Flamenco Beach Review

Puerto Rico is full of beautiful beaches, and one of the best is Flamenco beach which is on Culebra island.  There are many boat and catamaran tours that offer rides/tours to Flamenco and some of the other pristine beaches like Cayo Icacos.  We debated between companies and boats to go with and ended up settling with East Island Excursions because it was one of the snorkeling excursions that heads to Flamenco.  We chose Flamenco beach over some of the other beaches because it is rated as one of the best beaches in the world and in 2016 was rated as a top 10 beach in the world by TripAdvisor.

To get to Flamenco, you need to depart in the morning from the marina in Fajardo.  You’re best bet is to book a hostel, hotel or Airbnb in Fajardo for the night before.  We stayed at Marina Luxury Rooms which was a great one-night stay at a beautiful property. 

East Island Excursions advertises the trip to Culebra as an all inclusive drinking, lunch and snorkeling tour to Culebra, and hopefully Flamenco depending on the weather.  Luckily for us, the weather was great, and we went to Flamenco Beach.  Flamenco beach was amazing, but the experience on the boat didn’t live up to expectations.  It was a ferry where we had to stay inside the whole  ride (but safeties safety, so I guess it was necessary) and there were no stops on the way.  Being on other boat tours and catamarans, I was under the impression we would stop and snorkel at a coral reef on the way.  But the only snorkeling was if you decided to borrow East Island’s snorkel equipment when we arrived at Flamenco to snorkel around the beach.  The beach is pristine, and there are small coral reefs, so you will see some fish, but not like a real snorkeling excursion.

Being one of the best beaches in the world though, Flamenco made up for the boat ride.  Flamenco used to be a naval site where the navy used the island for test landings and ground movement.  Eventually after protest, the island was given back to the people.  Being a former naval site, leaves some advantages to the beach now.  It was left virtually untouched by anyone except miltary personal for years and according to our guide, the tanks that were there didn’t shoot at the island, they only fired away from the beach and off the island for long range target practice.  Because, who is going to go to an island where there’s artillery fire coming from there?  When the navy left, they left two tanks at Flamenco, one in the sand, and one in the water.  The tanks sitting on a pristine beach leave room for some amazing photos and Instagram stories.

Since its hard to get to, Flamenco isn’t too packed either.  Plus the beach is massive, spanning 1.5 miles, so even if it gets a lot of visitors there is plenty of room to spread out.  The water is warm and calm and it is the clearest water I have seen.  The water is so clear you can see the bottom no matter how deep you are when swimming from the ferry to shore.  The sand is white and vast, and as you walk to visit the tanks, you will marvel at the lush flora and picturesque palm trees.  When you’re standing on the ferry dock gazing through the crystal clear water to the bottom, or standing on the sand surveying the sea you’ll feel like your dreaming.

The boat ride wasn’t spectacular; but the booze kept flowing and the lunch was surprisingly tasty.  And we stayed at the island for a few hours so there was plenty of time to swim, explore, snorkel or swim back and forth to the ferry and get as many alcoholic beverages as you’d like.  Overall, because of the beauty of Culebra and the wonder of Flamenco the trip was amazing.  The ferry could have been better, but I’d definitely recommend a trip to Flamenco beach, East Island Excursions or not.  Pictures can’t do it justice, and when you’re at Flamenco words can’t describe the beauty.