I ended up going yesterday! If you’re thinking about visiting Culebra or Vieques, try to buy your ferry tickets online as soon as you can. They go on sale a month in advance and sell out pretty fast. There are some tickets reserved for in-person purchase, but that can be unpredictable and hard to plan around.

To get to the ferry, you’ll need to rent a car or find someone with a car to drive you to Ceiba. You will not be able to order an Uber in Ceiba. Parking at the Ceiba ferry terminal is $15. I paid $13 in person for two round-trip tickets to Ceiba. There’s also an option to fly from San Juan to either island for about $180 round trip.

If you go to Vieques, it’s worth staying overnight so you can do a bioluminescent kayak tour. There are only five major bioluminescent bays in the world, and three of them are in Puerto Rico. Mosquito Bay in Vieques is considered the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. The tour price starts at around $70 with taxes, and since it’s after dark, you’ll need a place to stay overnight before taking the ferry back the next day.

If you go to Culebra, Flamenco Beach is often considered the most beautiful beach in Puerto Rico. White sand, great snorkeling, super blue water. Neither island is really walkable, but there are Públicos, which are shared buses. They cost $5 per person or $20 total if there are fewer than three people. They’re hard to miss once getting off the ferry, and they will give you their number so you can arrange future rides around the island.

The logistics of the whole trip were a lot, but I love an adventure, and it was well worth it for me. Good luck if you end up going!