Beinvenidos Spanish Virgin Islands! We are presently exploring the island of Vieques which lies just seven miles off the eastern shore of Puerto Rico. The Spanish colonized Vieques in the early 1800's. Puerto Rico annexed the island in 1854 and during the latter part of the 19th century, Vieques saw a great economic boom in the sugar industry and several sugar mills began operations. The US began appropriating land on Vieques for naval training in the 1940's and by 1949, the Navy controlled more than 70% of the island which was used for aerial and naval bombardment! Vieques combination of jungle and ocean enviroments made it an invaluable training site as well. On our first cruise through the Caribbean in 1993 we failed to listen to the VHF in the morning when the announcements were made telling boaters the location and times of the Navy war games taking place around Vieques. We sailed very close to one of the beaches being bombed by a Navy ship! A navy boat approached us and told us to clear out of the area immdiately! Fine! The last couple of decades has seen a constant battle between the US military and those that oppose the use of this beautiful island for military actions. The year 2003 brought an end to the bombing on Vieques. Although most of the former Navy land is open for public use some areas are still closed off due to the possibility that "unexploded ordinances" (aka UXO) are still buried here! Yikes! We were also told by our personal weapons expert (aka Johnny), not to pick up any metal cylinders we may see while snorkling or beach combing! We wondered why there are so many moorings placed at the anchorages for boats to tie up to instead of having to anchor. We figure dropping the anchor may prove to be unlucky if it falls on top of one of these UXO's! Spectacular beaches ring the island of Vieques. There are very few people enjoying the beaches and we have loved the privacy and seclusion. Today Vieques has a population of just under 10,000 and unemployment is high. The tourism industry is in its early stages of develpoment and offers promise. Vieques is just large enough to contain two small settlements, Isabel Segunda on the north coast and Espeanza on the southern shore. We have been here 5 days and are slowly making our way around the island from east to west enjoying the many beautiful beaches.





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