Holly and TiffanyThis morning I stayed in the hotel to work on my travel blog. About noon, I went across the street to Star Bucks and got a turkey and cheese sandwich that was SO good. Holly and Tiffany went horseback riding. They said they had a wonderful ride in the foothills of El Yungue National Forest. Their guide showed them small rocks that made different colors when rubbed on the wet rocks. They then took their fingers with the mud and striped it on their cheeks. He told them that that’s the way Indians made their face paints. They got back to the hotel around 2PM.We had booked a tour to go to the Island of Vieques to see the Bioluminescent Bay. The tour people picked us at the hotel at 2 PM, and we drove about an hour before arriving at the marina where the high speed catamaran took us to the Island. We then got into a van. The island is about 5 miles by 22 miles, and has 10,000 inhabitants. There are quaint little houses and inns all along the road. Horses run wild. A group of them stood in the road, and our driver had to wait for them to move. One of the horses actually ran alongside of our van. We were driven to a restaurant, and after giving us time to use the facilities, we boarded an old rickety bus to reach the bay. We drove on this narrow dirt, bumpy road for another 10 miles or so. We saw several horses on this road, too.We had really looked forward to this tour of the Bioluminescent Bay. We had read a lot about it. There are millions of microscopic organisms called dino flagellates that live in the water, and they actually light up when they are disturbed. Their ads said you could get into the water and swim in the bay and your whole body would glow. There are only eight of these bays in the world, three being in Puerto Rico. We were told shortly before the tour that people were no longer allowed to go into the water because a shark had nipped a lady in the leg. It was a freak accident because sharks do not go into this bay. But, because of this freaky accident, we couldn’t get into the water.It was a clear moonless night, and the stars were beautiful. We were directed to look at the rear of the boat where the propellers churned the water, and sure enough, the water fluoresced. The tour guides filled a bucket of water, and we put our hands into the water and stirred up the water. Then they had several volunteers stand on the back of the boat and they poured water over their bodies. Sure enough, their bodies glowed in the dark.
Our tour guide pointed out the constellations with a laser light. It was like being in a planetarium. He took a long time to explain each one, but we had come for another reason, and felt kind of cheated. We didn’t think of it at the time, but we should have asked for a reduced price for the tour. We spent about 2 hours sitting on the boat looking at the stars.One good thing about this trip was the dinner. We returned to the restaurant and had a great meal. We got back to the hotel about 11 PM, watched some TV, and went to bed. 
