The ever elusive Black Sand Beach of Vieques Island is the hardest beach to find by far. Follow the road from here and go there and you will find it. That has never worked for us! So I will leave the directions for you to find that way it makes it more fun. Just kidding! Go west from Esperanza a little way and look for a silver electric pole on the south side of the road that has "Black Beach" spray painted on it. It is on a curve that has a gravel drive with a chain link gate on the south side along with the electric pole. It looks like there is nowhere to park, don't worry just park on the side of the road. Next to the gravel drive on the left side is a trail that leads to a creek. It is a dry creek if it has not been raining a lot. It is a good 1/4 mile walk to Black Beach and well worth the effort. It is a long beach so there is plenty of room to roam and explore. Most of the beaches on the Caribbean side of Vieques are black sand beaches with white sand on the top layer. The white sand is lighter than the black iron ore sand so it stays on top to make beautiful white sand beaches. Take a magnet because the sand contains iron ore and will stick to the magnet like you will not believe, lots of fun! If you decide to take some black sand home on the plane, TSA will search your bag. It shows up in the X Ray machine, trust me I know. We had a good laugh with security in San Juan Airport and the debate of black sand, which I admitted to the agent it is iron ore not sand. Enjoy the black sand iron ore and hope to see you on a beach real soon!
V.B.
