Bioluminescent Bay, Vieques Island, Puerto Rico
With a flight from NYC to San Juan clocking in under four hours — plus a fifteen-minute puddle jumper — the Bioluminescent Bay in Vieques Island, Puerto Rico is easily the most convenient of my travel to-do list locations.
I knew that blue-ish glow surrounds you (and the fish) when you swim in Puerto Mosquito due to bioluminescent half-plant/half-animal micro-organisms that light up when they’re disturbed. (Supposedly the light is occasionally so bright you could read a book by it!) But my colleague spent last weekend there and came back with a few quick tips that I did not know:
- You’ll see the light most clearly on nights when the moon is the darkest. So you may want to plan your trip’s timing around the moon phases.
- Vieques Island has finer dining than you might expect from a Caribbean Island. My colleague especially recommended a place called Uva, even going so far to say that it rivaled any restaurant experience one might have in NYC.
- The Martinea Bay Resort and Spa, where she stayed, is being converted into a Starwood W; they’re doing renovations now. She said she couldn’t imagine it being any nicer than it already was, so this sounds like a hotel worth checking out. (And to think, I was already sold when she mentioned its swim-up bar.)
