about.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteWe didn't start planning our Feb trip until after we got back in November 2010. That was a mistake as it was very difficult to find houses that close to peak season. This year we plan on having both trips taken care of before we leave for the November trip.
Brandi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up on the VAL tickets.
As far as restaurants go we really like "Next Course" and "Coconuts" is a close second. Tradewinds and Duffys for just a regular meal, they seem to be consistant and reasonably priced. If your in the mood for pizza then it's Lazy Jacks in Esperanza or Williams pizza in Isabel. Lorrie and I don't eat out every meal, we enjoy the whole process of trying to find food to fix on the island. Whether it's going to Morales or hitting the vegetable market on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Isable.
Hi, Curt! I'm enjoying reading your blog as we prepare for our first trip to Vieques in just a few weeks. Hopefully we won't get too much rain going in the off-season! I have a food question, as well. We are working very hard to make sure that this trip is within our means and the one item I'm having trouble budgeting for is food -- what are the best affordable grocery options and restaurant options for keeping an inexpensive budget while on the island? I've heard fruits and veggies are expensive and hard to come by.
ReplyDeleteGlad your enjoying the blog. Regarding the grocery stores there's not really a lot to choose from. We buy most of our staples at one of the Morales stores. There's one store on 200 not far from a gas station and another not far from Coconuts in Isabel. Prices for most things are not really very different from what we pay back home except for Beer and some meats. Chicken seems to be not much more. Beef, we buy the organic frozen patties, is a touch more. We paid top dollar for pork. We go to the vegegable market in Isabel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Not really a lot of exotic fruits and veggies but enough for our palett. We usually buy papaya, bananas, grapefruits and cantelopes. Not really expenisive either. If I remember right they charge by the #. Seems we end up spending $10 or so. I would guess that you would spend maybe 10% more than one would here in Indiana for regular food stuffs. Regarding beer, Corona is $40 a case. The Green store outside Esperanza is much higher than Morales, but it's convienant when your heading or coming back from the refuge beaches.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps some. If you have more specific questions I would be glad to answer as best I could.
Thanks for the reply! I just wanted to make sure that we were budgeting properly. I put 50% more than our weekly grocery budget at home plus a daily restaurant allowance into our budget, and it sounds like our grocery budget should be sufficient. If you can get Corona, and I believe in one of your blogs Lorrie got Sprite, I assume procuring diet coke should be feasible? Any recommendations for great $50 (for two with a beverage/beer) and under restaurants for lunch/dinner? I know you recommended a pizza place (I'll have to look it up again) and Coconuts, I believe...
ReplyDeleteCheapest places we've found are as follows: Island Adventures (you know the bio bay tour place, they have a sort of mexican menu, nothing fancy, but cheap $25-30 for two). Duffys is next it'll be around $30 for two, bit more with beer. Bananas about the same price as Duffys. All of these are on the Caribbean side, that's where we like it the best.
ReplyDeleteCurt