Parguera Eco Tours and Bio Bay — Local services in Lajas

Had a pretty good experience with this tour group. We booked the bio bay swimming tour for 7:30 two days after the new moon. We heard the other bio bay locations in Fajardo and Vieques are brighter but Parguera is the only bio bay you can swim in. Honestly would recommend coming here to do a swimming tour even though it’s not the brightest.

Our boat was very nice and clean. There were two other parties with us for a total of 9 guests excluding the 2 tour guides.

We sailed out for about 10-15 minutes to the bio bay. The boat trip was pretty cool. We were going pretty fast so I would recommend bringing a light jacket or windbreaker to combat the wind (especially for the trip back as it can be cold with wet clothes on). It was dark that night so we could see a lot of stars.

At the bio bay, our tour guides anchored so that we can swim for 30 minutes. They provided life jackets but it’s only about 8-12 feet deep there so it’s not really necessary. The bioluminescence is not blue as you might see in some pictures. That being said it was still pretty visible although I would describe the effect to be more like sparkly as opposed to a glow. I recommend bringing goggles or a snorkel mask to see the effect underwater more clearly. It looks like stars under the water. And there is a small area under the boat like an air pocket where it’s very dark so even on not so dark nights you can see the bioluminescence. Overall a very cool experience!!

The only reason I give four stars instead of five is that our tour guides literally just drove us there, let us swim, and then came back. There was no educational session. Dunno if it was just because of the guides for that day (our skipper didn’t speak English, his assistant was there for translation). To be honest I was okay with that, but the tour description does mention they would talk about the bioluminescence so. But if you don’t mind the lack of explanation, this is the cheapest swimming tour in the area so I would recommend going...

The program was exactly as they describe on their website - plus a whole package of awesomeness! You can swim in the bioluminescence for approx. 30min, which is more than plenty. From the beginning: Booking online was easy. I'd always aim for the later tour if possible so it is really dark. The often mentioned problem with the street address is that there are no good street numbers in that neighborhood, so Google Maps has difficulties. Just search for "Parguera Eco Tours and Bio Bay" directly in Google Maps and use that business location for navigation. If you still want to use the street address "Calle 12", then you need to drive further all the way to the end of the road and down to the boat dock. Our guide was super friendly. He welcomed us at the parking lot and guided us on the boat. Before leaving the dock he gave a short safety brief and explained what we can expect when getting out in the bay. The boat ride itself was short and pleasant. They have life vests if you need one, maybe bring goggles or snorkeling gear to also see under water. We had a quite dark evening, so check the moon calendar and aim for a day around a new moon. If you want to take pictures, you'll need some more professional equipment, the phone cameras just won't capture it. The experience itself is hard to describe, you have to see it for yourself. This was by far the highlight of our stay in...

We loved this experience! It was a pretty no frills tour, no educational portion or anything, just a night boat ride out to the bio bay and swimming in the bioluminescence for 30 minutes, then then boat trip back. But for the price, that was more than worth it! We could see the bioluminescence really well, and being able to get in the water was incredible. Another group with us said it was brighter than the bioluminescence in Mosquito Bay when they went.

One note: the meeting location in the confirmation email from the company took us to the middle of a residential street. It's only a block or so from the correct location, and I called the company and they directed me. But you can just use the pin on Google maps for the company's location and that will take you to the...