Snorkeling and Bio bays day 2

Our first night in Puerto Rico we went to a little restaurant down the street from our hotel. While there my mom asked some locals next to us if they knew anywhere good to go snorkeling. They gave us the name of a friend of theirs that dose local snorkeling tours for $100 up to 4 people.

Captin Mingo 787-383-6509

He took us out to the island Cayo Icacos this is the island all the big tour companies take tourists out to. We arrived while the tour boats were still there and Captin Mingo brought us to the better side of the island to swim at. None of us had ever snorkeled before so Mingo left the boat in a deeper area at first to teach us how to snorkel! He is an amazing teacher and it hardly took any time at all. Soon we were in the water with all the fish! The equipment was included and he made sure we were very comfortable with everything before letting us explore. My mom had some issues floating to stay on the surface while swimming so he even brought out a flotation device that just goes under the waist to help support while swimming.

Bioluminiscente Bay

We were planning on doing a bio bay tour but we were not sure what one to do or where to look for a tour. Captin Mingo showed us one at the same dock we came back in at that he recommended. They are the only company that dose boat tours all the other ones do kayak tours where you have to paddle yourself. We used the tour company, Bio Island BioBay in boat at Laguna Grande in the north-east in Fajardo,

https://www.bioislandpr.com/

Going up the channels there are lots of mangrove trees, we were given the warning that iguanas especially at night will have a tendency to jump from these trees into the boat or on to innocent bystandards. The mangroves are essential to the bioluminiscent bays, they are a good source of vitamin B12 that are essential for the Flagellates (allege) survival that cause the glow in the bays. (Vitamin B12 on its own will glow in black light!) Heavy rainfall causes the mangroves to release vitamin B12 into the bay, and since bays are small enough in size all the vitamins stay confined to one area.

The glow isn't constant, the allege will only give off this glow at night and when they are disturbed. Such as when running your hands in the water or moving the water in ways that they are not use to.

When we went the moon was very bright so we did ot see the glow as well as we could of, but it was still an amazing site to see. I almost wish we had done the kayak tour I believe we would of had a lot more of an experience with it because we did not stay out in the bay for long with the boat.

After going we learned that the brightest bay in Puerto Rico is actually on island Vieques, the only way to this island is via ferry and if you go to see the bio bay here you will have to spend the night on the island because the ferry only goes over a few times a day and not after dark.