Puerto Rico day 2

I had great sleep last night but woke up to this . . .

. . . hopefully it moves along so we can enjoy our day in the sun at the hotel's private island, Palomino Island.  We made the trek to the top so we could enjoy our free breakfast that was amazing but no way would I ever pay $26 per person . . . but a great free perk!  I am not very impressed with the resort . . . lots of trash around, broken elevators, standing water on walkways . . . maybe I am just being picky.  The rain was off and on but when you have these views you sort of suck it up and move along . . . literally if you want to go anywhere at this place . . .

. . . the funicular we had to take up/down.  We quickly returned to the room to grab our snorkel gear and ran to catch the ferry.  They guy had closed the gate but dropped the rope so we could board.  Again, I tell you the staff here are amazing and so friendly!  The ride over to Palomino Island was super bumpy and rough but thankfully only 15-20 minutes.  The crowds had not arrived so we staked our claim to 5 chairs with an umbrella and off we went to explore.

These guys were everywhere . . .

 . . . the chickens were hanging with them too . . . not a care in the world . . .

. . . and every time I saw them; I jumped!  The hotel has a scavenger hunt program called Scout About.

You go around the resort and find the 14 colored bracelets and turn them in for a prize.  Our goal today was to collect the 7 located on Palomino Island.  It was pretty easy but sort of gets annoying when the box is empty.  In addition to grabbing the bracelet there is a short paragraph to read about what you are seeing in the area.  My favorite was called 'Count the Islands' . . .

We had to hike to the top of the island to collect the bracelet (which was empty).  The view was amazing . . . did I say aaaaamazing!  I won't lie the hike up (in flip flops no less) was hard but so worth it . . .

The colors of the water are so pretty.  The island was really fun, and we all had a blast hanging out . . .

. . . and enjoying being friends . . .

. . . just awesome to sit back, relax, and have no plans or cares in the world . . .

 . . . seriously, I had no cares in the world today!  I mean come on how could I?

 The beaches were rocky and I hiked as far as I could . . .

 . . . had to go find the last two bracelets for the kids and saw this huge coconut sitting on the rock . . .

As always all good things must come to an end and it was back to the mainland to get ready for our night time adventure.

We were so hot and sandy and ahead of schedule (yes, I did have a schedule in my head . . . no one else seemed to care though) that we hurried to a pool for a quick swim before heading to go kayaking.  Let me tell you it was the best diversion from the schedule today . . . best plan ever!  And I often joke about being mother-of-the-year and this goes to prove I am so winning that award . . .

. . . someone did not put on sunscreen when he was told (many times) so when we got to the island I took the face stick and swiped his shoulders a bit . . . well you can totally see where it was applied.  Too bad I didn't put it all over.  We quickly showered and changed and set out to the Bioluminescent Bay Laguna Grande for our kayaking adventure.  The plan was to eat dinner near by and it was awful . . . totally overpriced and not good at all so we will skip right to the fun of the Bio Bay fun.  I will start by saying I tried to take photos and nothing turned out but it was really cool!  We are having fun at this point . . .

. . . still smiling . . . oh and yes, I got sunburned too . . . totally winning today . . .

 . . . a few minutes later it started to fall apart.  I was about ready to jump out or send him to get his own kayak.  I don't think he understood just how difficult it was to paddle by myself upstream.  We have been kayaking before and for the most part do fine together, but today we were both hot and tired and on each other's nerves.  Colin wanted to paddle like a mad man with no rhythm while I wanted to take it easy.  I knew we needed to work together to make it easier.  We were paddling upstream at the beginning and it was hard.  I finally just told him to stop.  He complained every time we were within 3 feet of a tree or the bank and well it was completely dark and a little scary not knowing what was around.  We finally made it through all the mangrove trees to the open water area and just like that when the water was disturbed it 'glowed'.  Why?  How?
The water luminescence is triggered by dinoflagellates, oceanic plankton which is able to generate an emerald green and ultramarine illumination when water is physically disturbed. Dinoflagellates are incredibly delicate microorganisms and are very sensible to the environment conditions such as balance of salt in the water, local climate, deepness of lagoon, air and water pollution.

So there is your science lesson for the day.  It was pretty cool and a total bummer that it can't be captured with a camera.  I asked about all the photos that you see on the internet and was told they are photo shopped, but it is exactly how the water looks!  At this point we were all just enjoying putting our hands in the water and splashing it around.  It was time to head back to shore and thankfully we were both happy and at peace with each other BUT some of the other people in our group were totally out of control.  It was obvious they had never been in a kayak.  I was hit in the head with a paddle . . . our kayak was constantly being hit by the same people the entire way back . . . totally annoying but at the end we were still smiling . . .

My advice would be to see if you could do a private tour!  The tour company we used was nice and good but the people in our group were just annoying and made it not so enjoyable.  There were so many other tour groups that the place was packed and all levels of people on the water.  I'm glad we did it but was glad it was over too!  We quickly got back to the car and headed for the hotel.  As we drove we listened to the non stop sounds of the coqui frogs . . . sadly we never saw one but loved  hearing the any time we were outside.  We took a quick shower and changed clothes and headed back to the lively main area of the hotel.  The kids wanted ice cream . . . can you believe they served Blue Bell!  We thought we were home in Texas . . . well for a few seconds anyway.  We wandered around the hotel listening to music, dancing, and trying to avoid the arcade (no luck).  And here's to the last free drink for the adults . . .

. . . a Lemongrass Martini . . . it was back to the room where I crawled into bed just before midnight.  Tomorrow we head to San Juan.