The next day started with a horseback ride at the resort. We did get to ride along the beach, which I always enjoy. Moreso when the beach isn’t littered in plastic, however. The ride almost ended disastrously. PB decided to take his new (very expensive) camera. I wondered if this was the best idea but didn’t say anything. His horse was slower than mine and he’s not as good of a rider (having been on a horse maybe twice) as I am, so he was behind me for the entire ride. As we were headed back towards the barn I heard him yell, “Oh, crap!” I turned my horse around expecting to see him on the ground. He wasn’t, but his camera was. The strap had broken. The strap I found for him (cue guilt). I told him I was heading back toward him- the guide came also; he dismounted and picked up the camera. He handed it back to PB; it appeared fine, but we couldn’t tell. I carried it for the rest of the ride as it couldn’t be worn; we both felt more comfortable with me being the one with only one hand on the horse. When we got back to our room he took it apart, cleaned all of the lenses (it had fallen in soft sand) and the body. Nothing broken, nothing scratched. He did lose a non-essential part that can easily be replaced. (Seriously, that is all the detail I can give you.) Huge sigh of relief.

That night we drove up to Fajardo to paddle the bioluminescent bay. Due to our paddling difficulties of the day before, we decided to switch things up. I sat in the back of the kayak, PB took the front. The paddling was a lot more successful.

To get to the bay we headed through a mangrove forest first- I was glad it was still light when we did that. We could see the mangroves and where we were going. It wasn’t quite dark yet when we got to the bay, so at first we could only see tiny sparkles when we dipped our hands into the water. As it got darker, the dinoflagellates got brighter. Any time you stuck your hand, your foot, your paddle in the water glowed. As you pulled them out of the water, sparkles ran down your arm/leg/what have you. It was absolutely amazing and made me giddy. I could have played in the water all night. Sadly, you can’t swim in that bay, but you can swim in Mosquito Bay in Vieques. I so want to do that.

On our final full day there, we drove down to Ponce (Puerto Rico’s second largest city) and saw Castillo Seralles. It was amazing. We also stocked up on Don Q rum, which is much better than Bacardi. We’ll be hosting a tasting in a few weeks.