Ayla’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Friday, March 4, 2011
Location: Ensenada Dakity, Culebra, Puerto Rico
Coordinates: 18° 17.439′ N 65° 16.854′ W

Hey All!! It’s great to be blogging again, and it’s my New Year’s Resolution (a little late, admittedly) to post more frequently. We’ve been having an absolutely fabulous time exploring the Spanish and U.S. Virgin Islands, and have had some really excellent adventures. The Caribbean lifestyle is definitely working for me: Pina Coladas twice a day (virgin, of course), sleeping out under the stars, swimming in crystal blue water hourly, hiking some truly spectacular trails, visiting several-hundred-year-old ruins, learning about the dynamic history of this area of the world, and letting the wind carry us towards new adventures.

Recently, Three@Sea and its crew moored at Ensanada Sombe on Vieques (see Dad’s blog for a more detailed analysis of Vieques and other cruising grounds). The water was beautiful, we were able to break in our new snorkel gear, and observe a seriously massive fish which decided to hang around our swim platform one night. Vieques was a really beautiful spot, and I took the opportunity to learn about local Taino Art (calabash gourds), take a swim out to the anchor, and most particularly, bathe in liquid starlight.

Many cruisers or Caribbean locals have probably heard of the bioluminescent cove on Viques, located in Mosquito Bay (a name that doesn’t exactly inspire enthusiasm). Of course, always looking for a new adventure, the crew of Three@Sea couldn’t resist the chance to take a swim in this glowing natural phenomenon. And so, one bumpy (but seriously fun) bus ride later, we arrived at the beautiful, tranquil, untouched bioluminescent bay.

A surprise for many people, this bay doesn’t just glow. It needs movement in order to activate the tiny organisms known as dinoflagellates. When one first arrives at the bay, it’s pitch black and eerie looking. However, as soon as we were on the boat and heading out into the cove, we started to see the first signs of this luminous phenomenon: fish encased in brilliant blue auras began swimming away from the boat’s hull. Almost like a comet, these fish created a long tail behind them, their actual bodies glowing incredibly bright. This was our first sign that we were in for a night when the heavens came down to Earth.

Pulling to a stop and picking up a mooring ball, the quiet, electric boat announced that anyone who wanted to swim would have the opportunity to do so. We were first in line. The paragraph that follows was written by me moments after we got out of the water. This was how it felt to swim in a true bio bay:

Around my body, the aquamarine sparkles flared out, glowing and swirling as my arms and legs kicked to the surface. Around me, stars had come to Earth, meeting with the sea and bonding our own planet with the universe. My arms paddled, and around me streams of turquoise magic sprang from my fingers, cascaded from my arms, and swirled from my feet. I could control light, and swirl stars. My world had met with a world beyond imagination. I swam underwater, sensing the microscopic creatures around us, and as I reemerged to the surface, liquid starlight dripped down my face and twinkled in my hair. The world was still and quiet, and my life joined with the beauty of the sky. As my fingers spread out, the little stars that danced with the waves flickered out, sending unknown magic into unknown realms. My feet, my arms, my head, and my body all glow with the same, incomprehensible blue. I feel myself floating, yet am I in water or in space? At what point does the world of stars end and the ocean begin? The two final frontiers joined in the bonding of nature.

Beauty at its finest.

I hope you enjoyed! Should any of you make your way to Vieques, definitely check out Island Adventures Bio Bay Tours — they have fabulous guides, wonderful information, are very environmentally friendly, and have fantastic information on stargazing (I was able to locate Taurus for the first time). This adventure was definitely one for the record books.