Al

Loved this island. We got our open water scuba certification here with Blackbeard Sports. They were terrific and we had a wonderful time; I recommend them. I saw a sea turtle! Turtles are rad.

As others have said, go when it’s wicked dark if at all possible! It will make your experience significantly better.

We stayed here while we were on Vieques. I couldn’t imagine staying anywhere else. One of the single coolest places I’ve ever gotten drunk on the porch at. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The best zoo I’ve ever been to – not that I’ve been to a whole ton of them, so it’s not like I’m an expert. They have Gelada monkeys there! Later this year we’re going all the way to Ethiopia just to see these things in the wild, so you can imagine this was a pretty big thrill.

Also awesome: Okapis, cloud rats, the snowy owl.

I don’t really want to all that bad, but I have this idea about trying to go to all 850 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and this is one.

Costa Rica is great; San Jose is not. Your best move is to get as far away as possible as soon as you land.

Not trying to be mean to San Jose here – even locals will tell you that San Jose is not why anyone goes to Costa Rica.

It’s a total tourist trap, but we were feeling goofy on our last night here so we went. It was fun in a cheeseball kind of way.