Island of adventure -Vieques
On a whim we decided to check out of
our hotel in San Juan in Puerto Rico and stay at a B & B in
Vieques, we had our heart set on seeing the bioluminicent bay.
The time effecient way to travel from
San Juan to Vieques is by air, usually they are 8-14 seater flights
which hop from one island to the other on the caribbean. The moment
the flight takes off its clear that its an adventure. The atlantic
sparkles blue and green leaving looming mountain ranges behind. For
anyone who has not been on an 8 seater flight, its an experiance that
should not be missed.
We booked into Casa de Amistas which is
a lovely B&B with a warm welcome and very friendly people. David (owner) suggested that we go to Esperanza for dining and shopping as it
is 'the place' to go to in Vieques. We went there expecting a town
and what we found delighted us.
The main center of Esperanza is
actually a small road along the beach on which locals and outsiders
(for want of a better word) who fell in love with Vieques have set up
shop, selling beach clothes , souveniers , tropical fruit and a
spattering of local restaurants and small food trucks. If you are
lucky you might see a wedding. Driving around the island in itself is
amazing as you can see wild horses galloping on the road and thick
tropical vegetation around. Mango trees bearing fruit, plaintains and
coconut trees made my heart soar as it is very similar to my home in
Kerala, India which on the other side of the planet.
The trip to bio bay started from
Esperanza along with a few other tourists on a small dusty broken
down bus. After a very bumpy ride and water from the marshes
splashing through the hole in the floor of the bus, we reached thick
mangrooves from where the bay started. The tour guide unloaded the
kayaks in pitch darkness, as it was a moonless night and the milky
way formed a pavilion over us.
After about two minutes of paddling,
the water started shimmering when the paddle hit the water. As we
went in deeper in the darkness, the water around the kayak starts
shimmering and the paddles start shimmering. An occasional needle
fish swishes through the water making shiny S shapes over the water.
Soon the kayak is travelling through the bay and the water the kayak
disturbs forms a halo around the kayak. Biolumicent fire flies recide
in the mangrooves lighting up the surrounding of the bay with their
twinkling presence. It has a very eerie, magnificient, ghostly sense
to it, no wonder the Spanish when they discovered the bay thought
that its the work of the devil and had it cordorned off.
The bioluminices is the work of an
innocent single celled organism known as dinoflagellates. To see them
at work on a moonless night is truely a one of the kind experience.
Vieques has so much to offer in terms
of its warm people, old world charm, secluded beaches with white
sand, deep forest reserves and the bio bay its no wonder that the
people who found Vieques have a hard time leaving.
