Day 4 - Monday, October 10, 2011

Ah, today is Columbus Day and Dave & I wonder if in Puerto Rico they observe this holiday? Mainly we wonder because today we decide that we will go to Playa Flamenco which is the most popular beach on Culebra, especially during the weekends and holidays. Oh well, we decide that we will not let a few people deter us from experiencing what is widely known as one of the best Caribbean beaches.
So, after our ceramonial breakfast, we head out towards the beach. Crowd, what crowd? The beach is nearly deserted. We pick the prefect piece of paradise and decide that we will rent an umbrella and two chairs for the meager price of $25.
The beach is huge. It is the perfect cresent of nice soft sand with plenty of room for all that wish to visit. The first thing that Dave & I notice are the waves. They are bigger than what we saw at Zoni two days ago but we will not be intimidated, we head into the water and because we are standing in the wrong spot a few times, we are bowled over (literally) by the forceful waves that will become our source of many laughes today. Dave almost loses his shorts a couple of times, I almost lose my glasses and hat while trying to record the force of the waves, and once Dave does lose his sunglasses for a while but lucky for him they float and finds them as the tide is going out.
We split our time here between our beach chairs and the ocean water, both giving us much needed relief from the other. In the middle of all this fun we also fit in lunch which consists of empanadas, pinchos and beer.....delicious.
There was no snorkeling done here because the water was too rough and we spoke with a few people that went out but they said they only saw small stuff so we did not bother which our legs were especially glad to hear.
As the day wears on many people come to visit this little piece of paradise and we outlast most of them and the beach has only slightly more people when we leave then when we first came.
Dinner tonight was at Dinghy Dock - Dave had the grilled chicken and I had the Churrasco. We sat on the dock and saw some large tarpon hanging around in the water - at least 2-3' long. We also sat at the bar for a while watching the baseball game and it seems there was talk about the place possibly closing for good soon. It was already bad enough that we came during the "slow period" and many things were closed but if staple places like this close, I'm not sure how attractive this island will remain for tourists.
It was quite dark on the way back to the casita and I was joking with Dave to be careful not to hit any chicken, deer, horses, or people that might be in the road and just as I finished my list and we were laughing at that we turned a corner and saw eyes glowing up ahead. Sprinting down the road toward us was a small dog with her three little puppies. It was so cute, the puppies were curious, scared and staying close to mommy. We slowed down to make sure none of them ran in front of the car unexpectedly and mommy starts to bark at us and runs to the front of the car in which her babies follow suit so we sit there and listen to her scold us for even thinking of looking at her babies until she passes on the other side and leads her babies along with her. That was such a cute thing to see just out of the blue.
Back at the casita we hang out with a nightcap and call it a day.