I have been remiss

on my blogging, again... I am sorry. I have been posting on FB, for what that's worth!

Here's what you've missed. We flew to Puerto Rico on Saturday morning. We were up bright an early (2:45 am for me and 3:00 for Mike) and out of the house by 3:45 am. We arrived at Mike's building to park around 4:40 and made our way to the airport by cab for our 6 am flights. I flew JetBlue, Mike flew Delta (we both come home on the same JetBlue flight).

We landed in different terminals of JFK. I bounded into Cibo Express to get my lunch time treats. I got a smoked turkey sandwich with fresh grilled green apple, sugar snap peas, a cranberry & walnut quinoa salad, Lake Champlain Tanzania bar, and diet Snapple iced tea. Things aren't cheap (the bill was $23), but I feasted on various parts of this food for days -- I still haven't finished the chocolate.

I boarded my connection to San Juan and read and watch some TV on the way down. We arrived at the airport about 20 minutes apart and met up at my baggage claim. A short cab ride later, we arrived at our hotel, La Concha. The room was very nice, in the tower with an obstructed ocean view. Unfotunately, we were right outside a loud fan vent that never stopped (we moved rooms to a pool room with a full balcony the next day).

We unpacked our things and took a trip to the local supermarket for provisions. Nearly every trip we take includes a trip to the store for cheese, crackers, cereal, milk, OJ, and other beverages. We grabbed a quick dinner at Chili's (I know it is an abomination, but we wanted something quick and easy), then returned to our hotel to prepare for our evening adventure.

We booked a trip with Kayaking Puerto Rico for their BioBay Excursion. They picked us up at the hotel at 6:30 pm for the hour + drive to Fajardo. We arrived in Fajardo around 7:45 pm for our 8:30 excursion. We walked around the area and hung out for a bit while we waited. The biobay is big tourist business and we saw at least 3 other companies with tents up for their tours. The group before us came in and were very pleased with their tour.

We had a little lesson about kayaking -- hold your paddle this way and do this and that -- for about 10 minutes. Mike and I have not been kayaking together (I've never been and he has been once, I think). We have canoed, and of course he rowed in high school and did boating as he grew up. We weren't too worried about the experience. The instructor showed us the route (embedded below). We were to leave the ocean bay, kayak through a forest for one mile, then arrive at the bio luminescent bay. We were told two important things: 1) don't hit the roots of the mangrove trees as it can damage them, and 2) do not yell as it disturbs the wildlife.





View BioBay in a larger map

We launched around 9 pm. We began the trip by paddling across the open space to line up. This was a bit comical as a majority of the group (but not us, thank God) had serious problems controlling their kayaks and paddling in sync. People were bumping into one another like crazy. Anyway, we made our way to the river through the forest. Now let me say this, there are no lights in this forest, it was dark out -- I don't know what moon phase -- with thick forest canopy all around. Kids, it was dark. The boats were equipped with a green light on the bow and a red light on the stern. We were to follow the red light ahead of us at all times. The pace was nice and slow (a bit too slow for us, but easy on the arms). The further we got into the forest, the cooler it got. As we moved our paddles in the river, the bio luminescense surrounded them. It is hard to explain, but if could imagine those light sticks you can get and break to glow being in the water and activating each time the water is hit, that is pretty close. We sprinkled water down our arms and legs and got little glows. The darkness of the sky also made the rocks along the sides of the waterway glow.

We reached the lagoon and got to paddle around for awhile enjoying the peaceful setting and incredible bio luminescence. After a while we rejoined in a line and paddled back to the launch point. The whole trip took about an hour and 20 minutes. I can't say enough times how amazing this trip was. We would definitely do this trip again. They took our photo as we launched. Though I posted it on FB, this is another (photo of a photo, sorry) shot that I enhanced using Picnick (which is awesome and free online photo editing -- which was location based in Spanish since we're in PR, and I still figured it out).

We headed back to the hotel and arrived around midnight to a very happening scene. There were hundreds of people partying in the lobby and pool areas. It was amazing. We couldn't miss out on the fun, so we took a quick shower and came back down to have a drink.

As you can see, there were live dancers (she posed for my photo) -- another one was just to the left.

Though we are not in the photo below it gives you a glimpse of the scene.

We enjoyed our day together and finally got to bed around 2:15 am. What a great start to our trip!

There will be more trip updates to come! Stay tuned...