WITHOUT A PADDLE…read more
Kayaking during the day proving too easy? How about kayaking at night...through a mangrove forest.
As my wife and I planned our second trip to Puerto Rico, we agreed that a bio bay kayak tour should be on the list. Only 5 biobays exist in the world, 3 of which are in PR (in Vieques, La Parguera, and here on the far northeast corner of the island). There's a few kayaking tour companies in the area, each offering a similar bioluminescent excursion.
Hang on, biolu-what? I'll skip the TED talk--all you need to know is that a certain kind of marine plankton makes the water in extra salty lagoons glow blue. It's the same science that gives jellyfish, fireflies, and deep-sea anglerfish their special ability to produce light.
When we arrived around 8pm, tour guides gave our group of 15-20 life vests and provided instructions, like what to do if your ass falls out of the kayak. Our goal was Laguna Grande (literally "big lagoon"), roughly 1 mile from our starting point on the shores of Fajardo.
So......getting to Laguna Grande is not easy. Along with a partner, you'll paddle your way through a narrow channel surrounded on all sides by thick mangroves, including an overhead canopy. This is tricky during daylight hours, but at night the difficulty ramps up. Keep in mind that visibility in these thick mangrove patches drops to near-zero at times.
You might (probably will) have to avoid other kayak groups and (possibly) motorboats as you make your way to the lagoon, all while trying not to crash into the person in front of you, fall too far behind, or be knocked unconscious/impaled by low branches. The outbound trip was not super chill, thankfully coming back was less stressful. Having an experienced partner is CRUCIAL.
Bio bay tours are very much like whale watching, in that your visit is based almost entirely on luck. A lot needs to go right in order to see magic stuff in the water, like the moon being in its 'new' phase (full moon casts too bright of a reflection) and no recent rainfall (rain comes down as fresh water, decreasing the lagoon's salinity).
Under ideal circumstances, the microorganisms appear as florescent blue swirls when you move your hand/paddle through the water. What we saw were closer to electrical 'sparks', still cool but not vibrant. Capturing what little bio-presence we saw on camera would've been impossible, so we smartly kept our phones in the car. Oddly enough, mosquitos weren't a problem.
* TL;DR *
For me, this was more about the journey than the destination.
If I'd hung all of my hopes on seeing tons of bioluminescent activity, I would've been disappointed. I was focused more on trying not to capsize while also listening to the symphony of 'coqui' (the local island tree frog). It can be romantic with a spouse/partner, assuming they're not yelling at you the whole time.
Wear comfy clothes (swim trunks aren't a bad idea) and be aware that parts of your outfit will be crunchy the next day, due to the lagoon water being twice as salty as the ocean. Mangroves play a critical role in the tropical ecosystem, but they stink!
Would definitely recommend this to anyone over the age of 18; it's an awesome late-night adventure and one of the most unique things you can do while in Puerto Rico.
