Puerto Rico: Day 1- Beach Day and Kayaking!

Day One:

The first day of vacation in Puerto Rico! I was so glad to get away from slushy, cold New England. I mean, I do love it, but sometimes summers and beaches are much more appealing, right? So today, we were going to the beach! Our apartment was right next to the beach, literally. It was only, well, you could see and smell the ocean from our room. Our apartment room is nice, I get to sleep on the bottom of the bunk bed while my sister, Jasmine, sleeps on the top. Our car is also pretty cool, it’s red. My parents would never pick a red car, but they didn't pick the color of this one. ;)

This morning I woke up at 11. No joke. I know I've never woken up that late. But you can’t blame me after I went to bed at 4am last night because of the airplane. After I woke up, I realized that no one was really awake yet. My parents and Jasmine were still wandering around like zombies. My parents were just telling Jasmine that they were going to go buy breakfast. So when they were gone, Jasmine and I went out onto the patio. It was really, really, warm. There was a breeze, but it wasn't cold, it was nice. We had breakfast when they came back (bacon!!) by the sea and then we got ready to go to the beach.

After I was done changing, Jasmine suddenly pointed outside and yelled something. I looked outside and there was an iguana. A pretty big one. It was like the size of a cat. It had a weird beard thing under its chin dangling there. It was kind of cool and creepy at once, because it is cool to see an iguana, but now I wasn't sure we should leave our door open…and no, I don't know what's wrong with it's tail.

The beach is right next to our apartment. The water isn't cold, but it isn't warm. I got used to it quickly. Jasmine and I splashed around in the waves, when, all of a sudden, a drop of water hit my nose. Now this drop of water was cold. I looked up to the sky, and there was this huge looming cloud above us, a rain cloud. Suddenly, more water pelted down on me and Jasmine. I jumped in excitement, because who cares? We were already wet! Jasmine and I stayed out for another 10 minutes dancing in the rain. And then, the rain stopped. I looked up and there was the sky, no cloud. But to the side, the cloud was there. The cloud moved really fast! It was exciting!

When my mom and dad came out, we walked along the beach. Jasmine and I still played in the waves, jumping at bigger ones. She accidentally went under once, but came up laughing. The beach trip was fun, but I was looking forward to our next trip.

Next, we were going to Bio Bay kayaking. It would be so awesome! I’m not very good at kayaking; I have a bad history with it. My mom and I were going together. The guide said that if our kayak flipped, the water was only three feet deep. We also had life jackets, so he said that if we drowned in three feet of water with a life jacket, it was our time to go. He was a pretty funny guy. Kayaking in the bay was pretty easy, but the waves kept pushing us up or down. Soon, we were entering the channel. The mangrove trees created a dark cave, like we were entering a tunnel. The trees had lots and lots of roots sticking out from the trunk and delving into the water. For me, it was really creepy. I was freaked out. On the other hand, my mom thought they were beautiful and amazing. Yep, contrasting points of view. After a while, I kept getting tired, and let my mom row. But finally, we got to the lagoon, or Bio Bay.

I was half-expecting the whole lake to be lit up. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The guide told us to put our hand in the water and shake it out. All of a sudden, I saw little sparkles flying off my hand, and an aura of blue radiating off of my hand. It was so…unusual, amazing, weird, cool, AWESOME. Apparently the creatures were “pyrodinium”. I kept shaking my hand around in the water because it was so cool!

On the way back through the channel, I couldn't see the mangrove roots. I could only see black masses of stuff, which I could tell were the roots. It was so, so, so scary. It was, and don’t laugh at me. The whole time back I was tense and alert, ready to turn our kayak back into the middle of the channel if it started getting just the tiniest bit close to the roots. No, really, it was scary. My mom was laughing at me though. She wasn't scared at all. I could finally breathe when we got out to the bay- the smell of the ocean saved me! My arms were sore and I was sleepy. It was a great end to a great day!