Remember when I went on a wine cruise with strangers? Well, this is the sequel.

We flew in Tuesday night into Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla and stayed at the Marriot close by. We arrived around midnight, but didn’t get to the hotel until 1am since we had to wait for our bags and get the rental car.

First stop, after sleeping in, was lunch at Survival Bistro Bar which was at the resort across the street. It was a nice poolside location with traditional Puerto Rican food. After “island time” service at the restaurant, we headed off to the lighthouse ruins. Officially known as the Borinquen Point Lighthouse, it is also referred to as Las Ruinas or El Faro de la Ponderosa. Quick history: It was built 1889, but was abandoned in 1918 after an earthquake. Since then, hurricanes have continued to damage the structure. After getting our ruin pictures, we drove back to Borinquen beach for some traditional beach pictures. There is also 2 other beaches in the area if you have time to explore – Wilderness beach and Playa La Ruina. A lot of the beaches at this area of the island are known for surfing more than swimming. Speaking of which, we hit up Surfer’s beach next to our hotel. If you have proper gear (we did not), you can hike over to Survival Beach from the Surfer’s beach parking lot. From there, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding!

Thursday morning, we started with hiking Survival beach at low tide without flip-flops this time. The first part is fairly easy rainforest walk with fun lizards along the path. Then it cuts back down towards the beach for tide pools and cool rock formations. Use the AllTrails app on your phone! From there, we drove to brunch at Mona’s and had amazing stuffed avocados and flavored drinks. Next, we rented some snorkel gear from a nearby shop and headed to Crashboat beach. We did some quick snorkeling around the pier and spotted some cool fish. We also joined the crowded and jumped off of the pier into the water below.

Third stop of the day was a bit out of the way but definitely worth it. It was raining by the time we arrived to Cascada Gozalandia, but everyone was swimming anyway. The first waterfalls is down a flight of stairs, but so pretty! The second waterfalls is a short hike up river. It’s taller but not as full. Both pools have options for climbing and jumping, or just casual swimming. Forth stop was Cueva del Indio Arechibo (or Indian Cave and Arches). This site offers beautiful views of the ocean with the rock formations. There is an option to climb down into the cave if you’re fit and adventurous. The cave also has prehistoric cave art that is super cool to spot. Fun facts: These petroglyphs pre-date Columbus’ arrival to Puerto Rico in 1493, and were probably made many centuries earlier. Cueva del Indio is said to contain the largest number of petroglyphs found along the coastal zone. We arrived around 5pm so we got some cool pictures with the sun starting to set and then continued our drive to San Juan. We finally arrived at our resort in San Juan – La Concha Renaissance – and had a quick dinner poolside with drinks.

Friday ended up being a rainy day. We spent some time at the pool huddled under umbrellas and relaxing. We needed a down day, but were hoping for some beach time with our books. Instead, we took naps in the hotel and watched some Netflix. lol don’t judge. When the sky cleared up, we went back to the pool and ran into the wedding group. We got some sangria and chatted in the pool, before we headed out close to our resort for local Mofongos for dinner.

Our first official excursion day! We woke up early Saturday morning to catch our sketchy van for an hour drive outside of the city. We did an El Yunque rainforest hike to a swimming hole with waterslide, free jump, and rope swing. I’m guessing it was 2-3 miles there and back. It ended up rainy and we got really muddy, but it was so much fun. There’s a lot of cool history with the rainforest. At nearly 29,000 acres, it is one of the smallest in size, yet one of the most biologically diverse with hundreds of unique plant and animal species, including Puerto Rico’s famous coquí frog. El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System, and one of Puerto Rico’s most beloved natural gems. We got a late lunch and some down down before our evening excursion.

Saturday night we had a sunset catamaran tour book. This one was complicated…but still fun. We arrived to the marina on time, but didn’t see a catamaran matching the description we were told. We weren’t totally sure what was included, so we grabbed quick drink and snacks while waiting/figuring it out. The boat was right where we started. Problem was it wasn’t a catamaran lol. They did cover some local history and facts on the ride. Medalla and snack plates were provided (until we ran out of beer), but they turned up the music and we had fun. After the boat tour, the group went to La Factoria in Old San Juan for drinks. We tried to join them, but had some transportation issues *eye roll*. Ended up walking on foot back to the hotel for overpriced wine in bed and Netflix.

We woke up early Sunday morning for some sight-seeing in Old San Juan. We started with an uber ride to Castillo San Felipe Del Morro and spent some time exploring the castle/fort and taking pictures. From there we walked into town and saw the Cathedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista. We kept walking and I’m currently using Google Maps to try to figure out our path lol. I think we stopped at Puerta de San Juan and Paseo De La Princesa. I made us stop for some street cart Piragua, because of LMM In The Heights. We got some great pictures with the colorful buildings and popular instagram spots. For lunch, we found the claimed place where the Pina Colada was invented, Barrachina. Be prepared to wait for a table since it is a popular spot.

Oh boy, Sunday night was a lot. We had a bioluminescent kayak excursion scheduled. Laguna Grande in Fajardo is the most visited bio bay in Puerto Rico due to its proximity to San Juan. It’s also the only one of the three that’s not technically a bay; the long and narrow canal that leads to the dazzling “glow-in-the-dark” water makes this unique waterbody a lagoon! We had over an hour drive to the meeting point. Then we were told to sit around and wait for another hour. Once we were ready to start our tour, we found out not everyone in our group met the tour companies ridiculous rules and they couldn’t go. The rest of us kayaked through the canal in the dark. It was very Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean vibes. Now, I’m good at kayaking but doing it tandem with a partner proved challenging. I don’t remember how long but we were out there a few hours paddling. On the way back, we were fighting the current so it was even harder. ANYWAY, the exciting part was finally seeing the glowing water. Bioluminescent bays are bodies of water where microscopic organisms grow in quantities large enough to produce a “glow-in-the-dark” effect. When you paddle or splash the water, these organisms shine in a neon blue-green color, making the water look as if it was lit by billions of glowing stars. There are only five ecosystems in the world where the concentration of these is high enough to be considered a bioluminescent bay, and Puerto Rico is home to three of them!

We got up fairly early Monday, because we had a lot to do before our flight home. Mom grabbed a quick 15 minutes of beach time for the first time all week before said our goodbyes to the group. We drove just outside the city for a rum tour at Ron del Barrilito. I highly recommend this as it’s a small family business that focuses on tradition and quality. Every single bottle of Ron del Barrilito holds premium rum that has been crafted by hand using the same methods since 1880. It’s always been made in very small batches. Absolutely no artificial ingredients or colorings are used. It’s aged to perfection in vintage Spanish white oak sherry barrels. The rum is labeled by stars that reflect the age. 2 stars is aged 3-5 years and better for mixing in cocktails. 3 stars is aged 6-10 years and better for sipping straight. 4 and 5 stars are hard to find and expensive, but were AMAZING to taste on the tour. After getting fairly tipsy on rum, it was time to go to the San Juan airport. We were able to get some souvenirs at Duty Free before (barely) getting on our flight.