A phenomenon of nature!

Today Dave and I put the tires on the road again and this time made our way East to the El Conquistador Resort & Golden Door Spa! A colleague of mine in the industry; Arlene Davie with Travel Planners in San Antonio made contact on my behalf with one of their Directors of National Accounts; Rick Hud. Rick represents the property remotely from his home in IL and communicated with the staff on our behalf and arranged for us to site the property as well as enjoy a day pass to the resort! The hotel is world class with golf, spa, water park and a private island. Dave and I started the day with Shammira Colon; Sales Coordinator. She graciously spent her morning with us showing us their function space and guestrooms then turned us loose on the property. We were able to take the hotel's 8 minute boat ride over to Palomino Island. Palomino Island is a private island owned by the hotel.

We had lunch on the beach then sat ocean side for some sun. Dave had bought me for Christmas a scuba/snorkel mask with a built in camera and we were looking forward to snapping some shots. Dave went in on his own while I stayed beach side observing. The weather this week has been cool according to the Puerto Ricans. They say this week had a cold front come in from the US and it was such a windy week. Normally at this time of year it's warmer and not nearly as windy. Temps this week have been high 70s but today was very windy and when I went to join him; I wimped out. I just couldn't do it. I was already chilly on the beach and the minute I stepped into the ocean; I froze. I handed the mask to Dave and let him snap the shots.

We left the island then went to the Water Park. We enjoyed warmer temps poolside and were able to enjoy the lazy river and water slides without freezing to death. We also tried out the pool area. They had a swim up bar; adult pool, lap pool and activity pool. I finally jumped into the jacuzzi to warm up.

After a full day of sun and fun we had a reservation this evening to do a glass bottomed kayak tour of the bioluminescent bay. If you're not familiar with the terminology; it truly is a phenomenon of nature. The unique bay contains up to 720,000 single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates per gallon of water. These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. Nothing can really describe the experience of it. Basically it's a nighttime kayak tour down the channels along the mangrove trees into the bay. It's a little disconcerting kayaking at night in complete darkness but the guide has glow sticks on him and his kayak. The microorganisms lights up like fireflies when agitated. Dave had said it was like paddling through champagne bubbles or an underwater fireworks display. In simple words it was so cool! We shared a kayak together and had a private tour with our guide; there was no one else in our group! There were other tour groups doing it at the same time but no one had the one-on-one like Dave and I had. The company; Akuadventures Kayaking is the only kayaking tour company that has the glass bottomed kayaks. This was a two-fer for us. A first for ocean kayaking and a first for night time kayaking. The verdict is in...if you are ever in Puerto Rico this is a must see. So; thus the title of this post.

While today was officially our last day; we fly out tomorrow at 5:00 pm. We'll probably attempt a little pool time. We're not sure if we'll make it back to Old San Juan but it is going to be a play be ear day.

Thanks for following along with us; pictures to follow!
Adios... Pin It Now!