Wine Club
Receive a 20% discount in the Wine of the Month. Just ask for your free membership card at the bar or restaurant.

Water Sports
Kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, and fishing activities can be arranged in the front desk at Club Seabourne.

Enjoy pristine beaches

Flamenco Beach

• Flamenco Beach - Between the 10th most beautiful beaches in the world, with white sands and calm waters. Changing rooms and bathrooms are available.
• Carlos Rosario Beach – One of the best snorkeling spots in Culebra. Pleasant sandy beach surrounded by corals. 20 minutes Hiking from Flamenco Beach.
• Resaca Beach – perfect for hiking, not for swimming. The trail is very steep and rocky.
• Brava Beach – the largest waves of Culebra.
• Zoni Beach – great view of the Atlantic Ocean, Cayo Norte, Culebrita and St. Thomas. Perfect for picnicking and reading a book. Preferred spot for Turtle Nest.
• Culebrita – Fantasy Island with six beaches and a Light House. Tortuga Beach is the favorite one.
• Soldado Beach – beautiful coral reefs. Great for snorkeling and scuba diving.
• Melones Point – abundance of marine cactus. Has two good snorkeling spots.
• Tamarindo Beach – perfect for a secluded picnic, swim or snorkeling.
• Luis Peña Cay – part of the US Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Perfect for snorkeling.

Photo Culebrita Island by John Macone

Hiking and Biking
Information at Club Seabourne's front desk.


Culebrita Island Lighthouse Photo by John Macone

Visit Culebra Artists
Information at Club Seabourne's front desk.

Turtle Watch - An Ecological Treasure

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonian mydas) http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/turtles/green.html

The Leatherback Turtle
The leatherback turtle is the largest living turtle in the world. The average adult weighs 500 to 1600 pounds. When nesting, leatherbacks will not enter an area where lights or noise of any kind exist. Therefore, nesting grounds are very rare. In the Caribbean, there are only three prime places where the endangered leatherback turtles nest, and Culebra is fortunate to be one of them. Culebra has two beaches that provide a dark, quiet, and safe place for leatherback turtles - Resaca and Brava beaches. Both beaches are within the wildlife refuge area.

The main turtle watch time is from April to early June. The Department of Natural Resources uses volunteers to assist in identifying and helping the turtles. Volunteers meet at sunset and spend the night on the beach taking turns watching for turtles.

Imagine helping an adult turtle lay her eggs! The fun begins when a turtle is spotted. Volunteers must stay at a distance until the turtle has prepared her nest. She puts on quite a show while she is digging. When the nest is complete and the turtle is ready to lay eggs, she goes into a hypnotic trance. At that time, the volunteers can gather around the turtle to observe her laying eggs. One lucky volunteer gets to hold the turtle's back flipper so the eggs can be clearly seen dropping into the nest. One volunteer counts the big fertile eggs, while another counts the small infertile eggs. The turtle is measured and the event is documented before the turtle returns to the ocean. The return is quite impressive. The adult throws sand into the air to cover up her tracks to the nest, as she returns to the sea.

The turtle watch is truly an incredible experience. For additional information on the leatherbacks see NMFS-Leatherback Turtles or contact US Fish & Wildlife Service (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/turtles/leatherback.html). Another good source of information on the leatherbacks can be found at the Endangered Species Classroom.

Culebra National Wildlife Refuge

From Pirate sanctuary to Naval bombing range portions of Culebra Island are now a wildlife refuge. To protect the vast seabird colonies, the cays surrounding Culebra were designated preserve in 1909. However, the U.S. Navy used these cays and Flamenco Peninsula as bombing sites until 1975. In 1976, jurisdiction of the cays was passed to the FWS and in 1982 additional lands on the main island of Culebra were transferred to the FWS.

Giant boulders and tangled cupey roots cool and shade orchids and bromeliads in the “boulder forest” of Mount Resaca. White coral beaches provide warm sand for hawksbill and leatherback turtle eggs, while the adjacent sea grass beds shelter and feed green turtles. The mangroves form bountiful nurseries for marine life, while filtering sediments carried by runoffs, thus protecting the fragile coral reefs and sea grass beds.

Culebra may be the most precious jewel in the treasure chest of the Caribbean refuges, with more than 50,000 seabirds of 13 species.

The refuge office is located in Lower Camp; hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday (787) 742-0115. Cayo Luis Peña and Culebrita Island are open daily from sunrise to sunset. Activities include hiking, bird watching and photography.