Bioluminiscent Bay

San Juan Travel Blog

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February 27th, 2005 – by: dragonfenix

Anther view of San Juan

Puerto Rico is a must for any travelers wanting to experience a unique culture filled with great food, natural wonders and of course shopping and nightlife! Although our visit to the island was short, it definitely left us wanting more. Downtown San Juan was a great place to go shopping, try local cuisines and experience Puerto Rican culture without going too far. My experience however mainly consisted of my visit to Las Croabas Lagoon in Fajardo.

The bus ride about 2 hours, which seemed really long, but it gave us the opportunity to see a great deal of the island including the more rural areas. The beaches were amazing and the people were very hospitable.

Sunset in Puerto Rico...unfortunately this was taken through the window of our bus

When we got to our destination, we were excited to jump into the kayak and paddle ourselves into the lagoon. The lagoon was a few miles deep in the jungle. It was pitched dark when we got on the kayaks and our only means of navigation was following the light sticks attached to our vest.

To get to the lagoon, we must first navigate through a thick forest of mangroves, which proved to be very difficult in almost total darkness. However, as dark at it was, it made for an exciting adventure, not knowing where we were heading and trusting only the people ahead of us by haphazardly following their light sticks and their voices. There were countless times where my friend and I would get stuck between the mangrove roots. Because it was so dark, we were basically zigzaging our way through this narrow river going from one end to the other.

Kayaking is not easy at first...here we are heading straight into the mangroves!!! I think the mangroves has some sort of a kayak magnet!

Suppice it to say, we all ended up with scratches by the end of the trip, which made for a great story. There were times when the relentless magroves would give way to an opening to the sky and let it the light of the full moon. The mangroves and other trees cast erie shadows added with strange animal sounds made the trip that much more exciting.

The closer we came to the lagoon, the more the water began to glow flourescent green. Scoop a handfull of water and you begin to understand the draw of this amazing lagoon. In my hand were little tiny creatures no bigger than a grain of sand called flagellates glowing bright green. At first, one scoop would only capture 5 or 10 flagellates, but the closer we got it became countless...my hand was glowing. Finally, the magroves opened into this majestic lagoon lit by the light of the full moon reflecting off the lake made an unforgettable experience.

Spring Breakers '05

It was one of those moments you wish you can stop time and relive over and over again. All around me, the lake was glowing flourescent green, a splash of my hand in the water, the bow of the kayak, the paddles hitting the water, and in the distant where the wind blows creating a small wave, the water would glow, I felt like I was in the twilight zone, but in a good way. This is what we came here to see and the small seemingly insignificant little creatures put on a show that would put some 4th of july fireworks to shame. This was truly a unique and memorable experience for me and I recommended anyone who gets the opportunity to visit Puerto Rico to give this one a try!