Time:
The Caribbean's Last Secret
June 23, 2003
By ERIC ROSTON/VIEQUES

"Part of the fun of vacationing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques is to see the looks you get from folks back home. Many Americans recall the long-running controversy over U.S. Navy war games held on Vieques. They picture the place as a bomb-scarred moonscape, its waters poisoned with depleted-uranium shells. And that's exactly the image that some visitors would like to perpetuate — keeping to themselves the secrets of the island's miles of pristine beaches, brilliant coral reefs and unique glow-in-the-dark waters." ... Read More

Miami Herald:
Vieques on its own
BY JANE WOOLDRIDGE
Jun. 22, 2003

It's close, it's gorgeous, and there's hardly anybody here.
This is the Caribbean of days long gone: Fishing boats bobbing in the sweet curve of a bay. Breezy bars where shoes are optional and a 10-spot will buy a beer and a fish sandwich. A sandy drive leading to a beach without another soul on it.
This is Vieques, as it was and is and will be -- at least for the next few years... Read More

NY Times:
FRUGAL TRAVELER; A Quiet Isle With Occasional Rumblings
March 9, 2003
By DAISANN McLANE

FRUGAL traveling doesn't get much better than this: a deserted Caribbean beach, and back roads that wind through forests where wild horses run free and egrets glide above the mangroves edging the water....
I wasn't sure what I'd find in Vieques, but local online newsletters and community Web sites were encouraging -- the island is one of the few places left in the Caribbean where you can find a guest house in high season for around $50 a night I telephoned one, Posada Vistamar, and booked a room... Read More

Forbes
Damn the Torpedoes! 
Leigh Gallagher
03/04/02

Forget the bombing. Vieques is one of the Caribbean's best-kept vacation secrets...
Here's what you probably don't know: Vieques (pronounced "vee-AY-kes") has some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean...
On a recent afternoon in mid-January, as cruise ships dumped tourists by the thousands on St. Thomas and as celebrity-seekers twittered on St. Barts, not a soul was in sight on Green Beach, the exquisite crescent of sand that rims Vieques' western end... Read More

CURVE Magazine:
The Spirit of an Island: Vieques 
Written by: Liz Winston 
1999

Located just a short ferry ride from the main island of Puerto Rico and also accessible by plane, Vieques is a small island in the Caribbean that has become a fierce symbol for Puerto Rican independence. The controversy generated by the U.S. Naval base there has sparked a dialogue of international proportions. 
But talk to the gay men and lesbians who make their homes on Vieques, and you’ll come to see the island as they do: a place where you can still stumble on remote, beautiful spots. Ironically, this place offers the lesbian traveler her own version of Caribbean adventure — Ginger-and-Marianne-style. And, despite the military presence, it is also a place where women can feel perfectly safe walking hand in hand through the streets of its small town... Read More

NY Times:
A Golden Opportunity for Vieques to Be Green
By JOHN TODD
July 26, 2003

[The] land left behind by the Navy has rolling, forested hills that rise out of the blue Caribbean. The magnificent white-sand beaches are almost deserted. With the exodus of the Navy, this area has become a national wildlife refuge, one of the largest in the Caribbean.
Next to the reserve is a ecological treasure, the Bioluminescent Bay, which sparkles at night because of microorganisms that glow as sea creatures brush against them - human swimmers feel as if they're floating among the stars. The area is all the more precious because the similar bays in the Caribbean have been destroyed by pollution... Read More

NY Times:
An Island's Ship Comes In
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
March 21, 2004

THE first time I stood in front of Camp Garcia, the Navy installation that dominated Vieques - that gorgeous tropical isle eight miles off Puerto Rico - was in January 2000.
...It's paradise up for grabs. Vieques is facing contending futures. In the bars and bistros of the island, the No. 1 topic is, "Whither Vieques?" Will the big hotel chains come? Will the current real-estate boom push the local people out? Will Vieques lose its funky "lost in time" ambience? . Read More