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This is the Bucketlist Tours Puerto Rico website for one private tour: a full day and night at La Parguera, in Lajas, on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico, ending with a guided swim inside the bioluminescent bay. It is operated by Bucketlist Tours Puerto Rico and guided personally by its founder, Carlos A. López Ruiz.

Only one private group goes out per departure, from two to twelve guests, with no age limit. The day includes private transportation from San Juan, snorkeling at Cayo Caracoles, sunset on the water, the swim at Papayo Cove after dark, and filming of the group in the water.

La Parguera is the only one of Puerto Rico's three bioluminescent bays where visitors can swim in the glowing water.

Carlos A. López Ruiz founded Bucketlist Tours in 2018 and designs, operates and guides every departure himself. He is a historian who has studied Puerto Rican history for close to thirty years, and a certified bilingual guide trained in CPR and water rescue.

He has been in the water at the bioluminescent bay on more than three hundred nights, across every phase of the moon and every season, and he films each departure with low-light cinema equipment. On every departure he is the first person in the water and he stays in the water with the group.

He grew up in the Abra Honda ward of Camuy and first saw La Parguera at nine years old, from a glass-bottom boat with his father. Read his story.

• The road. The group leaves San Juan at 2:00 in the afternoon. Carlos explains the history of the landscape on the way, and there is a stop at Guánica, where United States troops landed in 1898.
• The hotel. At a partner hotel in La Parguera, guests change before boarding. Dinner is ordered on the way in.
• The cay. Around 5:45 the group boards a private boat to Cayo Caracoles, a small island inside the La Parguera Nature Reserve, for close to two hours of swimming and snorkeling in warm, clear water.
• Sunset. The group watches the sunset from the water, then waits for full darkness. Eyes need fifteen full minutes of darkness to adapt.
• The bay. After dark the boat goes to Papayo Cove, the bioluminescent water. Carlos enters first, shows guests how to move, then the group follows him in.
• The film. Carlos films the group in the water with low-light equipment, and the footage is sent afterwards as a keepsake.
• After. Back at the hotel, guests shower and change into dry clothes. Dinner is served about fifteen minutes after returning, and then the group rides back to San Juan.

The full description is on The Experience.

• Private, air-conditioned transportation from Condado, with the door to door option
• Cold bottled water
• A certified, bilingual guide: Carlos A. López Ruiz
• About three hours on a private boat, to Cayo Caracoles and to Papayo Cove
• Sanitized snorkeling gear, life vests and floaties
• Use of the partner hotel to change before and shower after
• Footage of the night

Tips are not included. Meals and snacks are not included unless the reservation says otherwise.

• The swim area is ten to thirteen feet deep with a mud bottom. There is no coral, no urchins and no rocks.
• The bay is saltier than the open sea, so people float more easily than they expect.
• The water is warm at night.
• Life vests and floaties are included, so swimmers and non-swimmers can both be in the water.
• The boat is a pontoon. Under its platform there is an air space about six feet wide, twenty feet long and eighteen inches high. The aluminum ribs work like monkey bars, so guests can hold on without treading water.
• Under the platform the moon is blocked, so the glow is visible even on bright nights.
• Carlos is in the water with the group the whole time.

The usual advice is to go on a new moon. That is only part of the answer. What matters is whether the moon is above the horizon while the group is in the water.

• In most months there are another eight to ten nights when the moon rises late enough that the bay is dark for the whole swim.
• The best time of year is a dark night between October and early December, when nights are longer.
• In winter the sun sets around 6:30 and the bay is fully dark by 7:00. In summer real darkness can arrive close to 8:00.
• The tour still runs on bright nights, because the pontoon makes its own darkness. Carlos goes out even at eighty percent moon.
• Darkness can be predicted. Brightness cannot. The strength of the glow depends on the days before: sun, rain, how much the bay was stirred and Sahara dust.

This site has a viewing calendar that rates every night of the year at La Parguera by its minutes of true darkness, calculated for the coordinates of the bay. The reasoning is explained in The Moon and the Glow.

To a camera the glow is electric blue. To human eyes in the dark it appears as whitish sparkles, sometimes pale green, with a hint of blue only on peak nights. In near-total darkness the eye uses rod cells, which do not report colour.

More on what it really looks like.

Almost ninety percent of the people who see a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico see Laguna Grande, nearly all of them from a kayak. Most kayak and group boat tours do not take guests younger than fifteen, or seniors. The comparison is explained in Swim or Kayak.

Bring:

• Beach clothes, with a swimsuit already on underneath
• A towel, or two if possible
• A full change of dry clothes and a bag for the wet ones
• Benadryl, and an EpiPen if one has been prescribed for allergies
• Dramamine for anyone who gets motion sickness, taken before boarding

Leave behind:

• Insect repellent. It is not needed, and the less that goes into the water, the better.
• Sunscreen at the bay, for the same reason.
• Phones and cameras. Salt water ruins them, a phone photo comes out blurry, and one look at a bright screen resets the eyes for another fifteen minutes.

There are no bathrooms at the water at any of the three bays. This tour uses the partner hotel before and after. The full list is in What to bring and what to expect.

Bucketlist Tours holds 4.8 out of 5 from 93 reviews on TripAdvisor as of October 2026. Guests who took this tour consistently mention the following:

• Carlos gets in the water with the group and leads the swim.
• Starting under the pontoon makes the glow easier to see.
• Lifting an arm slowly out of the water leaves sparkles on the skin.
• Families did it together across generations, from toddlers to grandparents.
• The drive is long, and guests say Carlos fills it with the history of Puerto Rico.
• Guests describe the night as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

• The Experience: the full day, what is included and the price
• The Moon and the Glow: the real viewing window and the Night Scale
• The viewing calendar: every night of the year rated on darkness
• What to bring and what to expect
• Swim or Kayak: what each format gives you
• Families: children, grandparents and non-swimmers
• What it really looks like
• The science behind the glow
• The dinoflagellates
• The history of Puerto Rico's bioluminescent bays
• Filming the glow
• The equipment
• The story of Carlos A. López Ruiz
• Start Planning