Island Dreaming: zap me to VIEQUES!

Vieques -- that laid-back island off of Puerto Rico's east coast -- has a distinct backcountry vibe far from the casinos of San Juan!  Here on this 21-mile barefoot playground, beach lovers are enticed off the sand and into adventures with bikes, surf, nature, history, and -- of course -- FOOD!

The highlight (for me) on Vieques is the magical bioluminescent water of Mosquito Bay!  Ever been in a boat at night, with a virtual light show in the waters around you?  Here on Mosquito, the shallow waters and mangrove clusters make a perfect home for protozoans -- called Dinoflagellates -- who breed in such density that the waters literally light up after dark!

You'll have your choice of outfitters to take you around the bay -- electric boat or kayak, expert biologist guide or family friendly.  They're about $25 for 2 hours, and some even pick you up from your hotel.
The best of the island (#1 pick of TripAdvisor) is  Abes!  Check him out on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-nBJBcorhQ&feature=player_embedded










Want to try a Paso -- or easy trot -- around the island?  Horseman can join Billy The Kid (no joke!) throughout the heart of Vieques (787.741.2134)  Or Esperenza Riding Company for a jaunt along the beach!  Go in the morning or evening, to avoid the noonday sun -- it'll cost you $70 for 3 hours.







Into nature? The Kiani Lagoon has a wooden boardwalk with guided nature walks.  These sacred waters, named for a native Indian Goddess, can be guided by Kiani Tours:
http://kianitours.com/?from=abes
Island fixture, Letty Perez, will show you wild horses, hermit crabs, cultural sites,

and the pride of Vieques, the Ceiba tree and its famous roots.

How about fishing?  Here's what the NYT had to say about the turtle-grass flats of Vieques:

They are a looking-glass world, shimmering films of light and life that hide as much as they reveal. Such a thin slick of fresh water in the mountains might hold a nine-inch trout. But in saltwater, shallow water can yield a bonefish as broad as a bowling pin with the power to strip 100 yards of line. Or a man-size tarpon dressed in silver-dollar scales that gallops across the water like a bronco.


Here's the entire article, if fly fishing's your deal:  http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/travel/escapes/20vieques.html

And when you get tired of running around, have your pick of some of the finest beaches in the Caribbean!

Red (the classic turquoise crescent)

Blue (with a sandbar out to a small key that's great for snorkeling)

Green (secluded by the coconut palms but watch out for afternoon sand flies)

or Black (the only untouched on the island!)

Try Navio, great for bodyboarding

or Media Luna,  off of the Bun Bay beach road!

Top it all off with a food crawl in La Esperenza's kiosks for conch salad, coconut water, lobster, and all things fried!

                         "Pastelillos" are fried seafood dumplings





"Alcapurrios" are stuffed plantains






and Arepas are your standard fried dough (locals eat so much of these that they're nicknamed Areporos)






Or treat yourself to Bilis, a deceiving 5* open air cabana that's the highlight of the Malecon in La Esperenza!  Start your meal with a namesake Amapola, or a glass of their famous Sangria.  Salud!

Island Dreaming: zap me to THE ABACOS!

                                                    ...on a sailboat, that is!

The Abacos sit up on the northeast shoulder of the Bahamas, an epaulet of secluded turquoise coves, underwater marine sanctuaries, and 5-stool beach bars.  You can explore these wonders from a resort, but for a true Bahamian experience... Charter a sailboat and sail away! 

Don't know how to sail?  Captains can be hired to take over -- handle the chores (and the stress)  from leaving the dock

to navigating the course...

to tucking the vessel into the slip at days' end.

Along the way, you'll stop at island resorts for a day of pool-side lounging

Or strap on a tank at Brendal's dive shop for some underwater adventure at Green Turtle Cay:

or lay in the shade at Pete's Pub with a Goombay Smash!

Days on the water include fishing,


zodiac-ing to isolated beaches for a swim and beachcomb, 

strumming and sailing,

But the best fun?   Drop the hook out on the Bahamas' banks, and dive in the Sea!  It's like pulling through a giant fish tank, sunrays angling down through acres of clear blue water to a rippled sandy bottom, just below your toes, strewn with apricot-colored starfish the size of dinner plates!

The captain often will give helpful tips to keep you shipshape.  Today's tip: take a Joy shower after ocean swimming.  The Joy soap grabs to salt, the freshwater hose off the boat stern leaves you refreshed, and the lemonscent follows you to keep saline mustiness out of the cabin. 

Dock for a day here and there, and enjoy land pleasure also.   2-Wheeling through remote island forests, only to find a private Bahamian beach at trails' end, is a particularly sweet treat!

A few days on board will give you the "boat rocks",  but you'll still return to the dock, to sail another day, deeper into the Abacos!

Where do you charter a boat or find a captain?  The Moorings in Marsh Harbor.  

Here's a photo gallery to check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7-jkdGRGoc&feature=player_embedded#at=235

Island Dreaming: zap me to KAUAI!

11 miles of 400-foot mud slides, a jungle full of mosquitos, and...did i mention... a 15-hour flight to the trailhead?!  This is Kauai's storied Na Pali trail.

But follow us...  we're taking the shortcut!
It's still no walk-to-the-beach, but the 2-mile version of the Na Pali trail generously rewards you with coastline vistas for your heart-pumping work, and at the end, gives you a beach, and even a waterfall!

The trail's a sort of goat path -- a simple, steep, and often rutted path

 -- and it takes you from the carpark just past Hanalei Beach, on Kauai's north coast and straight up into tropical jungle.   Dense palms cast a cool shade, and we kept serpentining up and down,  back and forth, along the cliff, with dizzying dropoff glimpses of crashing waves through the fronds.

Take a gallon of water, and take breaks!  After almost an hour in the tropical heat, dripping and flushed, we moaned as we read the warning sign on the beach:  Dangerous Rip!  Sure enough, you could actually see the current rush westward, and we had to console ourselves in the shallows along the shore.

Itching... not from bugbites but for more jungle trekking?
Head straight up the cleft of the valley from that wild beach to the Hanakapiai Waterfall.











 It's another 2 miles inland, on a well marked trail that's not as steep yet full of surprises -- deep stream crossings and even a random band of native pig hunters.

The challenges are real.  You will slip on tree roots, suck into mud, and drip sweat!   It's imperative that you respect the rip tides at the 2-mile beach!   But somewhere between the blue surf and the emerald jungle, we inhaled the earthy jungle pungence and felt -- even the 8 year old amongst us! -- exhilarated!

As a blogger posted a few years back,
"The lesson learned is to not let others fears and limitations stop you from searching to find your own."


Logistics of "doing" the Na Pali, or Kalalau, trail:

*flights usually connect through Oahu, cost about 800 dollars and about 15 hours (you'll definitely need a fully charged Kindle and Ipad!)





*you'll need a rental car to get from the airport up to the north shore







*there are 2 campgrounds along the trail:   Hanakoa (a little past the halfway point) and Kalalau Beach at the 11-mile end.  Permits are required for both and cost $20pp/night: http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/camping/permit_napali.cfm

*respect the sacred archeological sites along the trail

*consider a zodiac tour one-way!  It'll save your time and legs.  You may even decide to tackle the entire 11-mile stretch!  Captain Andy's the guy for you:  http://www.napali.com/kauai_rafting/

*don't miss the great public campground near the trailhead at Hanalei town.  It's like Woodstock on the Beach, and a great venue to grill fresh Hawaiian green mussels, enjoy a cold Kona, and meet some new hippie pals.

Pomaika`i 

That's Hawaiian for "Good Luck"

Island Dreaming: zap me to KEY WEST!

More aptly titled, "3600 Calories (in 36 hours) in Key West", here's a truly decadent table crawl on Cayo Heuso!

Don't waste a minute!  Go 2-wheelin' straight from the  airport

to the deck at Louie's Backyard! 

(thanks to Eaton Bikes and their free delivery @ 305.294.8188)

The best mojito on the island, enjoyed with some killer conch fritters, gets you started, but don't ask the bartend to order food anywhere but the bar... he'll know you're a Newbie!

For lunch, some fish tacos and cannellini bean bruschetta with sauteed calamari were slightly spicy winners!













I dozed next door on the Dog Beach









then biked over to my B&B for a quick shower before heading out to sunset.






A Painkiller at the Sunset Pier, while not exactly original, is a quintessential Key West treat!

I strolled Mallory Square, as the Cat Man performed before a setting sun and the Fury Booze Cruise rocked on by. 

Strolling the shops on the Westin waterfront -- nicely uncrowded without any cruise ships at dock -- worked up an appetite.



Soon i was ready to bike over to the Flaming Bouy Filet Company, a new dinner Hot Spot in town, opened by a Cinncinati-transplant named Fred.  Despite his landlocked life, he sure knows fish, and









grills a moist Key West Pinks (shrimp, for you out-of-staters) in cilantro chutney, and a sweetly watermelon-drenched ceviche too!    Topped it off with Spicy chocolate quesadilla!

Not quite ready to go to bed, I wandered "the strip"!   I watched martini-lovers on the La Te Da Duval-front barstools

and Gin-n-Juicers (an amazing cucumber concoction made with Hendrix Gin) at the secluded Orchid Bar, a little hidden gem hidden within a 1950's motel by the same name.

but frankly I was too beat for either, so i ducked into the old standby, Starbucks, for a chamomile tea, and was off to bed.  Day 1 was done!

Next morning I headed straight to La Creperie, owned by a Key West Icon, Yolande.  Her sidewalk tables  on Petronia were the perfect niche to enjoy a Banana Lime crepe and a cup of tea, before grabbing some book time on Fort Zachary Taylor beach.

Early lunch called at Sarabeths, a synagogue-turned-eatery over on Simonton.  The cool cathedral windows create an intriguing ambiance indoors, but my choice is the outdoor patio.  

A key west Pinks-infused crab cake and salad fill me up, but the strawberry cake, on homemade shortbread, is the real surprise! 

I spend the afternoon biking the hidden alleyways of Old Town,  through the Truman Annex community, and along the southern Higgs Beach trail.

I end up over at the Historic Seaport for a Dark-n-Stormy at Pepes, the oldest restaurant, a cuban-fringed steakhouse, in Key West- opened 1909.  










On a whim, i ordered the Mixed plate of Oysters... mexican ones with chile peppers, florentine ones with spinach, and spicy ones with tabasco.
Good choice!






Reservations for dinner were not easy to come by at the Seven Fish, but it's well worth the wait til 9pm! You could walk right by this little hovel, over on Olivia Street, but I had been wisely directed! The Black Grouper, their rendition steamed with almonds, apricots and coconut, was sweetly divine!

Full to the gills at the Seven Fish, Day 2 was done!

Next morning i found myself on the 8:15 complimentary water taxi to Sunset Key, an 8-minute ferry that delivered me to the private island with a clutch of posh residences, some Westin rentals, and the fancy Latitudes Restaurant.

A sister property to the famous Sagamore Hotel in Upstate NY, Latitudes offered me a rod-iron cafe table under the palms of its waterfront veranda.  There, i opened a menu promising the Power Foods -- soy, blueberries, yogurt, broccoli --









but i opted instead for some sauteed Yellowtail eggs benedict with a side of spinach, a bursting florida pink grapefruit, and some hot coffee that arrived with a flourish in a silver carafe.
I was stuffed!

A mid-morning stop on my bike at one of Key West's homemade gelato stands was a fine idea,

and, as a grand finale, I gave myself an hour on the porch of Santiago's Bedego before heading back to the aiport.  A flaky chevre tart, some thyme-laced lamb lollipops, and a tall glass of red sangria topped me off.  It was time to go home.

If that was all 3600 calories, I need a new calculator!

Honorable mention goes to Nine One Five, whose Victorian porch, slung with bougainvillea, has great people-watching along Duval as well as tasty Pinks!

And to Half Shell Raw Bar.  Happy hour's til 7pm where a couple of drinks and a dozen half-shells run less than 10 bucks! (best seat in the house?  Outside on the dock, watching sunset!)

Don't hurt yourself!