Mom and Dad Visit Puerto Rico: Part 4

Monday was my last day with my parents and probably my favorite day of the whole weekend.  We read about a nature reserve on the south side of the island called Bahía de Jobos (insert brief uncontrollable laugher ;) )  The bay is part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System that includes sites all over the United States.  It includes an extensive mangrove forest, and I was so excited to explore them.  We drove around the east coast to get there.  My parents got a taste of the poorly marked, narrow mountain roads that are all too common in Puerto Rico.  After a few wrong turns and back tracking, we finally found the reserve in Aguirre.

There were only a few short trails at the reserve.  Record rainfall had flooded most of the trails last year, and the reserve was in the process of rebuilding them.  Still, the open trails made me feel like a kid in a candy store.  They followed the coastlines to backwater canals, all lined with mangroves.  I geeked our telling my parents about the different adaptations of the various species.  New kayaking trails were also being built around the bay.  I was disappointed that they weren't open yet.  Kayaking though the mangroves would have been a blast!

Red mangroves on a canal in Bahía de Jobos

One of the guides in the visitor center told us to check out the trails on the other side of the bay.  The trails are at a campground that was closed due to budget cuts, but they are still in good condition.  A large part of the trail is a boardwalk that winds though the mangrove swamp.  And the mud flats were loaded with tiny crabs that burrow in the ground.  As we walked past, we could hear their little feet scurry across the leaves back to their holes.  Mangrove ecosystems are so fascinating to me.  They were the inspiration for my senior thesis, and hopefully I'll work in a mangrove swamp someday.

A large stand of Black mangroves

Tiny crabs living in the mangrove roots

Late in the afternoon, we drove back through the central mountains.  We ate dinner at El Verde BBQ at the bottom of the hill to the field station.  Our meal was delicious.  It was a wonderful end to our weekend together.  My parents were leaving Tuesday morning, so they drove me back to the field station and said our goodbyes.  It was so wonderful to show my them the island where I have lived for three months.  I'm so happy that I got to share a few adventures with the people who have always supported my endless wanderlust.