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Day
9 (March 4, 2024) Vieques
Before
This day we have to take the ferry to Vieques at 1 PM, which has boarding time at 12 PM in Ceiba. This allows us to relax in the morning in Luquillo until it is time to check out of the hotel.
Arrival on the island of Vieques is scheduled for 2:30 PM, so we will check in and have lunch and see how much time we have left until they pick us up at the hotel around 6:30 PM for the tour to the bioluminescent Mosquito Bay.
The spots marked at map are:
0- Seagate Hotel
1- Vieques Port
2- Bioluminiscent Mosquito Bay
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After
We wake up with the sunlight filtering through the windows and the crowing of roosters warning us of the dawn. The beach is still there, at the foot of our terrace. We eat the little we brought and prepare our bags for the idea we have: leave the big suitcase in the car and take the ferry to Vieques with the two small ones.
We leave the house a little after 10 AM. Our ferry leaves at
1 PM but boarding is at 12 PM. So we have plenty of time and
we stop in Ceiba where they point out a place station as the only place with an ATM.
Now that we have money, we stop at a food stand that we saw when entering the town and order a breakfast with ham, eggs, bacon and toast for me and a triple for Eva with two meat pies to take away for $20.
Fortunately, the terminal is very close and in 15 minutes we're parking in the ferry terminal car park. We arrive with plenty of time to wait for boarding at 12 PM where, once all the tickets have been checked, we go to a waiting room to board at 1 PM.
The trip takes an hour which, between seeing how we leave Puerto Rico and how we arrive at Vieques, barely leaves us time for a nap.
We disembark and walk to the hotel which, although it is a short distance, is difficult due to the heat and the increasingly steep slope.
Our room at the Seagate Hotel is magnificent, with a
terrace overlooking the island and the sea. The reward for the climb.
We go down to the supermarket that they told us about at reception desk for a lunch together with the cakes we bring with us and eat while enjoying the views.
As time approaches, we get ready for the tour to the
bioluminescent bay that we have at 7 PM in Esperanza. We have
hired the transport service to pick us up at the hotel but we do not have a pick-up time. I call several times until a taxi appears at 6:45 PM, which drops us off at the meeting point at 7 PM o'clock and already at night.
There they put on our life jackets and get into a school-type bus that takes us along a winding path until they leave us on the shores of the lagoon. There they assign a number to each pair and help us get into the clear kayaks in numerical order.
Today is a moonless night, which means we have the best possible
visibility for bioluminescence and in the middle of the lagoon in
complete darkness the indication we have is clear: follow the red light that marks the guide's position. Meanwhile, we have our first contact
with the water, each stroke illuminates the water it hits and the
floor of the transparent kayak shows lights in continuous movement. So the image of the group of 10 kayaks going in the same direction is
magical.
Every time the guide stops gives us an explanation about the
peculiar phenomenon of this bay and I take the chance to play with the water, which appears like a black canvas, with my hand. The absence of light pollution also makes it possible to see all the constellations
and the Milky Way in the sky. The stars in the black sky remind us
of the effects of bioluminescent microorganisms in dark water.
But this light is so sensitive that in an explanation by the guide in which
he uses a torch to illuminate the mangrove that borders the lagoon, the
effects of my hand in the water are no longer visible.
After an hour in the bay we return to the point where we
left, we get on the bus that brought us and, once in Esperanza, we get into the taxi that brought us, which drops us off at the hotel, where we will rest remembering how magical this night has been, of which I think I have only obtained black videos.
 
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