Best Bio-Bay

[laura6769]

I just discovered there are three separate bio bays in San Juan:

‘La Parguera’ on the southwest coast,

‘Mosquito Bay’ on the island of Vieques and

‘La Laguna Grande’ in Fajardo

 

Which is the best? Which location has the best tour?

 

We have a rental car from Feb 10th to Feb 11th so transportation isnt an issue. I have found accommodation on AirBnB for all the locations too.

 

Is the island of Vieques nice to spend the whole day? Is the ferry reliable enough to get all the island the next morning (we have a 12:30pm flight from SJU) do we book the ferry in advance? There is a tour company is vieques for $50/pp with a completely translucent kayak that looks interesting.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated! It's a new moon that night so I really want to go to the "best" place.

Thanks!

[alfaeric]

I just discovered there are three separate bio bays in San Juan:

‘La Parguera’ on the southwest coast,

‘Mosquito Bay’ on the island of Vieques and

‘La Laguna Grande’ in Fajardo

 

Which is the best? Which location has the best tour?

 

We have a rental car from Feb 10th to Feb 11th so transportation isnt an issue. I have found accommodation on AirBnB for all the locations too.

 

Is the island of Vieques nice to spend the whole day? Is the ferry reliable enough to get all the island the next morning (we have a 12:30pm flight from SJU) do we book the ferry in advance? There is a tour company is vieques for $50/pp with a completely translucent kayak that looks interesting.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated! It's a new moon that night so I really want to go to the "best" place.

Thanks!

 

We've done La Parguera and Mosquito bay- IMHO, Mosquito bay is better- shorter trip out to the spot, and they seem more there, since they bay is more closed.

 

Funny- we did Mosquito Bay one night when the weather was bad, but via kayaks. What an adventure that was... :eek: (not the translucent ones, normal ones) Wind blew people all over the place, and if you jumped into the water, you kayak was going away. Even though that seems scary- the area they took was waist deep.... Anyway- it's a nice, quiet, area.

 

The ferrys to the island are reliable, and cheap. unless you want to take your rental car across, you don't need reservations- there's a ticket booth right there.

 

edit- now that I see your situation, I would lean toward Laguna Grande, if you can find a company. Shorter drive, easier to find hotels between there and San Juan. AFAIK, there's no night ferry from Vieques. Driving to La Parguera isn't bad, but it's a couple of hours, at least. (for sure, 1 1/2 hours from San Juan to Ponce....)

[sippican]

This was helpful to us in our planning

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/fajardo-bio-bay/

 

Be sure to check the moon phase during your dates.

[clbkatz]

My family and had been wanting to do this tour for a long time. However, my family could not do the tour by kayak, which is what all of the tours we saw were. I found Bio Island,thanks to these boards, a company that is approved to do the tour using a small electric boat (also uses gas when needed). This company made it possible for us ALL to see this amazing place on Earth that we would otherwise not have been able to see. It was a much more personal tour, with just 6 people allowed on the boat, versus going in a large group of people kayaking. We got to go deeper into the lagoon than the kayaks were able to go therefore seeing so much more. The captians of the boat, Charlie & Jeff, were the best guides and really wanted to give us the best tour possible. Captain Charlie was a exceptional captain giving us all of the angles to see everything possible. Captain Jeff was a informative guide, giving us as much information as he could on this truly awesome attration, created by Mother Nature. An experience that we will not forget. This is the way to go for sure. You can sit back and really take in everything you are seeing.

[Nole0202]

To answer your question, Vieques is the best....but also the most difficult to get to. However, if you search there is a company that tours from the main island to Vieques, it includes dinner and returns the same night. You would not need to use the ferry.

 

We decided to stay in Ponce post cruise for 3 days:

- best beaches are in the SW

- Ponce is a beautiful historic city

- La Parguera, while by far the worst bio bay, allows large and small motorized boat tours. That's also why it's the worst. :)