arollins

The BIO tour at Parguera is certainly better overall. You do spend some time, but not allowed to swim. The other places, I think Fajardo, is done mostly via kayak to protect the environment, however it does offer a better feel of the area.

Sweet Willie

FYI to all, seems Fajardo's bio bay is not doing so well: http://news.yahoo.com/puerto-ricos-g...213756289.html

LynneHongety

It is very cool. Enjoy your trip. It depends on your budget

skitch23

That's really sad. Stupid humans... we always ruin everything

MNSWEEps

We just came back from our 1 week PR trip. We stayed st Sheraton Old San Juan for the entire stay ..Great location right opposite to cruise terminal. We are a party of dad,mom and a 9 year old girl.

We took 2 full day tours with www.naturalwonderspr.com . Highly recommended.

Having said that we did the following..

1) 1 full day doing El Yunque, Luquillo Beach and Bio Bay in Fajardo. Like someone mentioned above the glow is almost gone. We had to wade our hands in the water to see the bio luminescent spark. The kayak oars in the mangrove wading through the water also gave the spark.

2) Full day of Arecibo observatory and 3 caves ( Rio Camuy, The Cave near the ocean and Le Ventana (window) )....all 3 are highly recommended.

3) day tripping to PONCE in the south. Rented Hertz for a day but they did not have the car so they chauffeured us back and forth.

4) The other 3 full days we were just walking around OSJ which is worth it and included our trips in the trolley and the 2 forts(El Morro and Cristobal).

Email me if you have any questions..

arollins

Glad you enjoyed it. I'm currently at SJU, spending the holidays, returning Sunday.

jrglass

How was the hotel itself?

Thanks,

jeff

notmypetunia

Any updates on the bio bays?

As a sweet 16 present, thought I'd take my goddaughter to PR thinking she'd really enjoy (she's only been on a plane once). One of the activities I was aiming for is a bio tour since it's something so different. I did the bay in Fajardo (very cool, though my kayaking skills could use a lot of work) a few years ago and thought it was such a natural wonder. However, it seems the bioluminescence has been struggling as of late. Vieques is only open on weekends now.

Of course, she's never seen a waterfall, ziplined, mud bugged, or done a cave tour either, so I guess the options are nearly limitless. Was thinking of going in early November when she has some days off of school or, most likely, January so as to avoid hurricane season. A long weekend trip, maybe 4 nights.

Thanks!

Electroman

The Vieques bio bay is wonderful. I was last there in April 2011, and it was very bright. Back then they still let people swim there, and it's an amazing thing. The one at Fajardo is nowhere near as bright, and the one by Ponce is, I hear, almost gone (I haven't been to that one).

I went to Vieques on a day trip from Fajardo; Even if you're not bio-bay-trekking, it's an amazing place, much more like the Virgin Islands than the "mainland" of Puerto Rico.

tatterdema

Read up on the Vieques bio bay. It was completely dark for quite some time (Jan and Feb), and last I have heard, is still only about 50%. Not sure how that compares to Fajardo, but I would make some phone calls before deciding which to do.....

sleasure

Sorry I am a little late on seeing this. I visited the bio bay in Fajardo in both January and February of this year. Just coincidence, but both trips happened to be during the full moon, the best time to go. I can report that the bay was plenty bright and easy to see the luminescent properties. I don't have any prior experience to compare it to, so I can't say that it wasn't brighter in the past - but the guides on both trips commented that the lagoon looked like it did in the past.

The photos I've seen online looked nothing like what we saw, FYI. The luminescence was green, not blue.

I learned that Mrs. Sleasure and I are not good at kayaking, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. I would highly advise spending an evening in Fajardo. There were a couple of good places to eat dinner right across from the landing/parking lot. We were hungry after all that hard work paddling.

thestarrynight

After hearing rave reviews about the island for years, we visited Vieques in July 2014 and had an amazing time:

The bio bay glowed gorgeously! I'd read the NY Times and other concerning reports of the bay going dark. Since the tour was a key highlight for the trip, I contacted multiple tour operators and hotel/Airbnb folks to confirm that yes, the bay was glowing again. As of July 2014, the park was still restricting visits to Fri-Sun with 50% reduction to the number of customers tour operators could accommodate. The park seemed to be meeting with tour operators at least monthly with updates in policy, and there was hope that the bay would re-open daily in August 2014. Vieques Adventure Company, the group that offers glass-bottom canoes, had discontinued tours until Sep 2014 (one Airbnb owner reported that the tour owner had moved away and had sold his canoes to another operator) so we went with Vieques Island Adventures which offers motorized pontoon boats. Initially, I was disappointed at not being in the on-the-water kayaks. It turned out that our guide allowed us to dip our feet in the water and brought buckets of shimmering stuff aboard so we experienced the magic without having to do the longish self-kayak journey. Like the previous post's author, having never done the tour before, I don't have a comparison benchmark, but the bay seemed sparkly to me. I'd highly recommend (a) booking your tour AT LEAST 2-3 weeks in advance, (b) checking the online moon calendars to select an optimal tour date, (c) getting a written confirmation of your tour and (d) confirming with the tour operator closer to the date that your tour is still happening as scheduled.

Other recs/info for Vieques based on the bevy of online forums I read while researching and our actual experience:

- Lodging: Based on rave reviews from friends and its #1 ranking on TripAdvisor, we stayed at Hacienda Tamarindo. It was lovely, welcoming, and spacious. Our room had a wonderful view of grazing horses (which canter right into the property) and water. HT is a well-run, charmingly thoughtful operation with friendly staff, a nice pool to relax after a day of beach adventures, daily fresh beach towels, and an honor bar and beach rental shack. Breakfasts, which are included, were all-you-can-eat filling and simple.
- Beaches: We visited Caracas (Red), Sun Bay, Media Luna, Navio, Secret, and Green Beaches. Blue Beach was unfortunately closed for the summer. We liked Caracas the best for its wide expanse of clean sand and easy accessibility. Sun Bay was also nice and is the only "developed" beach with restrooms and a food concession.
- Snorkeling: Green Beach and Mosquito Pier were both fun. If you want to see turtles, which we didn't because we were chicken about the murky water depth, they recommend swimming out to the end of the pier.
- Horseback Riding: Super fun! While Esperanza Horses seems to be the island's more luxurious operation, it was booked up when we arrived so we opted for SeaGate Hotel's tour. All of the hotel's animals are rescues, including the horses, so we felt good about the tour while having a blast with our adventurous Spanish-only speaking teenage guide. Recommended!
- Food: Delicious! From the yummy and trendy Coqui Fire to casual eateries on the Malecon like Bili's (huge, delicious gourmet burgers and creative salads at lunch), Trade Winds and Duffy's to roadside restaurants like El Resuelve to upscale dining at El Quenepo, we enjoyed every bite we ate on the island. If you stop in San Juan, I'd highly recommend Marmalade as well.
- Car Rental: Would definitely recommend a Jeep/4x4 as much of the island is rocky unpaved roads. From online forums, Chepito's (787 649 2542) seemed to be the cheap and easy choice, but his cars were booked when we called 3 weeks prior to arrival so I'd recommend calling further in advance.
- Travel: Intimidated by the hit-or-horrible-miss ferry reviews but reluctant to shell out $250/pp for flights from SJU, we opted to fly in and out of Isla Grande airport (LMM, I think). Great choice! From SJU, we took a short 10-minute taxi (less than $20) to LMM, a small and easy local airport, and flew RT to Vieques for $144/pp.

Much longer post than I'd planned. We had a great trip and would recommend Vieques to anyone looking for a relaxing, interesting, and fun vacation.

Sweet Willie

There is also a 3rd bio bay on the SW side of Puerto Rico (west of Ponce), boats are of out LaParguera.
http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/la-parguera-biobay/
-

Sweet Willie

La Familia 2 is really good & cheap. We were staying at the St Regis and did not have Plat status to get free breakfast at resort, so I'd make the quick drive to La Familia 2 for breakfast each day. Delicious. Opens before 7am IIRC.

La Familia 2
Calle 1 A9
Rio Grande
Puerto Rico 00745