InternationalLiving.com

Two Years From Today This Quiet Caribbean Island Will Be Packed With Tourists

For more than 60 years, the US Navy used over two-thirds of the island of Vieques for military exercises, including frequent sea-to-land bombing. In 2003 they pulled up anchor leaving the land to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It now stands as the largest and most ecologically-diverse National Wildlife Refuge in the Caribbean.

Vieques was not an attractive island for tourists or investors when the Navy was in residence--nobody wanted to listen to bombs falling on their vacation and people worried about protests breaking out. So, while other Caribbean islands were being discovered and property values were steadily rising, Vieques stayed off the radar and property values remained low.

Even though the Navy has been gone for about four years now, many people are under the impression that the bombs are still falling or that they did so much damage to Vieques that it's not an attractive place to visit or invest. But the opposite is true--Vieques has beautiful, empty beaches full of amazing wildlife.

Various areas of the island are undergoing clean-up efforts leaving plenty of safe dirt roads and pristine beaches on the former Navy land. Sun Bay is a mile-long crescent of buttery sand dotted with palm trees and fronted by stunning Caribbean water. There is a small café on the beach that serves good, affordable, burritos.

After Sun Bay, sand-and-surf-seekers must bounce (preferably in a roofless Jeep) along heavily-rutted dirt roads to discover other beaches like Media Luna a large, protected cove with exceptionally calm waters, perfect for young children and Navio a wind-swept beach backed by thick jungle and a favorite with island residents. You could visit a different beach on Vieques every day for two weeks and still not see them all.

But beaches aren't the only attraction here. The long-time presence of the Navy kept much of the island's real estate empty and affordable. Although prices have climbed since the military's departure in 2003, it is still possible to find charming neighborhood homes on Vieques for less than $150,000 for a two-bedroom one-bathroom concrete construction. Compare this to nearby eco-resort, St. John's, where a 400-square-foot condo can cost $465,000. Because the developed portion of Vieques is only five miles by five miles, no matter where you live, you are never more than fifteen minutes to the nearest beach, grocery stores, or outstanding restaurants.

Right now, Vieques is the "Old Caribbean" that people often speak about on the islands. There are no traffic lights, no chain stores, wild horses roam the streets, and a casual, friendly vibe is the order of every day.

It might not stay this way for long. With the W hotel group set to open their first Caribbean property here in 2009 and the opening of the island's first nightclub last month, change is definitely in the air…

Michael Franco
For International Living