Our first trip to Vieques

On Thursday, we took the ferry to Vieques to do a little work, but it was mainly a pday. The work was exchanging a car and visiting the missionaries' apartment. There are two elders who serve on Vieques. I just realized I didn't take a picture of them! Next time! Vieques is 8 miles from Puerto Rico and is 21 miles long and 4 miles wide. About 14,000 people live there. The ferry ride is about an hour and half and leaves from Fajardo which is also about an hour and a half from where we live. We had to buy the ticket to take the car on the ferry in advance. We left our house about 7 am. 

Getting close to the shore.

The missionaries' house in Vieques. They keep it very clean!

Esperanza Beach. The beach here is pretty narrow and has a lot of seaweed, but it is still beautiful.

We ate lunch across the street from Esperanza Beach. This area reminds me a lot of the north shore of Oahu. There are a few small open-air restaurants and bars. Fall is definitely the off season because it's hurricane season.

Vieques has a lot of wild horses especially on the south side. We even saw a few wandering around the main town. 

Horses enjoying a day at the beach. They seem to live an idyllic life here. 

Sun Bay Beach. This is where we actually got in the water. John swam for about ten minutes, but spent most of the time keeping Elder Bennett company since he couldn't swim.

The other side of Sun Bay Beach. The water is very clear and warm!  I saw a few white and yellow fish and a very large starfish. It isn't really a snorkeling area. We will have to find a snorkeling beach next time. I love snorkeling.

More Vieques horses.

We had to have the car back to the ferry by 5 pm. We drove around the island a bit and then headed back into town. This is a view from Count Mirasol Fort which was built in the 1800s.

More of the view from the fort.

Esperanza Beach

My first ever selfie with Elder Bennett and Elder Eakle. Elder Bennett goes home on the 23rd and President gave him permission to go with us. Missionary life won't be the same without him, but he's served his two years and it's time to move on. We won't be getting any replacement office elders so it will just be us old folks.

All of the beaches we saw were pretty deserted. I think they need a senior couple on this island to help out the two elders. I'll volunteer. We could spend half of the time on Culebra.

Elder Eakle is always fascinated with the cannons at the Spanish forts.

Count Mirasol Fort

The building where the Vieques Branch meets.

Waiting for the ferry to go back to Puerto Rico. We got there at 5, but the ferry didn't arrive until 8 instead of 6 as scheduled so it was a long wait after a fun day. 

Loading the trucks and cars on the ferry. The ferry going over was pretty big and the passengers had to ride inside. The ferry going home was mainly for freight and the passengers could sit on benches on top in the open air. The ride was a half hour longer, but much more pleasant outside. The stars were beautiful out in the ocean.