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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.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Escape to Escondida......

Having a little La Plata burnout. Much of it's my own fault. I talk too much. Tell too many people how wonderful it is. I think word is out. We counted 33 people on La Plata yesterday. 33...unfrigg'n believable. As I've said before...




So...today...we decided on something different. First we went to La Chiva and the surf was up, that was at turnout 10 and there was only one other jeep there. I had told Lorrie that when Brad and I walked over to Escondida it looked like sheit from the from the road, but if you walk down to the spot we always do, it was clear and beautiful. It was the same when we arrived today.

It was obvious that not that many people were going to this beach, the trash was everywhere and bad, real bad. It really puts it right in your face when you see a beach like this. There was plastic everywhere. I told Lorrie that if you removed all the plastic the beach would be nearly clean. It was so bad that I just grabbed the water bottles, oil jugs, shoes and pieces of plastic bags. We are so damn lazy as a society and if we don't stop with the plastic our seas and beaches are going to be ruined, if they haven't been already. Picking up all these damn water bottles just makes me cringe when I see someone drinking or buying them. I'm telling ya I see it. I pick it up every single time I visit this island and it's disgusting and makes me mad as hell.












I ended up with 4 trash bags full and a bunch of pieces too big to fit in a bag. There was so much trash that I just loaded the jeep and drove it to the bin at the turn off to Escondida. I only covered a very small portion of the beach and left way more than I took. It's sad.




Ok...enough of the rant, but if you ever see me  drinking my water/tea out of a glass mason jar, you'll understand now.

No one else was on Escondia today. Oh a few stuck their heads out on the first turnout and saw all the seaweed and did a 180 and left. Looks horrible from the first vantage point









It does look bad, but that's the beauty. You have to walk down to the far west/south end of the beach and then it clears out. There's a reef there that creates nearly the same environment as over at the gallery on La Plata. Not quite as nice but still nice.




You can see all the way across to La Plata and the gallery from where we set up.



That's the gallery at the very top of the picture just right of center, that white line. This next picture is the reef that is protecting that west end on Escondida. It's not bad snorkeling either, but most don't know about it.




It's a very private beach and we took full advantage of it. Most of the day was spent in our birthday suits....kind of liberating.

So that's your insider tip on Escondida,  just do me a favor and take a few moments to pick up some plastic while your there. Oh...and you might wait till next week. I think Lorrie and I are going to take "full advantage" a few more times this trip.

:-)


4 comments:

  1. Wow the trash is pretty sad.

    In your opinion has it gotten worse recently?

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    1. No...it's the same as it always has been. If you think that is bad, try hiking out west of playa grande towards green beach. Piles and piles of it. More than I could ever pick up. Yes it's sad, but I'm hopeful with the recent ban on plastic grocery bags that we are moving in the right direction. People don't realize just how bad things look before regular people, including islanders, pick it up. I've seen La Plata look absolutely horrible. If we all make an effort who knows what we can accomplish.

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  2. Yep, I commend you for making a valiant effort to clean up the mess. Pretty impressive!

    BTW - this will be our first trip to the island ( early April ). I'm glad we discovered your blog. It has proven to be a great resource!

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  3. First let me say thanks for your efforts. It's sad to see how much garbage there is. Also, your comment regarding 'talking too much'. We would never have heard of Vieques if it weren't for another traveller talking about it.
    We also have a 'secret island' that we have been returning to for years and are happy to tell others about it. Thankfully it hasn't become over run with tourists although now one of the lagoons has an algae problem.
    So thanks again and please don't stop talking!

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