More Explorations: Cabezas de San Juan

The Para la Naturaleza (http://www.paralanaturaleza.org/en/category/news/?lang=en) is a nature conservancy in Puerto Rico that supports a dozen or so sites of historical and/or environmental significance.  We recently visited Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve in Fajardo, just over an hour east of San Juan.  This area is unique in that six separate ecosystems – a bioluminescent lagoon, coral reefs, dry forest, mangroves, and sandy and rocky beaches – all exist in the same 300 acre location. Our 2.5 hour guided tour provided us with tons of information on each system.

Our first stop was the Cabo San Juan Lighthouse. The lighthouse is still in use but no longer has staff who live onsite. 

 

As you can imagine, the view from the top is magnificent. Las Cabezas – ‘heads’ in Spanish – gets its name from the terrain which can be seen from the lighthouse. Three rounded prominences – heads  or headlands – are areas of land that extend into the water.

If you look carefully, you can see a rainbow reflecting on the water.

Spectacular cloud formations!

A fun fact: the spiral staircase going from the main floor to the roof curves in a counter-clockwise direction. It was built this way to facilitate defense against invaders, who were mostly right-handed. Interesting fact: Only 12% of the population are left-handed. The two lefties in our group – daughter Karen and grandson James – would be at a decided advantage if they were attacking the lighthouse!

There were a number of exhibits in the lighthouse including a tank with a sea cucumber in it. The guide had visitors wash their hands then he handed the creature to them. Karen and James each took a turn. They described the sensation like holding silly putty. The sea cucumber is an invertebrate that has a number of fascinating properties. One is that when hung over your hand, it lengthens. Another is its ability to dump its internal organs as defense. When it is safe again, it can regenerate the organs. Not only that, if it loses its front half, it can grow a new one. No such luck if it loses its back half. 

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Another exhibit took place in a darkened room where we got information on the bioluminescent organisms that live in a number of bays in Puerto Rico. Movement of the water in which they live – such as during an attack – results in a chemical reaction that produces light. We were each given a small packet of water containing zillions of these protozoans. When we shook the bag, sure enough, colorful light played across the packet. Our guide explained that the ability of the organisms to emit light decays over time and demonstrated that a fresh bag produced more light than those we had been shaking for a couple of minutes.

No photos were allowed in the darkened room so I got this photo from: http://www.abyss.com.au/diving/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/bioluminescence.jpg

After spending nearly an hour at the lighthouse, it was on to the rocky beach. Nearly all the beaches – ‘playas’ -  we have seen in Puerto Rico have consisted of amazingly soft sand. The beach at Las Cabezas was rocky – much more like beaches we see on the coast of Maine. The explanation for this has to do with the speed with which the waves hit the shore. The waves here hit with enough force that they remove all the sand and silt.

An example of brain coral.

This is a lovely specimen of fan coral.

Next, it was on to the mangrove forest. We walked onto a boardwalk that took us through several different areas of mangroves. We learned that black mangroves send up roots through shallow water and that red mangroves drop seeds into the water. We saw areas where the mangroves had died because of changing salinity and new areas of growth. Completely fascinating.

Black mangrove roots.

 Some examples of animals and fish that live amongst the mangroves.

Note the orange color of the water. This is because this area is populated by red mangroves.

Examples of a dead mangrove swamp - killed by changing salinity of the water.

Para la Naturaleza tours are a real bargain. Total cost for five of us – two seniors, one adult, and two kids – was $53. We plan to take advantage of more of their tours while we’re here.

Exploring the World Around Us - Paseo de Piñones

We've had a lot of opportunities to explore the world around us. Last week we made another attempt - this time successful! - to visit the Paseo de Piñones, a biking and hiking path located just a short drive from the San Juan airport. Our first attempt, a couple of weeks ago, was cut short when all we could find was an empty parking lot in a somewhat sketchy area at the far end of the trail. After reading some more info on where and how to access the path, we found easy access just east of Isla Verde.

The path is a combination of paved area and boardwalk that runs parallel to the beach. There are opportunities to spend some time on the sand and rocks while the boardwalk keeps walkers and bikers off the fragile parts of the beach. We began our walk on a section of the path that goes by a mangrove forest.

This important habitat consists of small trees that grow with their roots in the water in coastal areas. Mangroves provide a home for many animals, fish, and organisms and have been called the 'nursery of the sea.'

We have been noticing large nests in many of the trees we've seen in the forest. We have learned that these are termite nests and many of them are impressive in size.

The path leaves the forest behind and follows closer to the shore. Waves break over a reef about 100 yds. out from the shore.

We spent a lot of time walking on the shore and the rocks finding crabs, snails, and shells.

One of the larger crabs we saw walking along the shore.

We weren't sure at first what these circular items were. On closer inspection we found that they were snails.

We ended our walk seeing one of the pine trees for which the area is named.

Visiting the Camuy River Cave Park

Our excursion plan is to maximize our dollars and travel time while seeing as much of what there is to see as possible. Thus, ventures that are costly or that take a lot of time - those we're likely to do only one time - are saved for when either Dennis (Karen's husband) or Smith (my husband) are visiting.

A long-weekend visit by Dennis gave us the perfect opportunity for to visit the Camuy River Cave Park in northwestern Puerto Rico. This system of caves was carved out of limestone between one and two million years ago by the Camuy River, which is the third-largest underground river in the world. The main cave, and the only one open to visitors while we were there, is the Cueva Clara. Although the cave was likely explored by the Taíno people many hundreds of years ago, it was only 'discovered' in 1958. Since that time, more than 200 caves within the system have been mapped and experts believe that  there are at least 800 more yet to be explored.

Our cave tour started with a tram ride down, down, down from the visitor center. At the bottom, we entered the cave. The main chamber of the cave is 700 feet long and 215 feet high.

The view looking back and up from inside the mouth of the cave.

One of the interesting things we could see from the mouth of the cave was a tree growing upside down!

Once inside the cave, we got information from our guide and from the audio headset we each had that had a script linked to the numbered sections of the cave. The cave has lots of stalagmites and stalactites. Our guide gave us an easy way to remember which of these is which: stalagmites have a 'g' in them. This stands for the 'ground' and the fact that they grow up from the ground. Stalactites have a 'c' in them This stands for the 'ceiling' and the fact that they grow down from above and have to hold on 'tight'.

A gigantic stalagmite - about 30 ft X 35 ft X 45 ft -  is located in the cave. These amazing projections grow very very slowly - at a rate of approximately 1 cubic centimeter every 100 years. As our tour guide said, 'You do the math!'

Lava tubes, created during the formation of the cave, are another interesting feature. Depending on the flow of the lava, these may be in the form of lava cascades or lava draperies.

Lava tubes in the Cueva Clara.

Another interesting geologic feature is the cave witch.

The cave witch

Deep in the cave we came upon a spring with water pouring out of the wall. The water coming from this 'fountain of youth' is potable so we each had a drink.

Past the spring, we began climbing and noticed that the temperature was rising. That coupled with a musky smell let us know we were in the bat cave. The smell was from vast amounts of bat guano.

We saw huge crickets, a scorpion spider, and bats in the cave.

While we were disappointed that the 650 feet in diameter and 400 foot deep Tres Pueblos sinkhole wasn't open to visitors, we had a great visit. We saw a lot and learned a lot. And - ended the day with helado - local ice cream! We sampled all four flavors: coco (coconut), passion fruit, peanut, and corn (topped with cinnamon).