Hector R.
Yelp
This review is for those that reside outside of Puerto Rico but are visiting the island. You are getting a review by someone who was born and raised in Puerto Rico but have lived most of his adult life outside the island, although I come to visit my family once or twice a year.
Palomino island is all you are reading in these reviews. The setting is spectacular, the views cannot be compared with anything I have ever seen, the water is crystal clear and the trade winds will feel like heaven, regardless of when you are there. Please make sure you bring a sun umbrella with you if you will not have the safety of a boat to shelter from the sun and for heavens' sake, bring lots of suntan lotion! I do not know why but the intensity of the sun on this island will burn your skin unlike any other spot in Puerto Rico.
You may consider chartering or getting a ticket on one of the Catamaran operators. These people seemed to be having and grand old time every time they pulled in. At one point I told my wife we should just join them (we arrived on our own boat). If you really want to enjoy your visit to Palomino, I strongly suggest you read further bellow.
If you are going to enjoy "Icacos Island" the first thing you need to know is this: we Puerto Ricans do most of our social "anything" on weekends and the weekend usually begin on Fridays. If you chose to go to Icacos on a weekend, then I suggest you implore a higher power to help you get through the hellish disappointment that it is going to be. Heck, I may even tell you that you are likely to suffer from PTSD after the experience.
The first thing you will notice on a weekend is the flotilla of boats heading to Icacos between the hours of 9am to noon. It will look like a flotilla, you will see. If you were smart you got there before 9am and got your boat right up to the coast or simply got dropped off by one of the ferry services. Now your day will begin to go south "Quick fast and in a hurry" as other boaters begin to block you out of the beach with their boats and will occupy every inch of the spit of sand there is. Don't bother to bring your own music because you see, all the boats that have radios will be blasting their music with Reggaetón music (some will have Salsa) and it will be so loud that boaters approaching the island from Fajardo will be able to hear the competition of dozens of radios. Also, it is difficult to tell why this is other than this is what we observed, Jet Skiers will arrive in mass, will pass between all the boats, threatening all of those that may be swimming in the water, they will set up in group and I say perhaps a third to a half of them will begin to smoke marijuana while in the water and while holding little children in their hands (I wish that was not the case, but it has been). There is no government oversight of any kind and in the event anything happens you are on our own as the nearest police is miles away and across the water.
This past weekend we had a young man, looked to me perhaps in his late teens early twenties, light up what looked like a hookah and proceeded to light it with marijuana and what appeared to be rum, thought I am not sure of what it was, and was getting high on it for what seemed like hours. I mean the guy looked like he would not be able to turn the key to his Jet Sky by the time we left. The crowd he was with, on their Jet Skis, looked menacing as in "let's see if anybody dears to say anything about this to us". The same was applicable to people on boats but of course it was not as visible. I grew up hanging in some rough neighborhoods in Puerto Rico and I was on high alert the hours we were there before we decided we were better off heading over to Palomino Island. As I once told my daughters when we found ourselves in a similar situation, "If I am Alarmed, you need to be alarmed".
What will likely bother youth the most if you manage to find a spot around normal people is the music or rather the competition of High Power Radios playing their different music genres, each trying to outdo the other. You will find yourself shouting just to be heard by the person next to you.
Back to the point I wanted to make: This place is heavenly, just not on weekends. You should also know that as obnoxious weekends go in Puerto Rico, high season is January through early August when schools are closed. We will most definitely go back yet there is no way you will catch us there on a weekend. Take note, you have been forewarned!
