San Juan and Bioluminescent Bays

I stumbled across  a great article on what to do in 48 hours in San Juan. It’s a nice itinerary. One of  the author’s suggestions, El Yunque rainforest, is just 45 minutes out of San Juan. It is one of those macro view spots. When I first arrived I was a little appalled. Many of the scenic locations are only a few feet off the road, and because of the thick jungle there are only a handful of trails to get off the thoroughfare. The La Mina trail was listed as difficult and it is fairly steep, but it’s mostly paved. I saw people navigating it with strollers without much difficulty. It ends in a lovely, but very crowded, waterfall. After awhile, though, you start to appreciate El Yunque’s charms, it’s lushness and fertility,.

The Forgotten download

The 48 Hours in San Juan article  (perhaps feeling that 48 hours in San Juan is not quite enough) skimmed over the bioluminescent bays, which are one of most unique things to do near San Juan.

Puerto Rico boasts several “bioluminescent bays”—places where the single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellate flourish.  

These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a bluish light when disturbed-although scientists aren’t exactly sure why, although they speculate it is a defense mechanism.  Each one is only 1/500 inch in diameter and the flash lasts only 1/10 second, but their collective greenish blue radiance can be seen for miles.

 A high concentration of these creatures (Pyrodimium bahamense, which means “whirling fire”) can create enough light to read a book from. It’s an eerie effect; like starlight glowing from beneath the surface of the water. 

 There are only 6 or 7 bioluminescent bays left in the world.

There used to be more.  Several have been lost when the bay openings were widened, changing the delicate balance the dinoflagellates required. Others have been lost due to industrial or boat pollution, the cutting of mangroves for charcoal, runoff from the overgrazing by cattle of nearby fields, and the increase in artificial lights, which reduces the phenomenon’s brightness.

 Canoe tours of the bioluminescence bay begin at dusk. You paddle slowly through mangroves in what was surely the pattern for the Disney “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride. Fireflies glitter in the mangroves, and the jungle sounds could be lifted straight from the theme park’s sound track. As you make your way through the swamp, you start to notice what looks like the fireflies reflection in the water, but as you paddle it becomes more pronounced—every stroke of your oar leaves an emerald green glow in its wake. Fish flash by like glowing green meteors. As the mangrove swamps open up into a shallow, warm bay, you can swim among them, each stroke creating an explosion of underwater fireworks. It is a surreal experience.

If you have 48 hours in San Juan, do what you can to experience one of the bioluminescent bays nearby.

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