Things not pictured, etc.

Back on the main island of Puerto Rico, but one thing hasn't changed: A good deal of what's been most interesting and beautiful about this trip so far are things that I don't have the photographic skills or equipment to show you: the amazing coral and sting-ray seen snorkeling of Melones Beach, swimming with sea turtles at Tamarindo Beach...and now add to that last night's kayaking trip to the bioluminescent Laguna Grande, in the far northeast of the island, near Fajardo. I tend to be a little stingy with the organized (read: expensive) activities while traveling, but this one was totally worth it. After dark, we made the eerie trip, paddling pretty much blind through a narrow channel hemmed in entirely with mangrove trees. I was so focused on not getting stuck in the trees or crashing into the other kayaks that I didn't even notice that the water had started glowing wherever my paddle touched it until it was pointed out to me. Once the channel opened up to the lagoon itself, I wasn't sure where to place my attention: on the bioluminescence of the water, the vastness of the sky and stars above, or the sheer joy of paddling around an enormous, nearly deserted (except) for us lagoon in the dark. It was that kind of quiet that you can only get in nature, where once you get used to not hearing the sounds of other people, you realize it's not really quiet at all.

Today, back to Reserva Natural de Las Cabezas de San Juan (try saying that ten times fast; it's the reserve of which Laguna Grande is a part) for a day tour. That I could take pictures of.

This black mangrove tree is one of three mangrove species in the mangrove marsh around the bioluminescent bay. Mangrove trees can tolerate really high saline content in their water, coping by expelling the salt through their leaves. You can actually touch a leaf and lick your finger and taste the salt.

Lots of spiders in the marsh.

And, of course, since this is Puerto Rico, beach.

Since it's a reserve and people aren't allowed to take anything found there, there was actually a lot of coral deposited on the beach of the type that we saw in Culebra. So now I can show you what we saw snorkeling, kind of:

The tour ended at this original lighthouse from the late 1800s, announcing the island of Puerto Rico to west-bound Caribbean travelers:

Also, lots of iguanas to see here.

The view from the lighthouse was pretty amazing. The day was so clear that looking east, we could see not only Vieques and Culebra Islands, but we could also see St. Thomas and another island even further away. This next photo is looking south; that's Laguna Grande in the foreground, an ocean bay just behind that, and along the skyline, the peaks of El Yunque Rainforest (tomorrow's daytrip destination!).

To top off the day, a to-die for meal of mofongo, fried plantains, and rice & beans. Yummo.