Welcome to the Pilot House and Casita Omi

Panoramic view of Vieques

The Pilot House

The Pilot House and Casita Omi, Vieques, Puerto Rico

Thank you for inquiring about our home on Vieques, Puerto Rico. My husband and I had the two houses designed and built by an Argentinean architect, friend and real estate partner – Ricardo Merlo. We built it for our pleasure and for the use of our family and friends. We loan it to friends and occasionally trade it but assume that strangers interested in our home and in Vieques are just friends we don’t know yet. We chose the location for the view, which has 180-degree view of water, and the surrounding populated small hills.

Our homes sit on the top of the hill to catch the breezes and are a short walk to the island’s main village, but are a drive to the best beaches. The Pilot House (Casa Piloto) was completed in 1995, has three bedrooms, two baths a living room, and a dining room and kitchen combination and sleeps 6. Casita Omi was completed in 2004. It has two bedrooms, two baths, a large room that includes the kitchen, and living (with a futon) and dining area. It can sleep 4/6. Each house has the following appliances: washer, drier, dishwasher as well as stove, oven, microwave, and refrigerator / freezer. The homes are fully furnished with small appliances and are equipped with towels, sheets, blankets, dishes, pots and pans, etc. The Pilot House has a telephone (787-741-1769) on the premises.

Casita Omi

The homes resemble like each other in style and content. Each room has a view of the water and a walkout porch or deck. The master bedroom in each house is one flight up with its own bath and has a queen size bed. The second (and third bedrooms) have twin beds. There is a second bath in each house. Each bath has a shower. There is a portable crib and high chair in storage. Babies and children are definitely welcome but animals are not.

Living Room of Pilot House

Living Room of Casita Omi

Each room is comfortably furnished in an intentionally minimalist way. Thus, each room has a closet with built-in shelves but no bureau. There is the ubiquitous porch furniture and living room sets of rattan. There is an indoor desk and a location for a porch desk both wired for your computer and your Internet connection. Both houses are wired for wifi. The pictures on the walls have been painted by friends or represent the travel art of a bygone era. We suggest that you record your impressions in a book left for that purpose and leave behind any completed books you do not wish to carry back. Please take out all shells or other trinkets and don’t add to the house decor. The Pilot House is equipped with a radio, CD player, TV and VCR. The Casita is not and does not have a phone. Each has a heavy-duty blender for the all-important Piña Coladas.

Vieques Information

Vieques is an island, about 21 miles long, off the east coast of mainland Puerto Rico. It is ecologically part of the American Virgin Islands and, in fact, one can see St. Thomas and (on good days) St. John from the master bedroom window (just as one can also see the island of Culebra and Fajardo on the mainland of Puerto Rico from the same porch). Much of the island became a US military base in the early 40’s when both ends of the island were forcibly evacuated and the people resettled into the middle third. The land remained US military property until May 3, 2003, which inadvertently made it an ecological preserve with a large brown field bomb site. The military base has now been given to the US Fish and Wildlife Service making it the largest wildlife reserve in the Caribbean. The beaches have been reopened and the Navy is cleaning up the other sites. There is a fragile tourist and construction based economy. Many of the young people migrate to other islands or mainland US in search of better opportunity. They often return home after working some years elsewhere.

Puerto Rico is a commonwealth and the islanders have a mixed reaction to their status, having voted not to become a state but not liking their inability to effect their own development.  This means that except for some Puerto Rico holidays, the beaches are not crowded and always gorgeous. There are no high-rise buildings, boardwalks nor casinos to mar the view of any beach location. There are no movies, very few street signs nor paved roads. It has a population of less then 12,000 during the height of the season and around 9,000 during low-use periods. If you like a beautiful place to swim, snorkel, read and unwind then this is the place for you.  If you wish systems to work when you need them, and exciting activity, this is not for you. 

Beaches and Places to Visit

All beaches are beautiful. You can go to a different one every day and not be disappointed. Vieques has a good-sized public beach called Sun Bay near Esperanza. Explore the small beaches (Navio and Media Luna) behind it. Beaches formerly known as Red, Blue, Silver, Secret Beaches now have their original Spanish names and are in the former Navy base. Green Beach is on the other former military base past the airport. It is the place where yachts will come on the weekends. No-see-ums can bite at sundown on all beaches. The world’s best bio-luminescent bay is in Vieques and a nighttime guided tour is must for all first-time visitors. Two small towns are on the island – Isabel II and Esperanza. They are both worth exploring.

On the positive side for visitors, the island has never been extensively commercially developed and there is no large-scale construction or hotels anywhere (though Vieques has been discovered.) The W, a high end resort has opened on previously failed hotels.  It is very beautiful but perhaps struggling. There are many very nice smaller rental facilities and private houses can be rented by going to www.enchanted-isle.com. There are a few small guesthouses, quite a few houses to rent, and a few good restaurants and bars. Everyone has their own favorites and will be glad to tell you. During the winter season when dining, it is useful to make reservations and during the non-season it is important to find out if they are open at all and on what days.

Car rental is the most difficult item to get on the island and making reservations before you come is a must. The cars will come in various states of newness and repair. They will cost about between $50- $75/day depending on their state. It is much nicer to have a car because it to get to shopping and the beaches. However some guests have successfully walked to town and taken the “Publico” to the beach and saved the money.

Travel & Safety

You get to the island by flying to San Juan and then taking a smaller plane from San Juan — Vieques Air Link or Cape Air are two of a few. They fly from the international terminal or, for a slightly cheaper price, Vieques Air Link flies from Isla Grande, the commuter airport in San Juan which is a taxi ride from the international airport. Each costs about $125/each way. You must have reservations. There are other charter companies flying to Vieques. You can also get there by ferry from Fajardo, which runs three or four times a day, takes a little more than an hour and costs less than $5. There are publico’s that go to and from Fajardo to San Juan and that costs about $50 / person each way. Our house has no street numbers so once you decide to come, we will send you a map and house rules and advice.

We have a house manager (Dayanara Cruz) who will meet you there and turn over the keys and let you know how all parts of the house work. Vieques is a place where there is almost no violent crime but there is plenty of creative reapportionment. Things are stolen from cars, from things left unattended on the beach and from house break-ins, so locking up is important. We now insist that you lock and dead bolt the doors whenever you go out and when you go to sleep at night. We suggest that you do not bring valuable jewelry or very expensive equipment with you at all.

Life in Vieques

Spanish is the preferred language and while there is a “Nortday-Americano” population and everyone speaks some English, this is definitely a Spanish-speaking society. The people are kind and helpful. They prefer that you do not show up in town in short shorts and otherwise revealing clothes even if their own youngsters wear them. There is no place to wear a tie and jacket and almost all business interactions are done in casual slacks, jeans, and tee or sport shirts. The houses are not air-conditioned and air-conditioning is not common anywhere on the island. The houses are on the top of the hill and catch the breezes. Every room has an overhead fan and additional fans are located in every bedroom.

hammock on the porch of Casa Piloto

Vieques is a real place that has not been manicured. Houses are often in a state of uncompleted good ideas and cars are always being repaired in the front yard. There are two “super markets” and plenty of local food stores and do-it-yourself home construction hardware shops. This island is always in the state of becoming and decaying. Not too fast however as some shops close midday so that the shopkeeper can go home and have a leisurely lunch. Vieques does not work well if you are used to efficiency. Drivers do not honk their horns but wait for the car in front to move. Home owners wait for the repair person to show up sometime within the week. This is not the place for you if you wish things to be perfect. If you delight in the imperfections of life, you will love it here.

Caring for the Homes

If you stay in one or both of the houses, we ask that you treat it as you would your own and that you:

• Replace anything that might break.
• Add any small equipment that you think the house needs.
• Take away all souvenirs that you collect at the beach.
• Clean up in the kitchen right away whenever you prepare any food (or the ants will immediately appear).
• Take only the printed and striped towels to the beach and leave the solid-colored ones for use only in the house.
• Replace any condiments, cleaning material or foodstuffs that you use up, regardless of how little you found when you got there.
• Put opened food into closed containers so ants and roaches can’t invade it.
• Give all the open unused foods in the refrigerator to Dayanara when you leave, but leave all unopened canned food and drink for the next person to enjoy.
• Leave any unread books and all the Vieques material for the next guest.
• Always lock both the lock and the deadbolt to all the many ground floor doors = when you leave even for a short time. You do not have to close the louvered windows since each of them has security bars embedded in them. However lower the ones on the kitchen wall (and the one near the bed= in Piloto) when you go to sleep at night or it will rain into the house.
• Our gate is now electrified and keeping it closed all the time unless you expect someone keeps the horses from eating the plants of the garden
• Put out the garbage in the receptacles on the road so the trucks can pick it up.
• You can leave the porch furniture out on the porch during your stay but please put it back into the house before you leave.

There is a hammock and a set of hammock hooks on the front porch in the Pilot House and the upstairs deck in the Casita.

Arriving & Leaving

Call Dayanara before you arrive to tell her what time to expect you. (I will send the number.) I will have called her first to allow you to use the property. Tell Dayanara when you are leaving so that she can have the house cleaned and closed. Please strip the beds and wash the dishes before you go. My husband, Dean Anderson, and I wish you a wonderful time in this special place. Elaine Heumann Gurian