On our second day in Puerto Rico we went to El Yunque Rainforest. We decided to get up early and try and beat the heat, which ended up being a wonderful decision. We beat most of the crowds and had the park to ourselves the first hour. We didn't realize that most the trails were still closed from the hurricane, so our plan to hike a couple of the trails with beautiful waterfalls didn't work out this time.
We stopped to see La Coca waterfall on the way in
We stopped to see La Coca waterfall on the way in
We also stopped at Yokahu tower, which is a tower on the side of the road that provides a beautiful view. We had already passed the only waterfall hike that was open post hurricane, so we kept going to find a different hike.
We decided to hike to the Mount Britton tower. Most of the road is closed to even get to the starting point of the trail, so we had to hike very far to get up the hill. It was a difficult hike and almost felt like you were doing lunge after lunge for 45 minutes to get up the hill. The view was amazing and was well worth the hike.
Even the paths were gorgeous
When we got to the top of the tower we were in the clouds. It was so beautiful
We decided not to hike the additional 45 minutes up to the peak of El Yunque. We were worn out and also wanted to have time to slide down a natural waterfall. So we decided to head back down the mountain.
I didn't take as many pictures on the way up the hike, since it was pretty challenging. But, I did take more pictures on the way down. Everywhere you looked was gorgeous!
We wanted to try something off the beaten path and we heard about a natural waterslide at a place called Las Paylas in Luquillo. It was definitely off the beaten path!! Michael has a great sense of direction, but there were no signs or anything indicating where to go. We had to turn around 3 times to find the place. It was in a locals backyard and he charges $5 to park and go to the waterfall for as long as you like. When we arrived we had no idea if we were in the right place, but he came out if his house and waved and told us we were in the correct place. Apparently they were working upstream on getting all the paths corrected, so the water was brown with mud in it. He warned us about the mud and asked if we still wanted to try it. It had taken us so long to find it, that we decided to try it anyway.
Luckily there was another family also using the water slide. I am not sure I would have attempted it if I had not seen other people doing it. We slid down a few times and had a really great time. The stones were so smooth and I didn't worry about not having water shoes.
Almost every local we came across told us that we needed to eat at the kiosks at Luquillo beach. It was well past lunch time by this point, so we decided to try out the local spot. They are definitely little hole in the wall kiosks, but we had a delicious meal and an even better view!
We went back and hung out on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening we watched the champagne sabering and ordered some appetizers.
We booked a last minute bioluminescent bay tour in Fajardo at 8:30pm-10:30pm that night. We left after the champagne sabering to drive the 45 minutes to Fajardo for our tour. We were both a little nervous about how this would go. Neither of us are great kayakers and kayaking through the ocean in the middle of the night sounded a little daunting.
We had been really hesitant to book the bio bay tour, mostly because the moon was very bright the week we were there. The bio bay tour only works well with a really dark moon. The moon was very bright the night we were out there (the night before the full moon), so I was worried we wouldn't be able to see anything. There are only 5 bio bays in the world and three of them are in Puerto Rico (the other two are in Vietnam and Jamaica). The brightest bio bay is in Vieques, Puerto Rico, which is a full day trip from where we were staying. We settled on the bio bay which is in Fajardo, Puerto Rico and only about a 30 minute drive from our hotel.
Our group only consisted of Michael and I and one other girl who was an experienced kayaker. I was SO glad we got a small group. I noticed the other groups with 30 people in them and it looked like a nightmare. We were able to stay together and really chat with our guides. Michael and I did much better at kayaking than I would have imagined. We were able to keep pace with the guide and the experienced kayaker and avoid running into anything or tipping over, which was a great accomplishment! Unfortunately, we weren't able to take our phones on the tour, so I don't have any pictures. But it was really gorgeous! We kayaked through the ocean to the entrance to the bay. The bay was very narrow and was lined with gorgeous mangrove trees. When our guide shined his light into the trees, you could see iguanas the size of cats. It was a little spooky!
Once we got to the bay we had about an hour with the bio bay to ourselves. I noticed that the other tours had multiple groups at the bay together, so I think our guides timed it correctly. We were not able to see the the microorganisms light up without tarps over our head. However, once we got the tarps over our head, the microorganisms went crazy any time we moved the water. The tour guide told me to splash the water all over my pants and my entire pants lit up. It was really cool to see.
I thought it was a really cool experience and I think it would be an even more amazing experience if the weather conditions were right. We didn't have great weather conditions. Our tour guide told us that the best day to book is a bright sunny day with no moon. He also mentioned that August is the best month. I think we would definitely book again if the weather conditions were right.
It was about 11pm after the tour and not many restaurants were open. But, we drove by the Luquillo kiosks again and saw that a few of the restuarants/bars were still open. Our food tour guide had recommended Revolution Pizza, so we enjoyed some late night pizza and beer. It was delicious.
For our last full day we decided to take it easy on the beach. We took our time getting up in the morning and enjoyed our french press coffee and juice. The resort had the most amazing juice and every time we asked what the juice was called, we couldn't understand the pronunciation.
We decided to order some champagne and mix it with the juice on the beach. It was delicious! We had a great time just chatting, listening to music and looking at the beautiful ocean in front of us.
We loved our time in Old San Juan and decided to book a sunset cruise in Old San Juan that night. We sailed on the Amazing Grace. It is a gorgeous ship!
We loved seeing all the spots we had visited. It was even more beautiful viewing them from the ocean.
We always like to try out the famous bars in each city we visit. After the sunset cruise, we went to La Factoria. It is consistently rated one of the 50 best bars in the world and I can definitely see why. The walls are original and peeling, but it gives the bar such character. It is also where the famous music video, Despacito, was filmed. The bar is completely unmarked, so unless you know where you are going, you won't be able to find the bar. The bar also has 5 hidden bars behind the first one that each have a different vibe. You wouldn't know about the bars unless you asked or saw others going through the side doors. We were only able to try out the first 2 bars. The other bars have live music and didn't open until 10pm.
One of their famous drinks is the Lavender Mule. It was SO good. Michael and I almost debated skipping our dinner reservations and ordering appetizers and enjoying their craft cocktails all night.
The Puerto Rican Flag door is right across from La Factoria. The flag was recently painted black to show Puerto Rico's financial crisis after the Hurricane.
We headed to our dinner reservation at Santaella in the Condado area afterwards. If we could do it over again, we both said we would have enjoyed the nightlife in Old San Juan and skipped the fancy dinner :)
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