Posted by Amanda

Back to the ship to get ready for our separate Bioluminescence kayak trips with Semester at Sea.I have no idea how we got on different trips, but we did and we dealt with it.We traveled more than an hour from San Juan to get to the bay.We got in the kayaks as night fell.My partner, Sarah from Duquesne, had her own kayak at home so she steered us along.The Atlantic where we started was warm with almost no surf.We followed our guide through a canal in a mangrove forest.By this point it was completely dark.The little red blinking lights on the backs of the kayaks were all we had to follow.Sarah's skills prevented us from running into the mangroves along the narrow way.The stars you could see through the canopy of mangroves were magnificent.So many that it looked like a spider web at times.

At the end of the mangrove canal was the lagoon where we could see the sparkles of the bioluminescence when we ran our hands through the water.If you put your paddle in and twisted it around it looked like a light saber.Our guide said it was not actually a good time because the water was cold.Of course we all thought it was wonderfully warm, but I guess by Puerto Rican standards, not so much.

The trip was terrific--enough kayaking to be fun but not painful, a good kayak companion, and cool sparkles.We arrived home wet and cold but it was well worth it.