Jewels In The Water

Puerto Rico has much to amaze and enchant; none more than the bio bay in Vieques.


The highlight of our friends' visit was the East Wind Catamaran trip. I am not a water person, so this was not my idea. Horseback riding along the shore had my vote, but no let's spend an hour bouncing over the water so we can get in the water and freeze at night.

We made our meal selections as we waited in line to board. One woman is her twenties looked like she was going to bawl, her eyes were red. Her friends huddled around her, yes, the tell tale signs someone is having "an issue". That's what I needed, reinforcement. "See, I am not the only one.” I wanted to blurt.

Soon we were on our way, rum flowing, spray blowing. I looked back at my comrade in fear; she seemed to be doing all right. The yellow light of sunset lit the landscape. We pulled into the colorful harbor. Not bad I lived through the first part.

Big vans whisked us to dinner, cute place with murals over all the walls. The food was good, that's never a requirement for a group anything, smile. I got vegetables a good last meal. I don't swim and I like my feet on terra firma. It's getting closer, maybe I'll just stay in the boat when we get to the bay.

We board an old school bus that takes us down a long bumpy road. Darkness encroaches as do the branches the bus breaks as it barely fits down a forested tunnel. We screech when the driver turns off the lights without slowing down a bit. He laughs at the desired effect then turns the head light back on.

He hits the brakes and turns off the lights in one swift movement; we are there.

The group chorus of "Oh" continues as we file off the bus. We were just looking at the stars, which are particularly bright. The lights from the town are minimal. Yeah, I could get into this; I'll just sit in the boat, look at the stars, no sweat. That's what I'll do. The idea of my feet not touching anything is more than I can handle.

A pontoon with an electric motor heads our way quietly. We've been instructed: no sun tan lotion, no mosquito repellant. This is mosquito bay for heaven sake. The boat looks like there is a low intensity light under it, its glowing. Shortly we are in the bay under the stars; the wake from the boat is frothy and glowing.

One by one we don our flotation belts and descend the ladder. This is too cool, afraid or not I am not missing out on this. I have a death grip on Keith's shoulder and squeezed Barb's hand. For a moment I thought about not being able to touch bottom; it started to freak me out.

Flashes of light that looked like little diamonds were sparkling all over my body. Whatever I moved glowed. We giggled in the water like school kids. A good twenty people were in the water giggling. The tour leader told us to snap our fingers. The rushing water lit up as it squirted through our fingers, another round of giggles all around.

My friends supported me and gave me the confidence to over come my fear. The night I shared with them floating in the bay under the stars was magical. I recommend this experience even for big scaredie cats like me.