The West Coast Experience – Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is relatively a small island but it has multiple regions that do stand apart from each other. The west coast of the island is known for its slow pace vibe and some of the islands most beautiful beaches. Those are two things I need in my life.

As soon as I arrived on the island, I booked a tour for the west coast. This was an all day, fifteen hour tour, that would include a stop at four beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, with the decreased number of tourists due to the Omicron surge, the tour was cancelled due to a low number of participants. Many other tours were being cancelled because of this same reason.

The tour company rebooked me on another similar tour to the west coast but this one only had two beach stops. The tour took us southwest to the Cabo Rojo region. The first stop was at Los Morillos Lighthouse. It’s situated a top a cliff with some amazing views. Just a fair warning, a short portion of the road is a bumpy dirt road. So, I hope you rented a high profile vehicle or SUV. There are multiple trails in the area with my favorite one that follows along the cliffs.

There are some caves in the cliffs, as well. And, if you’re adventurous enough, you can climb down to them. I found a couple of them, one you could climb down the cliff to the cave. The second one was smaller and only accessible through a small opening where I had to crouch as low as I could to enter the cave. The cliffs were like a playground for my adventurous spirit.

The lighthouse was the center point for all the trails and that included a trail to Playa Sucia, a compact remote and scenic sandy beach. The water is a beautiful shade of turquois and warmer than the beaches in San Juan as this is on the Caribbean side of the island. I walked along the water to cool of my feet before I settled on a spot to rest after my adventures on the cliffs. The cool breeze and the lapping waves made me forget about my time constraints. I lost track of time and it was now time for us to leave this corner of paradise. I had spent too much time at cliffs. I could see the tour guide in the distance gathering all the tour participants, only five total, so I gather my things and headed towards the van. In my time of zen and then my hurried state I forgot to take photos or take video.

The tour continued on to the town of Boqueron. This town is usually full of locals and tourists starting their weekend. This Friday afternoon, I felt like I had the town to my self. I walked the main street along the ocean and only a few visitors were to be found. I walked in the middle of the narrow street without worrying about being hit by a car.

The town is filled with street vendors, beach side bars and restaurants with some amazing seafood. It definitely oozes beach vibes and next to the town is the beautiful Tanga Beach. Covid had affected the beach, as it did the town, and the almost empty of visitors. I ate at one of the restaurants but I limited myself to just an appetizer as we were scheduled to have an amazing sunset dinner that was promised to be visual and culinary experience. Then, I made the short walk to the beach and enjoyed the warm Caribbean waters.

I learned my lesson and I took photos and video before being rapped up by the sand, sun and the ocean. The sun was getting lower and lower and it was now time to leave. We spent two hours at this town before moving on to the restaurant.

We took a short drive north of Boqueron to El Bohio Restaurant. The restaurant is right on the ocean with outdoor patio seating, over the water, that would be the perfect spot to view the sunset. We got there just in time. We were able to make our dinner orders before the sun hit the horizon. Just before our entrees had arrived, the sunset dominated everyone’s attention. It was another beautiful sunset in an area famous for it, the west coast of Puerto Rico. Now, my dinner order had my attention. I had lobster with plantains and it was a perfect way to end an amazing day. The west coast has lower prices in comparison to San Juan so the meal didn’t overwhelm my wallet either.

The west coast of Puerto Rico has a much different vibe to it than San Juan and I’m glad I visited the area, even if it was just for a short time. I definitely would return here but I would stay for at least two days to soak in the slow paced beach vibe.