(c) EcoTraveler May 1996
by Barabara Flanagan
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"Vieques
Though Vieques is only six miles east of the mainland, it seems far removed from the bustle. One of its natural highlights is best explained by my eight-year-old sonís diary: "Tonight we went to a bay where the fish glow in the dark. And when you jump in, the bay lights up around you!"
- Fact is stranger than juvenile fiction. Viequesí Puerto Mosquito Bay boasts one of the worldís largest, brightest concentrations of the worldís largest, brightest concentrations of dinoflaggelates (single-celled pyrodinium). Sharon Grasso, who ferries visitors here in her electric boat, says the micro-organisms are attracted to the abundance of mangroves and the limited sea access. And itís the agitation tatmakes them light up. Nighttime swimmers , fish or human, make glittery trails through the black water.
- Vieques is amply developed- by eight-thousand proud Viequenses, If most of the green island looks like a virginal land trust, that is an illusion. Two-thirds of it is owned by the Navy, steward of an accidental nature preserve. Its serenity is protected by the kind of caveat that travel agents cannot emphasize - bombs. Because the Navy sometimes conducts remote target practice off Vieques, beachgoers pass friendly " check points" to enter the preserve.
- Should the Navy protect its fragile wilderness, or give the land back to islanders? The old question recently resurfaced when the Navy announced plans to plant Vieques with 50- acre system of radar towers designer to net Colombian smugglers heading north"
- Fact is stranger than juvenile fiction. Viequesí Puerto Mosquito Bay boasts one of the worldís largest, brightest concentrations of the worldís largest, brightest concentrations of dinoflaggelates (single-celled pyrodinium). Sharon Grasso, who ferries visitors here in her electric boat, says the micro-organisms are attracted to the abundance of mangroves and the limited sea access. And itís the agitation tatmakes them light up. Nighttime swimmers , fish or human, make glittery trails through the black water.