Mitsugirlys FASCINATION with San Juan-review & pictorial

[NightOne]

Thanks for coming in Carl. I might be seriously tired after the day I had today...or just not hip with what you are saying? LOL :D

 

 

Was just teasing that you said you "cruise" on Southwest Airlines when you probably intended to say "fly". :)

 

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

 

The following is a picture of the baños located at this park. Pink and Blue...no Spanish needed to know which building was yours. You have to pay .50¢ per person to use it. Say what??? You have to pay to use the restroom? That's crazy. I should have just left my wet clothes on and played it off and saved my .50¢. (Just kidding of course) Especially at a local park. I decided we would "hold it" and go right before we took our tour.

 

 

We walked along the street and seen that this was all a little foreign to us. We are use to going somewhere and there being a building or booth or something with the vendor. However here, the vendors just pull up and park along the side and pop up a tent. We looked until we found the name of the company. I didn't realize just how many vendors offer these tours (mostly kayaks and only 2 companies are authorized to do the boat tours).

 

Now...my essay was renting kayaks. Why? Because it made for a funny descriptive story of not being able to control the kayaks in the pitch dark and running into mangroves. I believe because of my essay, I decided I didn't want to make a fool of myself as I did in the story and we booked biobay by motor boat.

 

About the tour:

We booked with Bioisland Puerto Rico. The price was $52 per adult and $38 per child and the tour was supposed to be around 1 hour and 15 minutes long from start to finish. We had several times to pick from (according to the site 6pm, 7:15pm, and 8:30pm) and we booked for 7:15pm, but when we received our confirmation it said 7-8:15pm. Our directions also stated to arrive 40 minutes early...which we did (it was more like 1 hour early).

 

We checked in, they marked our name off the list, they told us that we had an hour before the tour and that we were welcome to hang out with us (they sat out chairs), had snacks and water, or we could wonder around the area and return. I really didn't want to just hang, so we decided to allow Sakari go play at the playground for awhile and off we went. (I'm still not sure why we had to be there so early if they were just going to tell us to hang out for an hour)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our entire stay in Puerto Rico, I noticed that the trash cans were located up in the air at parks and beaches. Anyone know the reason? I assume they are trying to keep the critters out of them, but I was wondering what type of critters do they have that would get into them? Most critters I think of (that we would have at home) have claws that could climb most of those barrels sitting up high.

 

[ScottsSweetie]

One thing we were told by others on these boards is that there shouldn't be any problem communicating with the locals because I "would find that most speak English" most of the time around tourist. Well.....I'm here to tell you that this isn't the case for us. LOL No comprende. No hablo ingles. This was an interesting adventure to say the least.

 

We arrived at Subway and attempted to order. We would proceed with hand signals, pointing, and other gestures to attempt to order subs. It was probably quite amusing to the workers and who knows, maybe they do this to English speaking customers to have a little fun in their daily routine. I do believe my hubby took the award for the most hand gestures though. He was even entertaining to me.

 

He said he didn't want it toasted...they proceeded to put it in the oven. So he says ok...I guess I'm having it toasted, but just a little. HEY I knew that...un poquito! That one year of high school Spanish taught me something I guess.

 

 

DH used to travel quite often to Puerto Rico for work, and I was lucky enough to travel with him there a few times (as well as having done this same fantastic itinerary).

 

While in or very near San Juan, most people there do speak English. HOWEVER, in most restaurants or shops they have signs posted that state that employees "only speak Spanish". Apparently, the politicians there do not want their culture to disappear, so employees are actually told not to speak English to customers. We found that most of them would speak English anyway. :rolleyes:

 

Post-cruise we stayed at the Caribe Hilton and walked to a Subway from there - they spoke English, but the sign was posted.

 

In Fajardo, where you stayed at the El Conquistador, you would have been more hard pressed to find English speakers at the fast food places or small shops (hotel employees not included).

[mitsugirly]

After a lot of Pirate play for Sakari, it was time to head to the baño's prior to our trip. All I can say is mucho gracias the hubby brought some cash. I had totally walked out of the room and forgot my "spending" money (the excitement of the excursion) and so we managed to get in some "relief" prior to heading back.

 

The restrooms were super clean and there are attendants that sit out in front of them to collect the money and after each person went in to use the restroom (there were 2 stalls in each building) they attendant would go in and clean...and by clean I mean even mop the floor clean. Ok, I guess someone has to pay them to keep the restrooms clean and the .50¢ makes it worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went back over and re-checked in. They told us to have a seat and we started talking to the tour guide. He was in nursing school for his BSN. How exciting, I can relate. I ask if he was a practicing nurse and where he worked but he said that he wasn't because he was still in school and is due to graduate next summer. I guess he's doing the entire program and graduating with his BSN (which I wish I would have done instead of the associates to BSN). His story was moving to me. He worked at the biobay in order to have money to pay for his car so that he could get to clinicals for his nursing.

 

We talked for awhile and he was very interesting. Then all of a sudden he jumps up and says "Would you look at that sunset? You guys are missing it! Don't you want to take pictures?" LOL So pictures we did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

A lecture on biobay that I did during my research for my paper:

 

So what is Bioluminescent Bay? This is an amazing light show, within the waters, that can only be experienced at night. There are only five bays in the world where you can find this illumination in the water, and Puerto Rico has three of them. Every time this brackish water is physically disturbed, the water lights up a bluish-green glow. The water in this area contains millions of one-celled micro-organisms, which are half-animal and half-plant, called dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates are basically self-illuminating plankton. When they are disturbed, they convert chemical energy, which is the same thing fireflies use, in to light energy. However, they will only emit illumination during a disturbance, which excites them, and only under certain surrounding conditions. Very specific nutrients must be available in the water, red mangroves must surround the bay and provide a habitat that produces a bacterium with vitamin B12 in large quantities, and the temperature must stay warm and constant. It also must be contained within an area that is very calm with a lot of sunlight. The calm water allows the salt to sink to the bottom and then be carried back out to the ocean by undercurrents. These organisms cannot survive in salty water. All of these combined circumstances provide us with a wonderful light show within the ocean waters.

 

With all this in mind, I felt as though the tour guide tested me on a few things (I told him the funny story about my essay). For the most part I got it right. However, my research said that once a single dinoflagellate was disturbed and lit up, it was done for the night until the next night. He said the "type" of dinoflagellates that were located in their bay can light more than once.

We all piled in the boat and I made sure to get a seat toward the back. I have seen many pictures and read that the best seat in the house is in the back if you are in a motorboat. The engine will stir up the critters and you'll see a trail of blue in the water.

Pictures from the internet showing this....

 

Other pictures on the internet made me so excited:

 

 

Now I know (as someone who has messed around with photography for several years, that in order to catch a picture of something glowing or lights in the dark, you need a long exposure. I also know that it's impossible to have a good picture of the people (such as above) in the picture unless you have a flash. So, in order to produce pictures, like above, you have to take 2 pictures and combine them together to get that "perfect" picture. This requires a SLR camera, which I have, but no longer take on vacations with me. It's just too much equipment to haul around. So, I wasn't very hopeful in catching really any shots during this experience.

 

This is the very first picture I had ever ran across when I discovered what a bioluminescent bay was...way before I knew Puerto Rico had one or what it even was (we are talking years ago). It had always intrigued me and I never thought I would ever get to actually go to a place that had one.

 

 

If you look on the vendors website, they do have a picture gallery of the bay and pictures that have been taken. I'm honestly not sure how they got the pictures, but I assume it would definitely have to be a long exposure and stabilized with a tripod (of course on a moving boat, that's a little tricky)

 

We geared up and was ready to head out..

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed across the water and toward the mangroves. Once we entered the mangroves it was pretty neat. It was dark in there, but there were areas that opened up and the dark blue sky did show itself. I believe the mangroves are backed up to peoples homes and you could hear chickens in the background. We couldn't help but laugh about it.

 

 

The mangroves are over a mile long...yes, this would make for a long kayaking trip and at this point, I was happy that I decided to go by boat instead. We were super tired from being up since 2am and I'm not sure I would have had it in me to "row". We did catch a couple of people holding on to the boat and being pulled along (I assume they were maybe tour guides or something because our guys seem to know them and chatted with them along the way).

 

 

 

I will admit, this night I took probably the crappiest pictures I have ever taken in my life. We were told that we could not use flash unless the front of the boat had its light on. If it didn't have the light on, we could not use our flash. Mine went off once and I was scolded (not directly but "just a friendly reminder to everyone not to use the flash in these areas unless the boat had the light on" type of thing...which I knew was directed toward me since I was the only one that flashed by mistake.)

 

 

Also, when you put the camera on night mode and turn the flash off, it still wanted to flash a light real quick (to try to focus on something/anything before taking the actual picture without the flash. This created a problem of me having to aim the camera down and cover the flash with my hand, continuing to hold down the shutter button so it didn't go off again, then aiming and shooting. Sigh. I was so not prepared for this.

 

 

 

I'll admit, my sleep deprived delirious brain was getting the best of me and I honestly have no idea what setting I had my camera on. I believe, from the looks of the pictures, I forgot to put it on "sport" because we were moving. Most of the pictures ended up a blur, but I'm going to share a few of the "good" (#seriouslyrollingonthefloorlaughingatthisstatement) ones so that you get the idea of what it was like.

 

 

They did have a flash light that they would shine along the way to show us "critters of the night". There were A LOT of iguanas hanging out in the trees. Each one of them had been named by the staff...including Lady Gaga, which happened to be a boy. LOL We ask how they knew it was the same iguana on any certain branch along the way and they told us that iguanas are territorial and return to the same spot each night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

There were tons of the tree frogs, birds (cranes and others) and tarpon fish in the water.They would shine their light in the water and show us various very colorful coral. It was pretty and some of them were a decent size.

 

We followed right along with the kayaks in front of us and behind us.

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of the times I used my flash and was scolded. Oops. I was trying to capture pictures of the coral they pointed out in the water...but with the flash, it still didn't work. I give up!

 

 

 

 

We made it out to the lagoon and it was a HUGE area. There were tons of kayaks already there and they each had their little "space" picked out. You could tell the groups apart by the color of their light on the kayak. Here's the "red" group.

 

 

 

Now I was really grateful for the cloudy day/evening and hoped that this would help. It was covering the moon, but the problem was that the city lights all over was making the lagoon very lit up. The guide told us that they have petitioned to get the lights (maybe at the closest city or lighthouse or someplace close by) to be off due to it disturbing the tours.

 

I was starring at the back of the boat...I was not seeing anything glow in the water from the engine. They told us not to worry because they had tarps that they would use in order to make it dark and we would see it. I noticed the kayaks were lined up together and their group threw a tarp over top of them.

 

We tried several places and the tarps were attached to the side of the boat (rolled up along the way there). Once we got to an area away from the kayaks, they unrolled the tarps and let the end flow into the water. We turned around on our seats, belly down, and put our hands in the water and swished it around. Since Sakari was so small (and short) they gave her a long stick/handle/wand to use to move the water around. I wasn't seeing anything. I thought I might have seen something, but then thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. I just wasn't sure. I was sure that this is NOT what I had expected.

 

Here's the problem...the tarps they put into the water would end up drifting under the boat. It would be a battle between us pushing the tarp out and pulling it out from under the boat, swishing our hands around while trying to keep the tarp out. The tour guide kept asking me if I seen it...I told him not really.

 

They decided to move to a different area. We tried again. I seen a little bit, but Sakari was having issues since she was just so small and couldn't reach over the edge with momma beside her freaking out.

 

We moved to a different area, they were a little brighter. I took picture after picture hoping for some miracle. The further we moved away from the crowd and to the other side of the lagoon (over by some trees, which I think helped because it was darker over there) the brighter it became. They called it "Pixie Dust" and that's what it reminded you of. We also discovered that they were a "little deeper than they were the night before" proclaiming that they were about 6"-12" down, so you had to really stick your hand/arm in (which was difficult when you are on a boat sitting up high). But, we borrowed Sakari's stick and that helped out somewhat...well, I ended up having the hubby at some point hold the stick toward the tarp to keep it out and away from the boat so that I'm actually touching the water and not the tarp.

 

The tour guide kept saying "Do you see it Kim? Is it working for you? Do you need some help? What can I do to make this more enjoyable? I want you to be happy? I want you to have a good experience" He was so kind and caring, but it wouldn't make them glow the way I had expected them to. It was nothing like the pictures. It was nothing like I had thought it would be. Did we see them? Yes! It got better the more we moved and discovered they were deeper down that normal. It was a very cool experience. One that I will never forget. It seemed like a freak of nature type of thing. But nothing at all like I thought.

 

Out of all the black pictures I ended up with, this picture had a spot on it. Whether it's actually one of the brighter ones lighting up, I'll never know. But I'm going to go with it is, even though it appeared on my screen as white instead of the blue color.

 

 

 

We stayed out at the lagoon long enough for everyone to be satisfied that we had seen all we were going to see. The tarp was rolled back up and we headed back toward the mangrove for more of the tour commentary on the way back.

 

Edited August 31, 2016 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

I have to tell you that we came across the cucubano beetle and it was one of the highlights of the tour for me (pun intended). These beetles are like fireflies and they fly around in the mangrove and light up. You would see them zipping back and forth for long distances and it was pretty cool.

 

The cucubano, Pyrophorus luminosus, is a species of click beetle native to the island of Puerto Rico. It is often confused with a firefly because both species emit light from their rear segments. Unlike fireflies, however, the Cucubano can also emit light from its middle segment, thereby giving it the appearance of two "headlights" and one "backlight", which it can turn off independently.

Because light pollution interferes with their reproduction, they prefer rural areas without much development.A Puerto Rican firefly is called a cucullo which is a true firefly, also native to Puerto Rico. Cucullos average half an inch in length. The color of both of these insects' lights is bright green.

 

 

 

 

We did come across an area where they said a snake must have hung out in the mangrove trees above because one day they discovered a huge snake skin left behind in the tree and flashed the light up there.

 

After we came out of the mangroves, we gently glided across the water back to where we started. The city lights had everything lit up.

 

 

 

 

We made it back to shore and I wasn't really sure how I felt...other than I was really sure I had to use the restroom again and that was the place we headed to next. This time they did not charge me for Sakari. I'm not sure why.

 

We got in the car and out we went, still unsure about how I felt about the experience tonight. We were starving and needed to find a place to eat. We looked on the map for food and it immediately showed us a Burger King. I know, not what you expect to go to Puerto Rico and eat, but at this point we are tired, sleepy, hangry again and just wanted something cheap and fast. Burger King it was.

 

Here we go with our order...hand signals, pointing, gestures, and a game of charades it was for us, trying to order food in Puerto Rico, where I'm told just about everyone is fluent in English...not.

 

The thing I found strange about Burger King was ordering a large drink was equivalent to our small cups here. They also did not have any condiments or napkins or even lids and straws out. You had to ask for anything you needed...which as you can guess, became an issue for us and after trying to ask for napkins, as I took my hand across my face, I finally gave up. Remember I was hangry and at this point I didn't care if I used my shirt.

 

After getting our bellies full, we decided to try to find Walmart. A couple of wrong turns, thanks to our GPS telling us to turn before it was actually time to turn, we managed a few more U-turns before this day was over.

 

I had discovered that I must have forgot to pack my brush in the last moment and needed to get a brush and also some "pop". Another weird thing I discovered is PR only sells 8 packs of pop instead of 12. Sigh

 

Back to the hotel we went and I started to recognize the "route"...especially the part that you have a quick turn to the right, on what looks to be some side road but is actually the main road, and there's a HUGE speed bump there that comes out of nowhere. It got me every time. I seriously thought I was going to pop a tire a few times.

 

We headed back to the hotel and time for a real shower, wash my newly colored perfect hair that was now pulled up in my normal pony tail right before the biobay tour due to having the breeze blow it and the heat sculpt it into a fine frizz masterpiece...then I was off to the most comfortable bed ever by 10:30pm. ZzzzzZzzzzzzz

[mitsugirly]

Thank you so much for this review. We have this same trip booked for 2018! You have me thinking about adding an extra day or two pre-cruise. Your pictures are great. Can't wait to read more. Thanks again.

 

2018 :eek: You really book early huh? I would die if I had to wait that long. But at least you have plenty of time to plan for this one. Do you have anything else planned? This is an awesome place to go. We went down 3/4 days ahead of time and didn't get to do everything I wanted. I really needed at least 1-2 more days. :(

 

We are crusing to Bermuda on Sunshine out of NYC on Oct 1! We are counting down the days (31) hehe! It's our second time on Sunshine, first time going to Bermuda and our first time sailing out of NYC! Also the first time we are sailing from a port that is close to home. It's about a 2 hour drive for us!

 

I look forward to following along on your review! :)

 

Nice. I love Bermuda and I really want to give the Sunshine a try. Some day...another "to-do" list item for me. :D

[mitsugirly]

Was just teasing that you said you "cruise" on Southwest Airlines when you probably intended to say "fly". :)

 

 

 

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Ohhhh, LOL I missed that. See cruising on my mind 24/7. :D Thanks for the clarification.

 

DH used to travel quite often to Puerto Rico for work, and I was lucky enough to travel with him there a few times (as well as having done this same fantastic itinerary).

 

While in or very near San Juan, most people there do speak English. HOWEVER, in most restaurants or shops they have signs posted that state that employees "only speak Spanish". Apparently, the politicians there do not want their culture to disappear, so employees are actually told not to speak English to customers. We found that most of them would speak English anyway. :rolleyes:

 

Post-cruise we stayed at the Caribe Hilton and walked to a Subway from there - they spoke English, but the sign was posted.

 

In Fajardo, where you stayed at the El Conquistador, you would have been more hard pressed to find English speakers at the fast food places or small shops (hotel employees not included).

 

Wow, that's interesting about the signs. I didn't see any of the signs any place we went, but sure did have issues almost everywhere we went. Oh, edited to add, when we were walking about OSJ, we did see the "Help Wanted" signs for businesses and they DID say they must be bilingual to apply.

 

The subway we went to was there right close to the airport, so I would think it's in a big tourist area that you would find a lot of English speaking people. Fajardo, I wasn't expecting too much since I know it's a ways out from the "normal" tourist area.

Edited August 31, 2016 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

Ok, that's it for the night. I think everyone went to bed early on me here in the forums and I was able to get the entire Biobay review done without one comment. :p

 

I'm off to bed now. I'll try to get more in tomorrow. The following day was an AWESOME day. :D tease tease :o

[1959kar]

Night Kim, I'm enjoying your review, great as always

[perfect match]

Hi, Kim, Glad I found you! I had been wondering what travel plans you decided on for this summer. I kept checking the email notifications I get when someone replies to one of your other threads, and since I hadn't seen any mention of new review starting or a countdown clock in your posts, I thought you might have decided on that AI in Cancun or a trip down here to Orlando.. Then, there it was! A post saying you were just back from this cruise, but hadn't started your review yet. I did not get a chance to check here last night so I missed day 1, but I've been busy reading tonight, so I'm all caught up.

 

That was quite the adventure you had in getting your rental car. Glad they managed to straighten the mess out and get you on the road, even if the car didn't go very fast! :eek:

 

The resort you stayed in looked beautiful. Bet you had trouble getting Sakari out of that pool! Hope you had some time between all your planned excursions to enjoy the facilities at the resort.

 

I loved the story about your Biobay project for school. I have to confess I did a similar sort of paper back in my school days, writing up a project that I'd never actually done. Wasn't even planning on doing it in the future. I still got an A! :D Sorry to hear that your actual trip to Biobay wasn't what you had hoped for. A visit to a Biobay may have just dropped down a bit on my own list of things I want to do.

 

We have a Panama Canal cruise booked for next year, but Southern Caribbean is right at the top of my cruise wish list. Hopefully, the next cruise I book will include the ABC islands. I also want to get to St Lucia, Barbados, and Granada. I can't wait to see what you did on the islands you visited on this cruise! :cool:

[TravelingAPor]

We were on the same cruise and may have rubbed elbows in the elevator, buffet, or stood in the same line on the Fascination. I already did my Cruise Critic review and I'm looking forward to your awesome review.

Good Luck on your new semester, in school. :D

[mitsugirly]

Night Kim, I'm enjoying your review, great as always

 

Thanks so much.

 

Hi, Kim, Glad I found you! I had been wondering what travel plans you decided on for this summer. I kept checking the email notifications I get when someone replies to one of your other threads, and since I hadn't seen any mention of new review starting or a countdown clock in your posts, I thought you might have decided on that AI in Cancun or a trip down here to Orlando.. Then, there it was! A post saying you were just back from this cruise, but hadn't started your review yet. I did not get a chance to check here last night so I missed day 1, but I've been busy reading tonight, so I'm all caught up.

 

That was quite the adventure you had in getting your rental car. Glad they managed to straighten the mess out and get you on the road, even if the car didn't go very fast! :eek:

 

The resort you stayed in looked beautiful. Bet you had trouble getting Sakari out of that pool! Hope you had some time between all your planned excursions to enjoy the facilities at the resort.

 

I loved the story about your Biobay project for school. I have to confess I did a similar sort of paper back in my school days, writing up a project that I'd never actually done. Wasn't even planning on doing it in the future. I still got an A! :D Sorry to hear that your actual trip to Biobay wasn't what you had hoped for. A visit to a Biobay may have just dropped down a bit on my own list of things I want to do.

 

We have a Panama Canal cruise booked for next year, but Southern Caribbean is right at the top of my cruise wish list. Hopefully, the next cruise I book will include the ABC islands. I also want to get to St Lucia, Barbados, and Granada. I can't wait to see what you did on the islands you visited on this cruise! :cool:

 

I tried. I tried really hard. I tried to book an AI in Cancun or go to Disney and it just didn't work for me. I think I'm just not happy unless I'm cruising. :o

 

Yea biobay just wasn't as I expected. I really thought the glow would be a lot more. It's so hard to describe what we saw, which was really neat, but I definitely expected more. It would have to be pitch black out to really experience it and honestly, that's never going to happen with all the city lights around.

[mitsugirly]

We were on the same cruise and may have rubbed elbows in the elevator, buffet, or stood in the same line on the Fascination. I already did my Cruise Critic review and I'm looking forward to your awesome review.

Good Luck on your new semester, in school. :D

 

Hello there! I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as we did. We had a blast and can't wait to do this itinerary again in the future. Thanks for the "good luck" in school...it's always a stressful time.

[jenseib]

Joining in and marking my spot! ;)

[NYGirl1002]

Whatever I've seen or read about Biobay had beautiful pictures. Although I've been to San Juan several times, it's never been convenient to go. I was wavering on maybe staying a couple of days just to see it. Now I'm not so sure it's even on my bucket list anymore. I hate to be disappointed and I know I will if we go.

 

Let's face it...if you didn't get good photos of it then there is no such thing.

Edited August 31, 2016 by NYGirl1002

[Ready2Cruise2016]

The Biobay is something that's on my 'bucket list'. I'm sorry it wasn't like you had hoped it would be. I wonder if all 3 places in PR are the same? Or if one is 'more luminescent' than others?

[kelib]

Going to enjoy remembering my trip through your pictures.

[ginjer2911]

Thanks so much for another great review. This itinerary is definitely a bucket list cruise. Excited to see your pictures as you go through this cruise. Are you in school for your BSN? Good luck with school.

[cruiselife4me]

Seems the Bioluminescent was a bust. I would have been a bit mad.

[ABCGreys]

I'm so happy to see this review! I'm doing the same ship/itinerary in July, 2017 and taking my whole family. Only my brother and sister-in-law have cruised and I'm worried about what they'll think of the Fascination as they've only ever been on the Celebrity Summit. The rest of the family, sisters & spouses/nieces/nephews/Mum have never cruised before so they'll be thrilled no matter what.

 

I always check out your reviews for things to do and feel like I'm stalking you around the Caribbean, but in a good way!

[cruisin6weeks]

So excited to read this review! I did the same itinerary a few years back on the Victory and loved all the ports. I've read about 6 of your previous reviews over the last couple weeks and you make me feel like I was on your vacation too!

[my_crib_too]

We have no cruise vacations booked at this time so I don't spend much time here but I was waiting on your review. Always enjoy reading them and seeing the pictures. I've posted this before and I hope a cruise line picks up on this, cruise line companies should encourage your reviews on their fancy new ships by offering your family a free cruise. Hotels too.

 

Thank you for doing this!

 

bruce...