Family with 13 year old considering permanent move, Vieques or Culebra

You can bring your dog. You just need a USDA travel certificate (domestic; not foreign) from your vet. Check out the USDA website for details.

There are no breezy cottages on Vieques really - they're mostly little bunkers with high fences and iron bars on the windows to keep out the many, many burglars who live on the island (who I've seen actually prowling). There are plenty of ocean-front houses. I don't think there are many beach-front houses though. Vieques does have some of the world's best beaches owing to the fact that they were located on a Navy base for decades and are now on land run by the park service ((so there isn't excessive (or really any) development around them)). Blue Beach and Media Luna are two of my favorites worldwide. Vieques is not overrun by tourists and the people are nice. Same for Culebra (which was also a naval base for decades).

Culebra has Flamenco Beach, which some publications rank as the best in the world. It is lovely, especially at night.

Although there are a lot of burglaries (attempts, anyway) and petty theft (e.g. from parked cars at the beach), violent crime is rare.

The problem you'll have is schooling for your son. You'd have to homeschool him or send him to boarding school. The PR public schools are atrcious.

Good luck!

Oh, and they drive on the right in PR (and on the left in BVI).

Correction. They drive on any side of the road they feel like it in PR.

I agree, homeschooling is the best way to go for your son. Even the billingual private schools aren't truly billingual. Aside from most of the kids speaking Spanish to each other during and between classes, it's mandatory in PR that Spanish and PR history is taught strictly in Spanish. So if he doesn't know the language, that will be two classes he'll fail right away. We home schooled our daughter for the third grade and it worked out very well. You just need reliable internet service. I couldn't tell you if that would be available to you on Culebra or Vieques.

Thank you, each of you!

When you say schools are atrocious in PR, are you including the Vieques/Culebra schools?
Sounds like you meant that "no beachfront" homes means that most homes are up on a hill, right?
Think we'd feel creeped out with burglaries if we were home on the beach, or mostly when folks are away from their homes?
How about drugs/alcohol on V/C - worse than in the States?

Really appreciate it!   Namaste.

Hahaha I stand corrected on the driving!

For ocean-front, I meant that the house may be on a hill or may be on flat land right on the coast while lacking an actual beach that you can walk on. For instance, because the coast is too rocky and/or there just isn't a solid buffer of soft sand. While (to me, at least), beach-front would mean you can walk onto the beach and laterally in soft sand for more than a few paces. I've rented houses on Vieques that were ocean-front and I loved them. But to use the beach, we still had to drive to a different location. Didn't mean to sound pedantic; just wanted to make sure I was giving the best visual I could of potential homes.

For the burglaries, they are nearly all on targets of opportunity so no, I have not heard of any home invasions on Culebra or Vieques (in stark contrast to some other Caribbean islands like Jamaica).

As far as drugs and alcohol are concerned, it's hard for me to give an answer to that. I've never even tried drugs (or cigarettes, for that matter), but maritime cops have told me that drugs move in an east-west direction through Culebra and Vieques to mainland PR before moving again off to the States. Oftentimes cargo ships drop bales of drugs at predetermined coordinates as they sail through sea lanes around the islands on legit business. Then either speed boats or local fishermen collect the haul and store it with locals on Culebra or Vieques for a few days until the local fishermen will take them over to the mainland along with their legit catch when they feel it's safe and the mainland crew is ready to receive it. What does that mean for life on Culebra and Vieques in relation to drugs? Well, they're cheaper and probably easier to get than in the continental US, just as they're cheaper and easier to get in Panama than in PR. That said, if you're not looking for them then you won't see them. You will see your fair share of junkies though.

Oh, yes, and I'm including schools on Culebra and Vieques as being atrocious and I assume GreggK is as well. You need to pay for the high-end private schools on mainland PR for a decent education. I've posted extensively on the prices, reputations and other pros of cons of different private schools in other posts.

Crime is generally not bad on Culebra and Vieques. There are rarely any shootings. I've never felt unsafe there and I've been out all hours of the night. I've been hard on PR on this site when it comes to crime and I can say that Culebra and Vieques are different kettles of fish. They're safer than the USVIs as well, from what I gather.

I'm just getting the impression that you guys have a fantasy view of what life might be like on Culebra and Vieques. PR has some stunningly beautiful places. And the thought of living in a nice little house near the ocean with the balmy Caribbean breezes blowing through the windows while you hear the sounds of children joyfully playing outside tells me that you may have been reading too many Travel magazines. It ain't what you think. Yes your son will experience discrimination for being Gringo to a certain degree, and so will you. I can't lay the blame squarely on the Puerto Rican people for that one. Us mainlanders have a reputation for going to other people's countries all over the world and acting like we own the place and pissing off the locals. Puerto Rico is no exception. It takes a certain mindset to live anywhere in Puerto Rico. Some people can pull it off easy, some like me can't ever get the hang of it. You will have great experiences if you live there. It will also be considerably noisier than you would imagine and not nearly as clean as you would think. It helps if you have a good job with a substantial income. It's expensive to live there. But having money makes a lot of things easier. But if it's known that you make a good living it's easy for you to become a target because word gets around fast on a small island.  I'll tell you the same as everyone else. read the past posts. Take several trips there to get a feel for the place. don't just go there on vacation. Living there and vacationing there are two different animals. Keep an open mind and remember, don't count on it being much like your vision of it. I get it from a lot of people for saying negative things, but I tell the truth and it can't be disputed. The economy is in a shambles and going down the tubes rapidly. Crime is rampant and the government extremely corrupt. Some people consider it a narco-state. It's noisy and dirty and people are leaving the island in droves. The infrastructure is totally falling apart with water and power outages frequently. The utility rates are skyrocketing as are the food prices. Pay attention to these things every bit as much as you do all of the wonderful things that PR has to offer and weigh your decision accordingly. It's not the idyllic island paradise destination that it used to be. It saddens me deeply to realize that.

One more thing, if you want to get an idea what's available for rentals and the costs, go to www.clasificadosonline.com and look it up. The site is in Spanish but you should be able to sort it out.

Anywhere you go you may consider home schooling your son. The laws in the USA of course are different from state to state but are mostly reasonable and not arbitrary.Certainly cannot speak for P.R. Of note in the USA home schoolers are often involved in coops and the like so their socialization is quite extensive. A "tad" in the bubble . I know this sounds way out of the box but here in the USA it really does work relatively well . Certainly as the teacher you have lots of control over the input. Some kids are largely on their own and do amazingly well. Remember in the USA home schoolers have the highest achievement on SAT scores. And this is skewed by the fact many kids with disabilities are home-schooled.

I am afraid that the people here have painted a very bad picture for you and have mainly scared you. I have never seen them be this negative, all I can think is that they are trying to bring you back to earth for your own good. PR is not like those pictures you see in the travel brochures or movie Blue Laggon with beautiful beaches and a bungalow by the beach and little to no contact with the Natives.

People in PR are simply trying to live their life, so the island is mostly for their needs, tourist style facilities are mostly concentrated in some areas and in Gated Communities for protection and to keep non-residents from using the facilities like Golf courses, pools, etc.

I considered moving to the small islands myself, but I decided against that for multiple reasons.
1) To have any kind of selection while shopping, you have to take the ferry to the main island, take a taxi, shop, take a taxi, take the ferry, load up car when you get to the small island and take your stuff home. Too inconvenient for my taste.
2) Not many desirable houses at affordable prices in the island. However there is land you can purchase and build your own place the way you want it and with the facilities you like. However be prepared to pay more for the land.
3) Concentrated community, everyone knows how often you take a leak and when you fight with your wife.
4) I never had an extended stay in either of the small islands, just a day visit here and there, so not sure how everything works there.
5) In the event of a storm, I am not sure how stable their water, electricity and Internet service are. If you get badly sick and need to go to the hospital you need to take the ferry to the main island or a puddle jumper which will cost you.

To live in PR you need to learn the language and need to make friends with the locals!!!!!!

Since there is a lot of unemployment, people still have to feed their family and your camera left behind in the car will help some feed their family for a day.

There are a lot of people in this forum that never lost anything and some that lost a lot, people have all sort of security on their homes because they want to protect what little they have, but in reality, they rarely lose anything, Its like a giant wheel of fortune with 97 good slots and 3 bad slots and you get to spin in daily.

As to your kid in school .... More than likely you need a private school, even among mainlanders all new arrivals are always picked on at any school in the US mainland. It is like a right of passage. Not sure what sort of schooling is available in the small islands.

In the event that you are still considering it, I would suggest instead the main island of PR, and Learn Spanish Well and make friends with the locals. Don't think of isolated life. You need to be part of the comunity.