"Happiness is hard to recall. Its just a glow." - Frank McCourtWe had some interesting adventures in Puerto Rico that included a few excursions to different parts of the island. One of the rarest of those adventures was night kayaking on a bio-luminescent bay. A bio bay is a body of water that contains millions of micro-organisms, called “dinoflagellates”, that glow in the dark for a second when agitated. Until a couple of days before our excursion, I did not know that bio bays existed. There are only three bio-bays left in the world. One of them is in the Bahamas and the other two are in Puerto Rico.
We were picked up at our hotel at about 4:30 to make the 90 minute drive to the bio-bay. Our driver told us that the highway traffic was snarled due to an accident and he didn't know how long we would be delayed, but the traffic was fortunately stopped in the other direction and not in the direction we were heading. Less than a kilometer after we had entered the highway, we passed the roadside problem. It was not an accident but rather a shooting. A car was stopped in middle of the highway with about a dozen gunshot holes through the driver's window and door. Pretty scary. It turned out that the assault was on two government investigators who were investigating the activities of a recently arrested drug lord. Surprisingly we learned the next day that both had survived though the driver had been hit six times.
Our kayaking adventure turned out to be far more strenuous than either of us had anticipated. It's one thing to kayak on the lake at Cath's lake house which until this trip was the sum total of my kayaking experience, another thing to kayak on the Atlantic Ocean. In total we were paddling for two hours. Part of that time was on the open sea, part through a narrow channel of mangrove trees. Some of it was in the light of day but much of it was in the pitch dark. I couldn't see two feet in front of the kayak. We certainly felt the pressure to keep up with our trip mates, especially when moving through the channel as the kayaks were required to move in single file and even a moment of hesitation or rest would result in a bump from those in our rear.
The time on the bay though was pure magic. The slightest roiling of the water resulted in its glow. Scooping up a handful of water and blowing it off my palm, looked like scattering sparks through the air. The only unfortunate part was that there was a full moon on the night of our trip and it's much easier to enjoy the sites in as much darkness as possible. To compensate, the guide brought a tarp for us to throw over our heads on the kayak to block out the light. It was fascinating.
The day after our kayaking adventure we went on a rainforest exploration that included a two hour, very challenging hike. Once again I found myself in a situation that pushed my physical capabilities to their limits and beyond. By the end of the day, I was spent.
On our last full day on the island we decided to rest and recuperate on the beach. A very handsome man that we hadn't seen before was helping out with the resort staff to set up chairs and beach umbrellas so Merv walked over to request his assistance with securing our umbrella. As it turned out, he wasn't regular staff. He was instead, a candidate for governor of Puerto Rico and he had taken a couple of days to work at the resort to get a feel for the tourism industry and the people who work in it. He was there again the next morning - much to the benefit of the young family who allowed their children to go into the raging ocean, far too deeply for their safety. Four children were swept into the sea by the strong undertow. The candidate and one of the other hotel workers, were out of their shoes and shirts within seconds after the cries for help began. Each of them swam through the current and each of them saved two children. All the more amazing was to learn that this was the second save of the morning for the candidate. I spoke to him for a little while. He is a decent man. The political pundits don't give him a chance to win the race. But he believes and so do I. And I certainly wish him well.
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