February to April is the height of the season on Vieques and Culebra. JAK Water Sports, a bio bay operator in Esperanza, counts the peak as December to April, the months when visitors on the ferry “have been bumped to later ferry departure times, sometimes missing their bio bay departure time.” It is also when the bio bay has its longest dark runs of the year.
Three things decide a trip in these months: the moon, the boat and the sea. The moon is settled for the whole season, night by night. The boat is not: no ferry sailing after 30 November 2026 is on sale yet. The sea is the last of the winter swell season, which runs to the end of April.
The dates that matter
| Date | What it means for the islands |
|---|---|
| 1–6 Feb | The moon is out of the evening sky. New moon 6 Feb |
| Sat 13 – Mon 15 Feb | A three-day weekend: 15 Feb is a public holiday |
| 19–21 Feb | No bio bay tours: full moon on the 20th |
| 24 Feb – 7 Mar | The moon is out of the evening sky. New moon 8 Mar |
| Tue 2 Mar | American Citizenship Day, a public holiday |
| Sun 14 Mar | US clocks go forward; Puerto Rico’s do not |
| 21–23 Mar | No bio bay tours: full moon on the 22nd |
| Mon 22 Mar | Emancipation Day, a public holiday, and a three-day weekend |
| 21–28 Mar | Holy Week. Good Friday, 26 Mar, is a public holiday |
| 26 Mar – 6 Apr | The moon is out of the evening sky. New moon 6 Apr |
| 19–21 Apr | No bio bay tours: full moon on the 20th |
| 24 Apr – 5 May | The moon is out of the evening sky. New moon 6 May |
| 30 Apr | The last day of the winter swell season |
The holidays are on the 2027 list. The memorandum Puerto Rico’s government human resources office (OATRH) issued on 17 July 2026 gives public employees four days off between February and April: Monday 15 February, which is both George Washington’s Day, the federal holiday also called Presidents’ Day, and Puerto Rico’s Día de las Mujeres y Hombres Próceres; Tuesday 2 March, Día de la Ciudadanía Americana; Monday 22 March, Emancipation Day; and Good Friday, 26 March. April has none. The memo also says the governor can move a holiday to the nearest Monday or Friday by proclamation, which would matter for 2 March, a Tuesday. Washington’s Birthday is on the federal calendar for the same Monday, so 13 to 15 February is a long weekend at both ends of the flight.
The clock changes on one side only. Puerto Rico keeps Atlantic Standard Time all year. Until 13 March it is an hour ahead of New York, so a 7:15 PM tour on Vieques is 6:15 PM in New York; from 14 March, when New York moves to daylight time, the two clocks read the same.
The bio bay, February to April
Every tour on Mosquito Bay stops for the full moon. Abe’s Snorkeling & Biobay puts the rule plainly:
“All biobay tour companies in Vieques are closed during the night before the full moon, the night of the full moon, and the night after the full moon every month per DRNA regulation.”
Alikei Adventures lists the same three days as closed. For the rest of the month its advice is to book “10 days surrounding the new moon”, or “the week after the full moon on the early tour times”, when the moon rises later and the first tours are dark.
What the moon does in these months. Counted over 6:30 to 10 PM, Atlantic Standard Time, which covers the evening’s tours, from the US Naval Observatory’s figures for Mosquito Bay:
- The dark runs are the nights to aim for. From 24 February to 7 March and from 26 March to 6 April the moon is below the horizon for the whole evening, 12 nights each, and the season opens and closes inside two more, 26 January to 6 February and 24 April to 5 May. They are the nights to book first: book the tour when you book the bed.
- The nights after a full moon work early. On 22 and 23 February the moon rises at 8:17 and 9:13 PM, on 24 and 25 March at 8:50 and 9:47 PM, and on 22 and 23 April at 8:31 and 9:27 PM, so the first tours of the night are dark.
- Mid-month is moonlit. From 11 to 18 February, 12 to 20 March and 10 to 18 April the moon is up all evening. The February long weekend falls in the first of those.
- A clear night matters as much as a dark one. Cloud and rain change what you see, and no calendar knows the weather.
The closed nights are the night before, the night of and the night after each full moon by the date on Vieques: 20 February at 7:23 PM, 22 March at 6:44 AM and 20 April at 6:27 PM. Every evening of these months, the thin crescents included, is on the Mosquito Bay moon calendar for 2027.
The tour times move with the sunset
At Mosquito Bay the sun sets at 6:16 PM on 1 February and 6:43 PM on 30 April, by the Naval Observatory’s figures, and some operators move their tours with it. Mosquito Bio Bay Tours puts it in its listing: “Starting in March, all tour times move 30 minutes later due to daylight changes. A 6:30 PM booking will operate at 7:00 PM.” Fun Brothers does not move: its first tour is at 7:15 PM every night from February to April but one, 30 March, when it starts at 7:00. Alikei’s listing says its hours change with the seasons, and that you meet 25 minutes before the tour time, whatever it is.
Which boat
All four bio bay trips on this page leave from Vieques itself.
- Clear kayaks, Alikei Adventures. About 90 minutes in all, with the van from the meeting point, across the street from the Sun Bay entrance in Esperanza, to the bay and back. Its two-person kayaks need the weight split between the paddlers, and the listing does not recommend it for wheelchairs or strollers: the shoreline is very rocky, with a concrete step down.
- Fully clear kayaks, Fun Brothers. A one-hour tour for ages 6 and up, meeting at the Fun Brothers Hut on the Esperanza malecón, across the street from El Blok. Its calendar also sells the three closed nights around each full moon, so pick another night, and a booking is final sale.
- The electric boat, Isla Nena. About 40 minutes on the bay in an electric catamaran, with the van collecting you across the street from the Sun Bay entrance. The one for anyone who cannot or would rather not paddle. It runs only with at least six guests booked, and its listing asks you to stay the night on Vieques.
- Glass-bottom kayaks, Mosquito Bio Bay Tours. About 90 minutes with the van. The tour whose times move in March, above; its listing requires weekend guests to stay the night on the island.
Sleep on the island
Under the timetables that run to 30 November, the last boat from Vieques to Ceiba leaves at 9:30 PM every day of the week, and only the earliest tours make it. Mosquito Bio Bay Tours tells anyone going back on the late ferry to book its 7:00 PM tour, which is its first of the night from March; in February the first tour, and the one to book, is at 6:30 PM. Alikei’s listing says guests on its earliest tour can catch the 9:30 PM boat on a weekday, but it puts the weekend’s last boat at 9 PM and advises against trying for it; the ferry’s own timetable has the weekend’s last boat at 9:30 PM too.
For February to April, two things argue for a bed on Vieques instead. No sailing for those months has been published, so the 9:30 PM boat is a fact about November, not March. And these are the months JAK says visitors get bumped to a later boat. If a night on the island is out of the question, Mosquito Bay from San Juan in a day sets out the tours that plan for the last ferry, and the day trip that handles the crossing for you.
The ferry, February to April
No timetable yet
On 3 November 2026 Puerto Rico Ferry’s route pages for both islands, in English and in Spanish, still linked only the itineraries for 1 August to 30 November 2026. Its FAQ is plain about what that means:
“Advance sales are limited. Agents can only sell tickets for schedules that have been published on Puertoricoferry.com and the APP.”
So no seat for February, March or April can be bought yet. Both timetables in force now are stamped “LAST UPDATE: June 3, 2026”, two months before their first sailing, and like every Puerto Rico Ferry schedule they are “created by and at the full direction of the Government of Puerto Rico.” When the spring sailings go up, buy both directions that day. The operator’s FAQ has a question for the visitor who bought the crossing out and found no return on sale, and its answer is the window on the day, if there is capacity.
Who gets a seat
The operator boards in a fixed order:
“Priority order for passenger boarding: a. Pregnant women, senior citizens (60 years of age or older); persons with disabilities and veterans. b. Bona fide residents of the municipality’s islands. c. Passengers with tickets purchased at www.puertoricoferry.com d. Passengers with tickets purchased at the terminal counter.”
A visitor buys ahead only on the website or the app, where “a limited number of tickets will be reserved for advance purchase”, and “additional tickets are reserved and released for purchase on the day of scheduled departure.” JAK puts the online share at about 20 percent and tells its guests to buy the rest at the window at least two hours ahead. The operator asks for an hour, sells a ticket for the next boat up to 15 minutes before it leaves, and closes boarding 10 minutes before.
What that means in high season:
- Avoid the edges of the long weekends: 13 to 15 February, 20 to 22 March and Good Friday to Easter Sunday, 26 to 28 March. Midweek is the time to cross.
- An empty website does not mean a full boat. More seats are released at the window on the day of the sailing, as capacity allows, so go to the window early on the day.
- Use the transfer rule. Sales are final, but a ticket can be moved to another departure twice, at least an hour before it sails.
- Five tickets per transaction. A family of six buys twice.
Where to stay before the Ceiba ferry has the beds near the terminal for the first boats of the day, the ones worth being on in these months.
The fare
On 3 November 2026 the operator’s rates table still showed $2.00 to Vieques and $2.25 to Culebra for an adult aged 13 to 59, plus the $2 Culebra fee for non-residents. Those fares are due to end with the year. ATI, the Integrated Transportation Authority, postponed Regulation 9682, the new fare structure, to 31 December 2026 and said it would start amending the regulation before putting it into effect (Metro Puerto Rico, 4 May 2026). Four days later its director said the approved increases take effect for non-residents in January 2027; the figure he had given on 28 April was $11.25 a crossing from Ceiba, $22.50 round trip (Noticel, 8 May 2026). As filed, the regulation adds a $2 conservation fee to each crossing. Every crossing in these months falls after either date, so budget the new fare and check it the week before you sail. What the ferry costs has the regulation’s whole table, its fees and its suitcase charges.
Flying instead
When the boats are full, the planes are the other way across. Vieques Air Link flies to both islands from San Juan’s Isla Grande airport and from Ceiba, with 25 pounds of baggage in total, carry-on and personal items included, and $2 a pound over that. Cape Air flies from SJU itself to both islands. Both fly small planes, so in high season book the seat when you book the bed. Vieques Air Link also flies Ceiba to St. Thomas on “Fridays, Sundays & Mondays”, four flights a day, for a trip that takes in the US Virgin Islands too.
Flamenco and the swell season
The National Weather Service in San Juan divides the sea around Puerto Rico into two wave seasons, “the winter season, extending from November to April, and the summer season from May through October.” In its words, “Long period swells during the winter season impact our coastlines.” Flamenco faces north.
When a swell comes in, the San Juan office puts the exposed beaches under a high rip current risk, and in 2026 its statements covered Culebra’s beaches on 24 days in February, 12 in March and 14 in April. Vieques came under the same risk on 10, 12 and 6 days. Some of those statements named only the north-facing beaches and others an island’s beaches as a whole, so read the wording, not only the headline. In the Weather Service’s words, rip currents “can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water.”
Read the rip current statement on the National Weather Service San Juan page the morning you go, and on a high-risk day keep to the sand. The counts are ours, day by day, from the San Juan office’s coastal hazard messages for February to April 2026: a day counts when the risk was in effect for any part of it, and on Culebra that was 50 of the 89. It comes in spells, as each swell arrives and fades, so one week can be under it and the next clear.
Days on the islands
Turtles off the west end of Vieques. The sea turtle snorkel at Punta Arenas, with masks, snorkels, fins and life vests supplied and photos included, meets at the ceiba tree on PR-200, past the airport, at 10 AM or 1 PM. It is on sale every day from February to April. There is no pickup, and you take the ferry to Vieques to join it.
Culebra in a day from the main island. Culebra’s beds go first in high season, and the ferry’s visitor seats are a limited block. Kayaking Puerto Rico’s ferry day from Ceiba includes the round-trip tickets, which the guide hands over at the terminal, a guided shore snorkel at Tamarindo in the Luis Peña reserve, where green and hawksbill turtles are frequent sightings, and the afternoon at Flamenco. It runs 10 to 11 hours, and it too is on sale every day of these months. Culebra from San Juan in a day sets it beside the other ways over.
More on what to do in the water is on snorkeling on Vieques and Culebra.
Holy Week
Semana Santa runs from Palm Sunday, 21 March, to Easter Sunday, 28 March 2027, and it is Puerto Rico’s own ferry crush: Good Friday and Monday 22 March are public holidays. The full moon closes the bay from 21 to 23 March, and from Good Friday the moon is out of the evening sky through Easter. Vieques and Culebra over Holy Week 2027 has the special ferry schedules of the last four years, the school recess and what to book first that week.
Book in this order
- The bed, Culebra first, because it has the fewest. On Vieques, Esperanza is the base for the bio bay and Isabel Segunda for the ferry, and the Vieques places below include a list of whole houses and apartments. Where to stay sorts the towns.
- The bio bay night, inside a dark run above.
- The crossing: the ferry the day the spring sailings go on sale, both directions, or a flight now.
- The jeep or golf cart. The fleets are small, and a long weekend empties them: who rents what, and where.
If the choice of island is still open, Vieques or Culebra sets them side by side. December and January, and Three Kings, are on Vieques and Culebra over the holidays.
