Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
rustic open-sided seaside bars with heavy stone tables and perennially popular pool tables
that serves simple food and $2 bottles of beer. The local gang shows up on weekend even-
ings to witness the sporadic African drumming.
Getting There & Away
Hwy 3 will take you to Rte 193 (aka Calle Fernandez Garcia), which is the main artery of
Luquillo. It passes right by the Plaza de Recreo, the town's central plaza.
Públicos run regularly during the week from the Río Piedras terminal in San Juan to and
from the Luquillo plaza ($5 to $8).
Fajardo & Around
POP 37,000
For the uninitiated observer, Fajardo is no oil painting. A spread-out municipality of just
under 40,000 inhabitants, it sprawls like an untidy suburb between the El Yunque foot-
hills and the sea. Part downbeat ferry port, part luxury boat launch, part swanky resort and
part busy commuter town, there's little rhyme or reason to this hard-to-fathom conurbation
spread over seven wards, although there are plenty of amenities and ample hotels hidden
amid the characteristic low hills and small hidden bays.
But delve beneath the outer turbidity and Fajardo has its raison d'être. A mecca for
wealthy yacht owners and tourists heading to the gargantuan Conquistador (a mega resort
that once featured in the 1964 James Bond movie
Goldfinger
), Fajardo reigns as one of
Puerto Rico's biggest water-activity centers and is the primary disembarkation point for the
Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra.
You can do everything from diving in the waters of the coral-rich La Cordillera islands
to exploring one of Puerto Rico's three bioluminescent bays here. On dry land there's the
affectionate fishing 'village' of Las Croabas with its creaky fishing sloops, and the com-
monwealth's oldest colonial lighthouse. There's even a rather attractive and ecologically
important nature reserve - Las Cabezas de San Juan - juxtaposed, in true Puerto Rican
fashion, against the ubiquitous out-of-town shopping infestations.
Founded in 1760, downtown Fajardo, which lies between Rte 194 and Hwy 3, has little
to show for 250 years of history. Yachters head a few miles south to Puerto del Rey, the
largest marina in the Caribbean, while the most interesting sights for travelers - includ-
ing the bioluminescent bay, the nature reserve and the well-maintained Playa Seven Seas -
punctuate the strung-out neighborhood of Las Croabas to the north.
