Culebra The Best Kept Secret of the Spanish Virgin Islands
Culebra is considered to be the best kept secret of the Spanish Virgin Islands. Located about nineteen miles east of Puerto Rico and eight miles north of Vieques, Culebra is the smallest of the inhabited Spanish Virgin Islands. She is seven miles long and 3 miles wide. The island is totally arid, with no rivers or streams. All of its water is obtained from nearby Puerto Rico. Because of the lack of run-off from rivers or streams, Culebra boasts of water clarity of more than 60 ft!!
Culebra has about three thousand residents. The quiet, unspoiled island has little to offer in nightlife; no large, loud nightclubs or trendy restaurants. What it does offer, however, is a safe, quiet walk in the moonlight or the soft guitar music from one of the small, unpretentious nightspots. The island has very little crime.
There is very little to do except relax at the beach or your favorite watering hole. The snorkeling and scuba diving around Culebra are outstanding. Hard and soft corals abound in the shallows and magnificent reefs encircle the island. Tropical fish and other sea life abound. The depths rarely exceed one hundred feet. Due to the history of Army bombing ranges, there are a lot of ruined reefs; however, there are also many, many more undisturbed, pristine and unknown dive sites. With it’s proximity to the Puerto Rican trench, you get only beautiful reefs with abundant fish life but also exciting walls that could take you really deep.
From the novice to the professional, Culebra has just the right site for you to explore! There are several accredited dive instructors based in Culebra. The dives shops will also rent you gear or, if you have brought your own, arrange to have your bottles filled. Sport fishing is great in these areas and in Puerto Rico, spear fishing is legal. If you have never done this before, now is the time to try. The Culebra National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1909 and is comprised of 1,568 acres. The Refuge was begun to protect and manage significant seabird colonies and endangered marine turtles, as well as protect native tropical vegetative communities. The refuge is comprised of lands on the main island of Culebra and 22 smaller islands in the same vicinity. The refuge contains diverse habitats including subtropical dry forest, mangroves, brush, and grasslands. The largest seabird nesting colony occurs at Peninsula Flamenco, which is the nesting place of over 60,000 sooty terns. It is, however, closed to the general public.
Mount Resaca contains the largest remaining forest, an area of rock-strewn canyons and ravines forming a unique habitat known as the boulder forest. Leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles use refuge beaches for nesting. The adjacent sea grass beds provide shelter and food for green sea turtles. Hiking, nature photography and wildlife observation are available (boat access only) on Cayo Luis Pena and Isla Culebrita. All other refuge lands are closed to the public because of their sensitive nature or unexploded military ordnance.
