About now a year ago we were in Puerto Rico, where we spent some time before catching a Caribbean cruise. We explored San Juan, a place I found to be quite charming. Our hotel was located in Old San Juan which is the quaint, historic part of the city. Winding cobblestone streets, 17th century Spanish architecture, forts with an imposing presence, and an old stone wall that still surrounds much of the city are the trademarks of Old San Juan.

What I liked the most about Old San Juan was its many juxtapositions - the colorful houses that began as soon as the drab gray wall of the fort ended, modern architecture mixed with old, and a language that wasn't so much a juxtaposition as a harmonious coexistence of Spanish and English. In front of the San Cristóbal fort is a large field and as we approached we saw that it was filled with people flying kites. To see the kites dancing gracefully in the air above a stalwart stone fort...that was Old San Juan.

Our first night in Puerto Rico we took a kayaking tour in a bioluminescent bay. This remains one of my favorite experiences - not just of the trip, but of all time ever. The tour took us into the bay at night. We hopped into two-person kayaks and made our way silently down a narrow tree-canopy-covered creek that led to the bay. As we got closer, we began to notice faint bioluminescence in the water. Wherever the water was stirred, the micro-organisms reacted to the disturbance by glowing. As I dipped my paddle in, there was a bluish glow, and as I pulled it through the water, a glowing trail followed my paddle's path. This was but a hint of the magic we were about to encounter.

In the bay itself, the entire body of water seemed to faintly glow blue, and a bright blue emerged with every swish. The dart of a fish looked like a shooting star. I leaned over the side of the kayak and wrote my name in the water with my finger - the letters lingered for a moment, as if written in blue ink, before fading away.

We slipped out of the kayak to swim. I laid back, floating, and moved my arms and legs across the water. "Look, Rob," I said. A glowing snow angel.

And when we cupped our hands underwater and then pulled them above the surface, the water we'd contained sparkled as it slid down and around our hands. Each droplet was a white-blue gleam, liquid diamonds that twinkled as they trickled one by one through my fingers.