Trivia was much more successful because we joined up with friends I had made at Cruise Critic ( an online cruise discussion forum). The end result was a whopping 11 out of 15. LC knew the maker of the drug Viagra and I knew the lawless mountainous country of Afghanistan! I think the other 9 answers came from our team mates!
We pulled into the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico today at 1 pm. After lunch at table 131 again ( with a great view out the aft of the ship) we were able to watch the Eurodam pull into port. Mom decided to lay down for a nap and LC and I decided to try our hand at shopping, never mind the need for an umbrella. A little rain never deterred the Hill girls from shopping!
Well our 30% chance of rain turned into a torrential downpour! I left LC with the umbrella and ran through puddles above my ankles to get back to the ship in time to catch the bus for my kayaking excursion ! My paper bag disintegrated and dumped all of my purchases into a puddle. I should have seen that one coming. I just kept running through the rain with the contents of my bags in my arms!
I quickly shed my soaked clothes, changed into a bathing suit and dry (for now) clothes, grabbed my excursion bag and raced off the ship. An hour later on the bus, the rain is letting up!
We got off the bus about 1.5 hours later and were at a site where you can see bioluminescent bacteria in the water. We all paddled in double kayaks - I was paired up with Julie from Tennesee. Her husband Greg and daughter Lindsey were in another boat. So you have to understand that you are setting off in this bay in the dark because the sun has set, there is no moon and there is cloud cover to boot. Each boat is identified front and back with a single glow in the dark bracelet. Each life jacket is identified with one too - presumably if you capsized they could find you in the water! And then you get into the mangrove where the trees grow up and over you so it is like you are paddling in a cave! You follow the little glow in the dark bracelet single file. Sadly for us the boat in front of us lost sight if the boat in front of them and they pulled over to the right to wait rescue from one of the guides! Julie and I persevered in the now BLACK mangrove and tried to catch up to the rest of the group.
We found them - In the open bay with our guide shouting "Turtles" to direct us away from other groups. Each company was color coded - we were looking for blue but literally RAN into some orange boats that were returning from the bay! Nobody capsized and they are pretty tough plastic boats!
We caught up with the group, heard the ecological lesson why the water has these glow in the dark features - like bubbles in the water when your paddle enters the bay. Reasons are warmth of Puerto Rican waters, mangrove and 5% more salinity than the ocean creates a favourable environment to glow. Neatest thing was guide disturbing a big fish that swam under our boat and created a wake of glow in the water bubbles. Spotted a big iguana in the tree when our guide shone his light on It! Whole paddling experience start to finish was only 90 minutes.
Mom dragged a freezing and damp LC who had returned from shopping soaked to the knees, to a number of social activities on the ship - eating, entertainment and "name that tune". They returned to meet me at the room around 10 pm roaring with laughter! They were very pleased with their 32 out of 40 score.
Mom just said "I'm trying to sleep to which LC just replied "well get used to it, we've been trying to read for four days" - to which Mom and I burst out laughing. I guess Laurie and I are making a bit of racket for Mom in our room.
The view as we pulled out after dark!
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