honemoon: part three

wednesday, the third day of our puerto rican adventure, went something like this:

10 a.m. -- marissa goes to store to buy overpriced aloe
11 a.m. -- marissa goes to store to buy 2 more overpriced aloes
noon -- marissa goes back to the store to buy souvenirs
1 p.m. -- marissa makes todd get out of bed to play cards (purchased at store)
2 p.m. -- marissa regrets making todd get up, because he's beating her at cards
3 p.m. -- todd watches a movie while marissa takes a nap

so not the most exciting day. poor todd. but the tour we scheduled for that night was amazing, and totally made up for a slow day.



at dusk, we went to a bay right outside the hotel property. we got in sea kayaks and headed across the dark, choppy bay to a small opening in a mangrove forest near the land. we paddled the kayak through 1.5 miles of twisting mangrove forest to an enclosed bay, arriving just as the sun was setting. it had been drizzling rain the entire ride in, but as soon as our group got to the bay, it started to pour rain. it was so beautiful.

i was really excited to see this, but also pretty freaked out about canoeing on the ocean at night. it turned out to be so awesome, and i wasn't that nervous about it. it helped when i discovered that todd has pretty good kayak skills. he did most of the rowing, i was otherwise occupied swatting away the mosquitos. and somehow i still got dozens of bites.

the bay, laguna grande, was created when the mangrove forest grew to connect an island with the mainland. the trees filtered the water such that certain organisms live there in high concentrations. these organisms involuntarily give off light when disturbed, creating the "bioluminescent bay." when we stuck our hands (or the kayak paddles) in the water and moved them around, the water glowed pale blue.

{ one of the more open spots of the canal }

the return trip was kind of crazy. imagine dozens of kayaks (some coming, some going) maneuvering through a pretty small and very twisty channel lined with roots and overhanging branches with almost zero light (just a few tiny glowsticks here and there). and imagine these kayaks being operated by people who have no clue what they are doing. one couple a few boats ahead of us somehow veered sideways and went shooting out of the channel into the root forest. i had a nice laugh at their expense.