We booked our ferry tickets and an Airbnb house - within walking distance of the ferry - in Isabel Segunda, one of the two main towns on the island. A car that can handle dirt roads, potholes, and bumps was highly advised so we rented a jeep in order to better explore the island.
We arrived at our rental house, advertised as coming "complete with full kitchen - everything you need!" to find that our kitchen contained one spoon, one fork, no knives, 4 wineglasses, and no cups for coffee. While some of us contacted the owner (who had his awesome handyman provide us with a few more utensils), the rest of us made a grocery store run. We put together a quick dinner of homemade pizza then headed off for our tour of the bioluminescent bay.
Mosquito Bay - named after the boat used by Roberto Cofresi, a 19th century Robin Hood-type pirate - is the largest bioluminescent bay in the world. The tiny organisms that produce the bioluminescence - dinoflagellates - emit light caused by a chemical reaction when threatened or disturbed. Each dino burst can occur only once per 24 hours and lasts about 1/10 of a second. Then the organism must recharge with sunlight and nutrients from the surrounding water. Protecting the bay by protecting the mangrove forest, and by restricting swimming and the use of DEET, has resulted in an increase in ñthe number of dinos in the bay to 1,000,000 per gallon of water.
It had been raining a lot for the past two weeks. This huge influx of water stirred up the silt and water in the bay resulting in less than clear water conditions. While our bioluminescent display was suboptimal, it was still pretty good. The water sparkled when you dipped your kayak paddle through it. If you trailed your hand in the water, it left a sparkly trail. And some lucky folks could see sparkly outlines of fish as we paddled through the dark bay.
Thursday was Thanksgiving Day (Día de Acción de Gracias). We spent the day exploring beaches in the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge. The Navy used this area for military training until 2001. While most of the area has been cleaned up, there are still signs warning about the occasional presence of explosives. What a way to start your time at the beach!
We spent a good deal of the day at La Chiva beach. A long stretch of silky sand bordered the refreshing water and we alternated between playing in the water and walking on the beach.
The terrain here was quite different from what we've been used to in San Juan. While the greenery was still lush, the air was much drier. In fact, cactus was a prevalent feature of the greenery just off the beach.
At the far end of the beach, we found an area of brackish water that was quite red in color. This appeared to be channel heading into a mangrove swamp. The sand at the edge proved to be quite soft and squishy - almost a type of quicksand. Dennis sank up to his knee and had to work at breaking the suction to pull his leg out!
After our day at the beaches, we took a walk along Mosquito Pier before heading back to our casa for our Thanksgiving dinner of nachos and homemade pumpkin pie!
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Friday was another gorgeous day. We started with breakfast out at a local coffee bar to fortify ourselves for our kayaking and snorkeling tour at Tres Palmitas. We began by kayaking around and through a mangrove forest. We had a chance to see some of the creatures that use these areas for their home - crabs, snails, and many varieties of fish. Then we kayaked to a quiet beach where we put on our snorkel gear and headed out into the water for a big explore. We swam over the undulating ocean floor populated with sea grass and coral of many types. We saw fish - although not as many as might have been expected. Our tour guides explained that this was a byproduct of the previous week's wind and rain. We saw a moon jellyfish and got to 'pet' it as one of our guides held it in his hand.
We needed to turn the car in by 4:00 so spent the last couple of hours driving around to see more of the island. After we filled the car up with gas (we needed to return it full), we found that there were only two gas stations on the island!
We had dinner out at Coqui Fire - a great place just steps from our casa. This Mexican restaurant makes its own hot sauces - nine varieties in all - that range from mild to knock your socks off. We enjoyed trying several of them.
On Saturday morning we had breakfast at another place in Isabel Segunda, then headed for the ferry. Once back on the Puerto Rican mainland, we declared our non-traditional Thanksgiving an adventure and a success!
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