The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Vieques

GDP, Josh, sorry I just noticed this thread. George, what we didn't like was the overall feeling we got when we arrived. When we were driven to the villa we were to stay at (in a minivan which looked as though it had spent it's previous life delivering Chinese food in NYC) we were greeted by the car rental "guy". He informed us to leave the doors all unlocked when we left the car because "they" will just smash them to get inside and maybe we could hide the baby seat in the back each time we get out because "they" try to steal everything. Not too convenient. The radio was already missing and don't worry about the check engine light because the engine is fine, it's just "missing" something . Hmmmm, not the most pleasing thing to hear when we first arrive. The villa itself was not really a rental but rather a home to somebody who vacated so we could rent it so "don't answer the phone, let the machine get it". The pool looked nice enough so after before heading to the store I jumped in and created a cloud of dirt that apparently had nicely settled itself on the floor of the pool since it's last use. The villa was surrounded by a six to eight foot fence with barb wire on top and had a gate that we would open and close with a garage door opener. We went down the street to the local store, I think it was called the green store and upon exiting the car we found ourselves basically in a pile of trash and empty beer cans. Entering the store was just as fun since we both got an immediate scent of urine up our nose. It didn't smell to pretty and was just as dirty offering pretty much bare necessities, while locals just hang outside smoking and drinking. The random chickens and dogs running around didn't bother me, neither did the horses, but the amount of s**t around the streets wasn't to pretty. We did go to a beach the first day and there was no guard in the guard house so we kind of enjoyed it but were weary of the few odd looking lurkers hanging out in the little cabana picnic table things. The second day we were refused entry to that same beach because the now present guard couldn't or didn't want to break a twenty for the five dollar fee. Well, we went into town to the larger store and were greeted by some whistlers hanging out under a tree out front apparently pleased with the look of my wife. Just gave as a creepy feeling and felt uncomfortable enough to head directly back to the villa to book our way out. The few restaurants we did get to try in our short stay were not that great to say the least. I would recommend the Island for spring breakers, since most of the tourist we saw looked like college kids who were on a tight budget. After returning home after gettting our fix on SBH, we shared our story with family and one gentleman, Jose, who works with my sister-in-law, who is a Puerto Rican native said, "man, I wish I knew that's where you were going. I would have told you to stay in San Juan." But, to each their own. Everybody's opinion counts.

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If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.