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Culebra is an island municipality under the domain of Puerto Rico, which has been under the protection of the United States , since its annexation from Spain in 1898. In 1909 the Culebra National Wildlife Refuge was established. The refuge takes in over one thousand four hundred acres of land and is well known both as a nesting area for numerous seabirds, as well as the endangered leatherback turtle and Culebra giant anole.

Located about nineteen miles east of Puerto Rico and eight miles north of Vieques, Culebra is the smallest of the inhabited Spanish Virgin Islands. She is seven miles long and 3 miles wide.

Culebra is an arid island, having no rivers or streams. She gets her water from Puerto Rico via Vieques. Because of the lack of run-off from streams and rivers, Culebra boasts crystal clear waters with sixty feet of visibility on a bad day. The snorkeling and scuba diving around Culebra are outstanding. Hard and soft corals abound in the shallows and magnificent reefs encircle the island. Tropical fish and other sea life abound. The depths rarely exceed one hundred feet.