I paddled through the world’s brightest bioluminescent bay

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It’s dark and silent and almost surreal. We’re in clear-bottomed kayaks looking for what exactly, I’m not entirely sure.

But it doesn’t take long for the magic to appear. It’s after sunset and we’re paddling over the calm warm waters of Mosquito Bay on the southern shore of Vieques, one of the islands of Puerto Rico, home of one of the world’s brightest displays of bioluminescence.

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Soon we’re dipping our hands or paddles in the water to stir up the plankton that produce bursts of blue light when shaken and marvelling at the natural wonder of it all as we glide past mango groves.

The bioluminescence tour is on the final night of a jam-packed two-day stay on Vieques, which is a very short charter flight (barely 10 minutes), or ferry ride east of the main island of Puerto Rico.

Just 32 kilometres long and seven km wide, the small island packs a big punch for tranquility and beauty found in its villages and beaches.

Until 2003, Vieques was closed to tourists while being occupied by the U.S. Navy. But since then, lucky visitors have discovered its charming, unspoiled Caribbean-Spanish flavour.

After a short hop over by plane from San Juan early one morning, we hightailed it to the family-owned breakfast spot Rising Roost in the village of Isabel Segundo. Owners Yanira and Jose and their cute kiddo greeted us with smiles and were ready to serve plenty of hot coffee, local juices made from fermented bark and a traditional bread called sobao that they stuffed with scrambled eggs, onions, peppers, tomatoes and cheese.

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Filled with good java and delicious food, it was time for an island tour with Angie Adams of Vieques Island Tours who whisked us past beautiful beaches and many of the free-roaming horses who are mostly owned and said to be friendly.

At La Chiva Beach, Adams pulled out beach chairs and cold drinks while we went for our first dip, admiring the emerald blue waters and boats moored just offshore. Suitably cooled off, we next set out for Playa Negra, so named for the Insta-worthy volcanic black sand, reached after a short walk down a canopied trail with small crabs darting away as we approached.

Our home while on Vieques was at the 30-room El Blok, one of the many boutique hotels and guest homes throughout the island, which has no chain hotels or resorts.

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W Hotel, with a swank spa and Michelin-starred restaurant, never reopened after Hurricane Maria in 2017, and locals we spoke to didn’t expect that it ever would (it was bought last year by a crypto king who has since gone bust).

El Blok, designed to resemble a coral reef, is in the small community of Esperanza and just down the street from El Quenepo, our dinner destination. Later, red street lights would guide our way back, put in place to protect nesting patterns of leatherback turtles.

Owners Kate Cole, who is front of house, and chef husband Scott moved to Vieques in 2006, from North Carolina.

While Scott and his team sent out delicious dishes of kapora prawns and other seafood delicacies, Kate talked about what it was like to live and run a business on the island.

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“When you live here you work here. Vieques has only mom-and-pop businesses,” she said. “So, you are supporting the person you’re seeing … it’s never a corporation owned by someone somewhere else. It’s extraordinary.”

Kate said they had a Subway restaurant for “a hot minute” but it and the only fountain soft drinks on the island have since departed.

The next day we set off to learn about what was happening beneath the water’s surface through a guided snorkelling experience with Sarah Elise Field, a.k.a. the Vieques Mermaid, who owns Crystal Clear. Her passion is to educate about marine conservation by taking visitors to the source, in our case just pushing off a few metres from shore to check out corals, leatherback turtles and other marine life.

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Field, who started the company about 10 years ago, is also licensed to treat the invasive stony coral tissue loss disease that has been making its way through Florida and the Caribbean.

After COVID restrictions were lifted, Field was the first one to spot the disease in Vieques, which has further focused her purpose.

“My tours have always had a conservation aspect, from eliminating single-use plastic to non-toxic sunblock to teaching about not chasing or touching turtles,” she said while sharing plates of rice and beans and tacos from the Ricon del Sabor food truck. “But this has taken it to a whole new level.”

Like much of Puerto Rico, the bioluminescence went dark for a period after devastating Hurricane Maria. But it and Vieques are back.

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