A Peek at Life as a Natic

Wednesday evening we had a flight out of Atlanta scheduled for 10:15…. let me reiterate scheduled.  We got to the airport at about 7:30 or so and immediately found out that our plane was delayed until nearly midnight   Fortunately this got moved up to about 11:45 or so.

Beer and a Smoothie at Sweetwater Bar and Grill

Since we had a fair amount of time in the airport we went on the search for some food.  Alisha was starting to feel pretty miserable (typical Wednesday for her   ) so we went on the hunt for some food for her.  She was wanting a smoothie so we looked around for a while… not much luck.  We found a Ben and Jerry’s that made some smoothies so we picked one up and headed for my establishment of choice:  Sweetwater Bar and Grill!

We I had a few beers and we headed back towads our plane and got ready for take off.  We ended up landing at nealy 1:00 and then an hour ride home back to Alisha’s mom’s house.  Long day but we have a lot in store for the next few days… its going to be a blast!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our Fifth day in PA at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

On Sunday morning we debated about what to do and finally decided to head back down to Pittsburgh to check out the zoo.  We had a great time checking out all of the animals and fish.  The zoo in Pittsburgh is quite nice for being so much older than the Atlanta zoo.  The cages were a little smaller for many of the animals than Atlanta, but all in all it was great.  One of the great attractions was the woman that is supposed to be in a cage – but was at the zoo on house arrest… way to go you model citizen you!!  Below is a video of the seal feeding.

Classy Broad!

After visiting the zoo we headed back to Alisha’s grandparent’s house.  Her grandfather wanted to know if I wanted to go to Red Star with him and as you know, I dont turn down a chance to drink great brew pub beer!  I had been dying to get out there the whole trip so without a doubt, I said yes!  I asked Alisha to come along with us, and I am glad I did LOL… a few delicious beers later I was too drunk to drive LOL.  Red Star is a brew pub (bar that brews their own beer) in Greensburg that has taken over the old train station in the city.  It has some great beers that are rated quite well.  I ordered the sampler to start out with which included 8 5oz beers and then a pint of their American Pale Ale.  It was delicious!  It is poured on a nitrogen tap to give it the same creamy head that Guinness has on draft… perfect!

Red Star Sampler

After drinking our beers, we headed back to Alisha’s grandparent’s house to pick up her mom and grandmother for dinner at Primanti Brothers.  Primanti Brothers is a well know restaurant that serves their sandwiches with fries and coleslaw ON the sandwich.  As you would guess, I chose to remove the coleslaw from mine.  They were rated the number 7 best place to pig out by the Discovery Channel on one of their episodes. 

Dinner was excellent and the day was over… unfortunately the next day we had to leave, so I had to drink my growler of East End Brewing Big Hop IPA and we had to pack for our flight on Monday back to Atlanta.

Monday was our last day in PA and we had pretty much done everything that we wanted to cram into the long weekend.  We decided to relax for a bit and then go out to a store called Delallos which is an authentic Italian grocery store that also sells lunch meat, sandwiches, and pastries.  It was a pretty cool store.  Almost all of their products (canned or not) were all with their own logo.  The sandwich was excellent that I had and the perogies that Alisha had were great too.  We bought a few desserts and lunch from there and headed back to Alisha’s mom’s house to eat, relax, and finish my growler

Growler (1/2 gallon) of Big Hop IPA

Time wore thin and we headed down to Pittsburgh to make way to the airport.  We went shopping at a nearby Ikea, bought Alisha some new sunglasses and then headed off to the airport.  Our time in PA was great and memorable for sure…. we had a great time as always!  We spent a lot of quality time with family and seeing the sights of Pittsburgh.

I know, I know… you are waiting for posts and pics from our vacation to Pittsburgh.  I promise I am working on them and they are almost done. 

I am hoping to have them posted tonight… but no promises.

Alisha and I have booked out tickets to go back to PA this summer.  We will be heading out next month to visit Alisha’s mom and grandparents.  Also, Alisha’s cousin Denae will be driving back to PA from FL to go wedding dress shopping so Alisha will be meeting up with her to pick out bridesmade dresses as well.

We are excited about heading back up to PA.  We always have a great time! – plus there is Jioio’s pizza and Red Star Brewery!!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our 6th day in Destin at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

We woke up early today and headed down to the beach to enjoy some more time out in the sun.  Because AJ was dying to skim board, I took him back to Pompano Joes to rent a real skim board.  These are made of fiber glass instead of wood and are supposed to be much better.

According to him and Dan it was much better.  I couldnt tell a damn difference because I was falling off the damn thing either way.  Alisha had a great time recording me on our camera so hopefully you enjoy them as much as she did…. and trust me … falling hurts way more than it looks like it does.  I still have cuts all up my leg from busting ass so many times.

After ruining my body from falling so much, we headed back to the condo and changed for dinner at Meguires again.

After seeing a drink on the menu late the previous night, we decided that I needed to come back for beers again and Dan was in dire need or an Irish Wake.  This was a drink that was composed of a ton of different alcohols including 151 and put into a 32 oz mason jar.  They actually will not serve you more than 2 of these because of how potent they are.  Needless to say he was pretty drunk after one.

After getting Dan hammered, we headed back to the condo to get some much needed sleep. 

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our 5th day in Destin at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

Today we headed out in the morning to go rent a wave runner by Pompano Joes on Mirimar Beach.  It was a short walk but was worth every second of it.  We rented two wave runners for Dan, Zach, AJ, Chris, Dad, and me.  I paired up with AJ for the first run and Dan paired up with Zach.  We had a total blast.  We were hauling ass all over the place and really pushing that wave runner to its limits.

I came back in to let somone else ride and my dad made Alisha go out with me.  What a mistake that was :crackup:  Alisha taught me how to ride a wave runner and she was by far the biggest baby out there.  I could not go remotely fast nor turn without her freaking out.  She was screaming like she was going to die.  It was pretty funny… for me at least!  We spent some more time on the beach and then headed back up to the condo to change for the evening.

Later on Alisha, Dan, and I went out to a pub near the Fort Walton Bridge called Meguires Pub.  I found out about it when I searched Google for a local brewery and decided that we had to go try out their beers.  This place was 10000 times better than I had even imagined. 

When you walk in you are simply astounded by the rediculous number of $1 bills ALL OVER THE PLACE.  The ceiling was completely covered, the walls, the fans, everything!  We got seated at the bar and before long we noticed the awesome beer tits taps which consisted of a figure of a woman and her boobs were the beer taps.  Perfect in my opinion.

Becuase of my love for beer, I ordered the sampler and tried out all of the flavors that they had on tap.  The gallery has a picture that you can read the flavors and types of beer that they served.  They were delicious!  Their stout was to die for!  Alisha ordered an 18 cent soup and a rootbeer float.  I then ordered the Stout float which was basically the rootbeer float but with their stout instead of rootbeer.  MMMMMMM! 

After reading about their dollar bill hanging ritual we decided to add to the decor by adding a Natic bill to their collection.  Alisha wrote on the bill and asked for the stapler to hang it.  She choose a spot right beside the moose as you walk in the front door.

After eating we headed back to the brewing room and then to the gift shop.  We each picked up a shirt for memories and went back to the condo to get some sleep.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our 4th day in Destin at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

On the fourth day we headed out to the beach in the morning to enjoy the gorgeous day.  I got out there and went out straight into building my moden sand castle.  I started out by buiding a wall to break the waves coming in and then build the castle behind it with Zach.  Dan began making his as well and thought it was better.  He was wrong.  Not only was mine bigger and better, it had boobs in it. 

After building our sandcastles we headed into the water for a while and I tried skim boarding for the first time.  Yeah, not so good.  I busted my ass time and time again.

These are videos of my first couple of attempts.  Let me tell you, it got no better from there!

Later that day i busted again and cut my hand.  It was a small cut but just in a bad spot and bothered the crap out of me for the rest of the day.  After getting injured we played football for a little while before heading out to the pool.  We swam there for a little while and then headed up for some much needed lunch. 

After lunch we headed up to the shopping area by the mid bay bridge and bought some capri’s for Alisha, a necklace for Chris, and some chocolate from a candy making store.  We then headed back to the house for some dinner which was steak and pasta with alfredo sauce :drool:

After dinner, we went back down to the beach to watch AJ skim board some more.  While he was doing that, we threw the football around for a while and Alisha went picture happy.  Like Kate from John and Kate plus Eight, she HATES our camera and can’t wait to pick up a new one.  She had to delete many more pics than we were able to keep.  So frustrating.  The Nikon D90 cant come out fast enough!   We then headed back up to get ready for bed.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our 2nd day in Destin at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

Day two in Destin was hit and miss.  The weather had been pretty bad and made for some strong storms.  There was a break in the weather and we took the opportunity to make it out to the beach for some volleyball and sun. 

We spent some time playing and then headed down to the water to cool off.  Before long the sky turned completely black and the beach was clearing out.  Dan, Zach, AJ, my dad, and I all stayed to see if it would pass.

We eventually got out of the water just in time for the rain to let loose.  It was coming down so hard that it felt like needles hitting you.  We ran up the beach to the condo to get away from the pain. 

When we got back to the condo my mom had Lady in a diaper because she was in heat.  She had gone out to get the disposable ones and they looked so funny on her :crackup:  She was waddling around and walking funny.  It turned out that these were too small (as you can see above) and she had to go back to the regular diaper.

Envy’s stomach was a mess and she would not eat so my mom started giving her a raw diet like Lady eats.  She LOVED it.  She was eating up raw chicken and steak and was in heaven.  We are strongly considering feeding her raw from now on.  It is better for her, but we need to see what it costs and how to do so while maintaining the right nutrient contents.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our first day in Destin at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

On Saturday morning we headed out to Destin.  My parents took the van and Alisha, Dan, Envy and I all went in my dad’s TL. 

I am not a fan of driving and have a strong appreciation for airplanes… and let me tell you that this trip certainly confirmed this.  I was dying in that car.  I just cannot take being cramped up in a car for so long.  I go insane!

On our way we had to stop for food and gas.  As we looked for a place to stop we came across a Whataburger.  Since none of us had ever eaten there we decided to give it a shot.  Not impressed.  It was okay but i would have definitely preferred a Chick-fil-a for sure.  Ohh well.  It was an experience. 

We got to Destin around 7:00 or so and went straight to the condo to unpack and get ready to go to dinner.  Dan wanted to go to a place he went to during Spring Break, so we took his advise and headed out to AJ’s which is on the bay.  It was actually pretty nice.  They had a great beach themed atmosphere with outdoor covered seating.  While we waited for a table, we walked around back and saw all of their boat trips for fishing and dolphin sightings.  They also had a yacht sales center there as well where they had 2.5 million dollar yachts for sale.  They were beautiful!

Afterwards, we went to Walmart to buy some groceries for the condo as it was about 11:00 PM.  I have NEVER seen a Walmart so busy in my life.  It was so busy that you could not walk down the isles and the stockers could not keep product on the shelves.  The place was a total wreck.

We then headed back to the condo and got ready for bed.  While we were getting ready we noticed that the lock on the bathroom was not working properly.  Zach had asked that we have a note on the doory to let others know that it was in use.  Alisha got creative and placed a thong liner on the door and wrote in use on it.  :crackup:

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our first day in Puerto Rico at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

Well, we tried to do updates from Puerto Rico daily, but there was no internet access to do so from so you will just have to read them all at once :crackup:

On Thursday morning we headed out to catch our flight into San Juan. It was a little longer than I had hoped the flight would be but it will do. I just had to read two full magazines to keep me occupied. Without them I would have gone insane.
When we landed in San Juan, we headed straight to the rental car place to pick up our van. While my dad was filling out paperwork, I noticed that there was a Ducati de San Juan right next door! Me and Dan headed in there and took a look at the bikes on the show room floor including the limited edition, $42,000 1099R. :drool: After we got done drooling over the street and race bikes I picked up a Ducati de Puerto Rico t-shirt. The guy there was really nice. I asked him if there were any tracks in PR and he said yes but they are closed for maintenance but he comes to the states often including Road Atlanta. I never would have thought that there would be any race tracks in PR. Especially with the heat and humidity.

After we got the van we went over to (Castillo de San Cristobal) which is a fort that was used to protect the island during times of war. It was insane! The fort was quite large and was very nice. It is really crazy to see how well it was built especially since it was done so long ago.  We have plenty of pics in the gallery for you to check out.

After the fort we wanted to go out for some authentic Puerto Rican food and were told to go to Café de Puerto Rico right in San Juan up the road from the fort. Me and Dan decided to try out the local beer so we asked when they had and they mentioned that they only had one domestic beer; Medallia Light. This must translate to Bud Light in Spanish. :puke: For our meals, we had some delicious carne cebollas y arroz con frijoles (onion steak with rice and beans) and added sides of maduros and mofongo. Almost everyone ordered the same thing with the exception of Chris who ordered the all authentic fried chicken tenders and french fries. :crackup: Alisha was in heaven… She was ready to abandon Atlanta and move to PR.  She would also have to abandon her diet :crackup:

After we ate, we all headed back to the car for the long trek from San Juan to Moca… almost 2 hours long :( to head over to my grandfather’s house.  What a journey! We quickly noticed that the government does not scan the license plates for English curses. We saw a plate of a Puerto Rican that read: FAG 519. We also saw a DCK ### and Susan and Hershey spotted a FUK ###. I will be damned to ride around with FAG on my license plate unless I was proud to be one. :crackup: We found that all of the cops ride with their flashing lights on at all times. It is so weird to see them cruising around with their lights on with no desire to pull anyone over at all. In addition to that, they have a LOT of cops. Everywhere you look there is another. If they want to pull you over they will use their siren with it to let you know. We also found the Puerto Ricans drive like any other island… INSANE! They don’t give a shit who or what is where. They are very aggressive but it works well for them. We did not see a wreck at all.

The suburbs of PR are very unlike ours. Even in the sticks (Moca :crackup: ) there are little stores and stuff everywhere. While this is true, there are no larger stores that we typically have around such as Target etc. It is all still tiny mom and pop shops everywhere. When you do go in them you find that the store has as much as home depot (minus the appliances and lumber) but in the same square footage as a Publix Pharmacy! There is stuff EVERYWHERE. Every square inch of those walls/shelving is in full use.

The road that leads to my grandfather’s house is like nothing I have ever seen before. This mountain road is extremely steep and only wide enough to fit one car at a time but manage to have traffic in both directions!!! The cars go flying up and down at ridiculous speeds and don’t even bother to stay on their side of the road. As a matter of fact, they make it a point to act like they are in an Indy car race and do an outside-inside-outside turning strategy on you while you are on your way in the opposite direction. You see your life flash before your eyes each time you go up or down it!

When we got to my grandfather’s house we took a little walk around the property. He showed us his many banana, plantain, coconut trees, and where the mango trees where nearby. It was really cool to see these plants just growing everywhere and we spend a crap ton of money to buy them in the States. They just pick them right off the tree and eat them. We would drive under a mango tree and just see them ALL OVER the floor. It was crazy. We were running precious mangos over

Well the day was filled with great things, but we were staying in the sticks so it came with some negatives. The largest negative: NO AC!!! The second largest negative: NO HOT WATER!!! The third largest negative: NO INTERNET OR CABLE!!! Talk about culture shock!! Thankfully it was no very hot during the day or night so we were not dying at night. We also have a solution in place for the no hot water situation….and no we will not be heating water over the stove. Do we look Hispanic!?!! :crackup: … but it is slightly ghetto :crackup:

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our second day in Puerto Rico at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

So we woke up this morning knowing that we had to shower in the cold water because we had no hot water heater.  I went down with Alisha and brushed my teeth, etc. while she jumped in the shower.  I was laughing at her and telling her that it can’t be that bad.  She was cringing and whining the whole time.  Let me be the first to tell you…. It WAS that bad.  I got in there and froze my ASS off.  Honestly, it felt like they added ice to the water lines.  It was absolutely painful to take a shower.  You did everything in your power to minimize your time under the water, putting individual limbs under the water only as needed and doing whatever possible to keep the rest of your body out. 

Once we got past the shower time part, we headed over to my grandfather’s house to meet up with the rest of the family.  We ate a quick breakfast and headed off to el parque de las Cevernas del Rio Camuy (caverns or the Camuy River).  Unfortunately, there was an accident 4 months ago that stopped them from giving tours into the caves themselves, but we did get to do a full nature trail and they showed us a massive sinkhole that was the size of about 2 football fields.  It was insane to see first-hand.  We then were taken down a 203 step trail to see the entrance to the cave itself!  The boys threw some rocks into the cave and you could hear it making impact with the depths of the cave for over 12 seconds.

After the caves, we headed over to a beach in the area.  It was simply astonishing!  As we pulled up we parked next to the river which runs into the ocean about 40 feet further.  It was awesome.  In between was a little area with rocks and softer, more stagnant water.  At the top, there was a section where the waves would crash up against the rocks which created a great little pool area.  It was about the size of a kiddie pool and was really neat!  The best part about this beach was that across from the water  was a gorgeous background of tropical trees and plants.  Pictures can’t even capture how nice this area was! 

After the beach we decided to be ass backwards and headed over to an “ice cream” place up the road called Frappe’ Krystel before dinner.  It was like a smoothie/ice cream/shake kinda treat which came in flavors like pineapple, strawberry, coconut, oreo, etc.  It was a very different but delicious treat after a fun day.

Once we finished up our dessert, we headed out to get some pizza to bring back to the house.  Little did we know that my grandfather’s pizza place of choice was IN a school bus!!!  This was the weirdest thing I had ever seen.  You walk up to the back of the bus and place your order then they cook it all on the bus which is equipped with ovens and everything.  It was so weird.  Actually after we bought the pizza there I noticed that these food buses were all over the place and served everything from pizza to rotisserie chicken. 

After dinner and dessert, we went back to the house that we were staying in and started our hot water project.  While we were waiting on Hershey to show up my dad decided that maybe we should leave the western side of the island and head back over to the San Juan area tomorrow.  He called and booked a room at a resort in Durado.  We were really excited to head out to the tourist side of the island and see what any visitor would enjoy.  Once Hershey got there we started working on the hot water issue.  My dad purchased a device that goes before the shower head and plugs into the wall.  This has a heating element in it that heats the water before it comes out of the shower head.  After about an hour we had it installed and we tested it out…. No go .  Unfortunately, the house did not have enough water pressure to activate the heating element.  DAMN another day of no hot water

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our third day in Puerto Rico at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

So when we went to bed last night we knew the hot water fix was not quite in place as what we installed was not working due to low water pressure.  So we prepared ourselves for another freezing cold shower.  To our pleasant surprise we found that we were wrong.  Hershey came back later last night with the one from my grandfather’s house and installed it in the house we were staying in.  Fortunately, it worked here and gave us the ability to take a hot shower.  The only issue now was that there was low water pressure so getting the soap off of your ass what quite a challenge :crackup:

After we took our showers, we went over to my grandfather’s house for some breakfast. On our way, we took a detour up another hill that goes off of the one on the way to my grandfather’s house.  This one was 2 times steeper and had potholes everywhere.  I was convinced that we were going into the embankment when the cars came in the other direction.  

Once we got there my grandfather wanted to take all of us to a specific mango tree.  Mango trees are apparently known to make good or poor mangos.  Apparently this one made great ones!  When we pulled up the property owner was out mowing the lawn.  We asked him if we could knock down some mangos and he told us to get all that we wanted.  We spent about 30 minutes knocking mangos out of the tree with a bamboo pole as well as another with a machete on the end of it.  It was really fun to get a fruit that we spend several dollars on for free and just knock it straight out of the tree.  They were absolutely delicious!  We ate quite a few of them right there on the street.  I want another one just writing this!

On the way back from knocking down and eating mangos my dad took us over to the wealthier side of Moca.  The houses were beautiful and had the best view over the little town below.  They were houses that we would certainly live in.  Multiple floors, air conditioning, hot water, satellite TV, etc.  They were really pretty houses.

Once we got back to my grandfather’s house, we chilled for a while and then went out to go ice skating, shop, and go to the beach.  Unfortunately the rain kept us from the beach but we certainly enjoyed shopping.  Christina didn’t exactly enjoy ice skating much; right Christina :crackup:

Once we got home we got ready for dinner and headed out to a local restaurant that my grandfather’s cousin owns.  We ate some delicious local foods.  After dinner we headed out to a lighthouse that is on the North West corner of PR.  Apparently this is where the surfers come as the waves are much larger here than in other parts of the island.  Once we got there we found that the lighthouse area was no longer lit so we could not see much at all L

We then called it a night and headed back home to pack for the Durado resort.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our first day in Puerto Rico at pictures.neilnatic.com or here. Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

We were really excited to go over to the tourist side of the island and all woke up at a decent time to get ready, pack, and say our farewells to our grandparents and Hershey’s family.  Before we left we were sure to grab some pictures of the house that we stayed in and did the same at my grandfather’s house.  We ate a quick breakfast, ate as much coconut ice cream as possible, said goodbye, and hit the road.

Since we were still in Moca, we had to take the 2 hour trek back to the San Juan area so that we could get back to the tourist side of the island.  During this time we found out that AJ was starting to get pretty sick.  He had a sharp pain in his side and was starting to feel nauseas. 

When we got to the resort, we were astonished and SO happy to be back in modern day life.  The resort had a full 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, beach, pool, restaurants, coffee bar, HOT WATER, AIR CONDITIONING, and INTERNET!!!  It was beautiful.  The atrium had water running everywhere and the beautiful décor continued outside to their pools and other amenities.  There was actually a wedding going on there that night as well which Alisha was sure to video tape and admire.

We were a little early for check-in (which was at 4:00) so we headed to San Juan to go to the Bacardi distillery and grab something to eat.  We drove about 30 minutes out there to find out that they were closed for the elections L  and would reopen the next day.  We were a little bummed out but decided to just grab some lunch and play it by ear.  We quickly found out that AJ was getting sicker as he could not eat and threw up twice at the restaurant we went to.  While this was true, it sure didn’t stop him from downing a virgin strawberry daiquiri which of course added to his misery. 

On the way back we decided to drive around and while doing so AJ’s poor choice of beverage came back to haunt him.  After he threw up, everyone wondered whether it was still cold and if it was red still.  :crackup:

We went back to the resort where AJ passed out for the night.  Me, Alisha, and Dan hung out around the resort, watched the wedding on the beach, and later met up with my dad and Chris at the pool.  After a while, we decided to grab dinner at the Italian restaurant at the resort.

We had made some plans to go to a nearby island called Culebras which is known to have one of the world’s top 10 beaches!  Because AJ was so sick we were not sure if we were going to make is out there.  We had to be at the ferry before 9:00 which was about an hour and a half away from the resort, plus we had to factor traffic in as well.  We decided that we would talk in the morning and play it by ear.  We all really wanted to go but at the same time, didn’t want to wake up at 4:00 in the morning, get ready, and then find out that AJ was still sick or sicker and we would have to stay at the resort.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of our first day in Puerto Rico at pictures.neilnatic.com or here. Note that each day has its own album in the gallery.

Well my dad and I spoke in the morning to see if it was worth making the voyage out to catch the ferry to Culebra.  We really wanted to but we decided without knowing how much better AJ was feeling that maybe we should hold off. 

We then woke up about three hours later and got ready to grab some breakfast and go to a local beach.  After we ate, we grabbed out bathing suits and headed to a local beach that we were told was nice.  Well, they lied.  When we pulled up I thought I was in New York.  There was nearly no sand and it was dingy as hell.  I asked my dad if we should try to make the 1:00 ferry out to Culebra and he agreed.  We quickly got back in the car, and headed out to Fajardo to catch the ferry.

We got there with only minutes to spare and then got the bad news.  We were misinformed (SAD)  The only ferry to Culebra that we could have taken was at 9:00.  There was another ferry that went to another island called Vieques (another big tourist island) that was leaving at 1:00.  We decided to just hop on that ferry and enjoy what we could.  The ride was about an hour and 15 minutes and we saw weather from sun to POURING rain.  It was quite a journey.  Of course my dumb ass wanted to sit on the top level and we nearly got soaked.  Fortunately there was a covering that we all dove under so that we would stay dry.

When we got there, we took a taxi out to Blue Beach.  It took about 20 minutes to get there including about 10 minutes of off-roading in a conversion van.  Well let me tell you it was WELL worth it.  It turned out that Vieques was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! The beach we were on had one couple on it when we got there who left shortly after.  It was just nothing but us and the water.  In addition, there were other little islands that you could almost walk to from the main one.  The water was like shoulder deep the entire time. 

While we were at the beach, Mother Nature called two of our group.  Dan and Aj had to find ways to take a :moon: in the woods.  There was not a bathroom for at least 10 minutes (drive that is) so they did what they had to do :crackup:  Dan tried to distract Alisha by saying look at that plane as he waddled his bare ass back into the water :crackup:  it was SOOOO funny. 

After our time on the beach the taxi driver came back to pick us up and take us back to the port.  We hopped on the ferry again and made it back to Puerto Rico.  From there we hopped in the car and drove back to the resort to change and grab dinner.  Unfortunately nothing was open by this time but Applebees so we just ate there and went back to the room to pass out.

I have never seen a better beach than what we saw in Vieques.  I can only imagine what Culebras must have been like if it was rated better than Vieques was!!!