Culebra has wonderful beaches. They are pure, white sand
beaches that go on forever. The most accessible ones are Flamenco and Zoni.
Both are on the north shore and have protective reefs, which keep the
major wave action away.
Flamenco is a bay as well as a beach with a fairly
complete reef protecting the over mile and a half of spectacular beach from
erosion. It is located at the northwest end of the island out past the
airport. There are few palms to shade yourself on the beach, but when the sun does get
to be too much, there are many shady areas in the Sea Grape trees which
line the last mile of beach in which to cool off and have a bite to eat.
There are also grills in many of these sites and showers and bathrooms
throughout the off-beach areas to rinse out the salt. Flamenco Beach even
has a small restaurant and a few food kiosks, if you forgot your lunch or
beverage.
Playa Zoni is out past the north side of Dewey heading east past
the airport on a scenic drive past many interesting sites, one of which is
the islands museum. On your final approach to Zoni you come over a hill
and it is stretched out below you with the obvious protection of a couple
of not so small islands beyond and St. Thomas beyond them. The vista is
remarkable. The parking at Zoni is much more informal at Zoni. There are
no services there as there were at Flamenco, but like Flamenco the wave
action is fairly gentle and the beach goes on and on. There are some areas
where you can escape from the sun here, but far less than at Flamenco. It
is much more of a sun worshippers beach.
There was one other beach that I happened upon on the
southeastern shore called Soldado. There is a collection of cottages which
line the beach, but the small bay is beautiful and the area was deserted
the day I was there.
The other beaches are more for the very hardy hiker and
during much of the year are off-limits as turtle-nesting areas.
:: More on these later
