day 12

Subject: San Juan

Hello,

This morning we awoke in San Juan, after a big breakfast of grits, we finished packing and left our luggage for the porter. Up on deck we gazed over the forts of old San Juan, waiting for our debarking orders. While leaning on the rail, I looked over at Kathy and said lets go again in reverse, we both agreed that given the time and money we would both be up for the reverse voyage, it's no wonder that many older folks do just that. This whole cruise cost only $850.usd @, for 11 days, plus tips, that is cheaper than a motel just about anywhere. But this was not to be, on this trip anyway. We breezed through customs, and soon found ourselves at the best western, arriving at mid day they gave us a room and we all stored our luggage and went about exploring in old San Juan. Checking out the stores for some great buys, we only stopped for lunch at a local micro brewery. There we were treated to lobster bisk soup, which was out of this world. More shopping and back to the hotel, to get ready for our next trip. That night we had booked a trip to paddle and swim in luminous bay. The bay we were told is only one of 5 places in the world where the diatoms give off light when excited by movement in the water. We were told a chemical reaction is the reason for the light and this trip promised to be another trip of a lifetime. A small bus picked us up and drove just over an hour to the beach, where we were given instruction on how to paddle a C2, two person kayak. We set off in the dying light of another hot day, to work our way through a mangrove swamp, single file. As we got closer to the Bay and it got darker we began to see just what they were talking about. With each stroke of the paddle we stirred up them little creatures, and they only got brighter as we moved quietly through the mangrove swamp. Breaking into the bay, our party of a dozen small craft, started to really light up, at that point we were allowed to drop into the dark water. It was like diamonds dripping off our arms as we swam slowly through the jeweled waters. My photos do no justice to the diatoms, but rest assured it was in fact an experience of a lifetime. Even Rod, who was deathly afraid of any water deeper than a dug-out, got onto the magic of this night. We were all left speechless as we reluctantly regained our C2's and started the single file paddle back to the beach. Our ride broke down on the way back so we had to wait for another van to take us back to the hotel. The driver knew his way around as well as he spoke English, which was nil. Both Rod and I went into enguarde mode as the driver went around in circles, we half expected him to drive down a dark alley to waiting banditos, but about an hour later he finally found our hotel. We left him without a tip as his bad attitude came through clearly in any language. We were all glad that we had chosen to spend two nights in San Juan, as we looked forward to sleeping in, late.... Tomorrow the beaches of san Juan..................Andy