Laguna Grande

Location: Fajardo

Getting there: Drive just over an hour from San Juan to Fajardo at the northeastern tip of the island. Park here. There are a bunch of booths full of tour agencies that will take you on a tour of the bio bay. It may also be possible to rent kayaks hourly. There is a boat tour available for those that don’t want to paddle. If you have your own water craft, this is still the best place to park. Walk to the water and enter a channel about here. You’ll have a rather long paddle through a channel surrounded by trees until you get to the actual bay. 

General Info: Although the paddle from where you start, through the channel to the bay is quite long, I really enjoy it. It’s a really cool environment. You are mostly enveloped by darkness and only see the trees in your immediate vicinity illuminated by whatever light source you brought. I think that the only reason this bio bay is not quite as bright as Mosquito Bay is because There are brightly lit buildings on a hill in the distance that create a lot of light pollution.

Heads up: Watch out for people paddling the opposite direction, towards you through the channel. We got rammed by some kayakers trying to pass someone in front of them. Which brings me to my next piece of advice: Bring enough light so people can see you and you can see around you as you paddle in the darkness. As with all bioluminescent bays in Puerto Rico, swimming is prohibited. Stay on your water craft and use a paddle or your hands to move the water around. The dinoflagellates in the water can be harmed by sunscreen and bug spray so make sure you don’t have any of that on your hands. Go as close to the new moon as you possibly can, the size and brightness of the moon makes a huge difference in the brightness of the bioluminescence. There are times when it is possible to go before moon rise, which is a good idea if you are going closer to a full moon. I went once when the moon was full and can confirm that it is definitely not worth going.