When I was nine years old I saw the bay through glass. My father and I were on a glass-bottom boat at La Parguera, and tens of thousands of green points went streaking past under my feet.
When my son was seven, I took him to the same bay. He did not look at it through anything. He was in it. The water answered his own body, every movement he made, and there was nothing between him and the light.
Those were two different nights. That difference is what this page is about.
What a kayak gives you
Almost ninety percent of the people who see a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico see Laguna Grande, and nearly all of them see it from a kayak. It is the picture that comes up when you search, it is what most tour desks sell, and it is the most affordable way to do this, usually around $60 to $75 per person.
It serves its purpose. It is a fun, somewhat adventurous way to see the glow quickly and on a budget.
But know what you are booking.
- The tour is roughly an hour. Ten minutes go to getting in and ten to getting out, so you have about forty minutes of the actual experience.
- Departures run back to back all night, ten kayaks and twenty people at a time.
- Two of you share a kayak. If your group is an uneven number, one of you goes out in the dark with a stranger.
- For many people it is their first time in a kayak, and it will be at night.
- At Laguna Grande you first paddle through a mangrove channel about eight feet wide, with kayaks coming the other way.
- For safety, most operators will not take anyone younger than fifteen, or seniors.
- From the kayak, you put your hand in the water. That is the contact you get.
What a boat gives you
At Mosquito Bay only electric boats are allowed, and one operates there. It is more comfortable than a kayak, but you still only run your hand through the water. Swimming is not permitted in Mosquito Bay, and what lives in that bay is one of the reasons nobody will encourage you to try.
At La Parguera the group tours go out in regular boats, a small one with up to twelve people or a larger one with up to forty. Here is the gain: everybody gets in the water. It is crowded, and from San Juan it is twice as far and around three times the price of a kayak in Fajardo. Even so, swimming instead of paddling is such a different experience that the drive and the difference are justified.
What swimming gives you
In the water, the light is not below you. It is around you.
Every stroke of your arm draws a halo. On an average night it reaches six to ten inches from your skin, with several hundred separate sparks in it. On a peak night it reaches close to two feet and you can no longer find its edge.
You can lift your arm slowly and watch thirty or forty of them keep blinking on your skin, in the open air.
None of that is possible from a seat.
If you are not a strong swimmer
The bay is saltier than the sea outside it, so you float more easily than you expect. We carry life vests and floaties. And under our pontoon the ribs of the platform work like monkey bars. You can hang there and never tread water at all.
The honest summary
If your time is short and you are staying in San Juan, a kayak at Laguna Grande will show you the glow and have you back at your hotel within a few hours.
If what you want is the thing that changed my life, you have to get in. And there is only one of our three bays where I can take you in.