Una Semana in Puerto Rico

Blake planned to race his bike in Puerto Rico, but some logistical SNAFUs resulted in something he rarely experiences: a vacation without biking. Blake is an excellent photographer, so he made the most of the trip.

A week without wheels in Puerto Rico

What was supposed to be a bike race in the Caribbean turned into a vacation when the race organizers wouldn’t let my girlfriend Kelli, or any other women, into the race to help out.

No women allowed 🙁

I had already booked tickets to Puerto Rico, so we made the most of it and had a wonderful time.

We touched down in San Juan, PR late on a Wed in mid August. We grabbed a cheap rental car I had booked ($125 for the week) and headed to a basic Airbnb on the east side of the island in Fajardo for the night.

The next morning we headed out to Vieques by ferry. It is a beautiful, small island with the brightest Bioluminescent bay in the world. We camped two nights there on the beach, grabbed an Airbnb for one, then headed back to the main island and back to Old San Juan.

Leaving our Airbnb for the day

View back on Sun Bay on Vieques Island

Rum in a coconut on the beach

Old sugar mill remains

Mango slices on Playa de Luna beach. This was the nicest beach I have been to in my life.

We had Playa de Luna all to ourselves

The Vieques biobay was one of the most surreal and breathtaking experiences I have had in my life

Kelli got us invited on a harbor cruise in an old tall ship which was a total blast, followed by a fun night out on the town.”

The next day, some friends who coincidentally happened to be there, and a friend from the race joined us as we went into the only tropical rain forest in the US, El Yunque.

Our final full day we did a huge walking tour of Old San Juan. It was a great week abroad. Puerto Rico is pretty cheap to get to, no passport, money exchange or new cell phone plan is needed, and there is a ton of great activities to do. Just bring some bug spray and be prepared to get a little sweaty.