FamBam cruise 1: Puerto Rico

In June 2025, my wife Linette and I did a big family vacation with all five of our children, including spouses of the three who are married, and our little granddaughter. Two nieces also came along. The plan was to fly to Puerto Rico, explore there for a couple days; then take a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean, visiting St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Barbados. Some would then fly home right away, while others would spend another two nights in Puerto Rico.

Here's a map showing where our stops were in the Caribbean, zoomed out enough that you can see where Florida is (and a bit of Guatemala to the left and South America to the south).

Zooming in on Puerto Rico and the other islands, you can see the route we took and where these islands are.

But first, we had to get there.

Making the Trek

On June 18, 2025, eight of us attempted to fly to Phoenix for the first leg of our journey, where we planned to spend the 12 hour layover visiting and swimming with two of my brothers and their families.

We liked the groovy new tunnel at the Salt Lake Airport. It has mellow tunes playing as you walk through.

After boarding our plane, it had a "leak" that couldn't be fixed, and we had to deplane. American Airlines told us to wait to see if it was fixed, but when it became clear that it wasn't going to happen, we tried to book alternate flights, by which time the ones we had been looking at didn't have many seats left.

So Linette, Sienna and I took a midnight flight to Miami so that we could catch our original connecting flight to Puerto Rico. Shaylee and Mikayla were already planning to fly out at midnight (spending the day in Charlotte and then accompanying Kelsi & fam to San Juan), so we all went to the airport together and then flew our separate ways.

Linette and I lucked out with some exit row seats that allowed us to lean over and get a little bit of sleep on the plane.

The other 5 in our advanced party took a 7am flight the next morning, which landed them in Puerto Rico around 11pm, just a little before Kelsi's fam and the nieces would arrive.

When we got to Miami, we admired the fish display on the wall.

We caught a few Zs while we waited for our flight (well, maybe half a Z).

When we arrived in Puerto Rico, I looked on the "FindMy" app, and it was funny to see our family scattered all across the country. I hoped we would all converge on the same place at some point. (Linette was still on airplane mode, so it made it look like she was still in Miami).

After dropping our stuff at the AirBnB, Linette, Sienna and I did an endowment session at the San Juan Temple. We met a very nice young couple there who turned out to be going on our same cruise!

That afternoon, we picked up some groceries, and then relaxed in the pool while we waited for the others to arrive.

Linette brought stuff to decorate the room Jared would be staying in, since it was his birthday the next day.

Finally, everyone else arrived, and we drove back and forth to the airport to bring everyone in with our 3 small rental cars.

There wasn't a crib available the first night, so someone fashioned a rudimentary crib out of the patio furniture bin and some bungees. Eva didn't end up using it, but I thought it was genius.

We had some fancy pancakes for breakfast.

Eva decided just in the previous couple of weeks to start being shy about other people, especially when Kelsi or Chase are around. But she relented and gave Erika a snuggle, which was cute.

El Yunque National Forest

After breakfast on Saturday morning, June 21, 2025, we all drove over to El Yunque National Forest, which is a tropical rainforest managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

 

We found that it was common to have mileposts every 0.1 kilometer.

There were creeks and waterfalls that were really pretty. I climbed up these rocks, slipped, and banged my shin, which hurt for a couple of weeks.

Shaylee got a picture of this snail. I will acknowledge here that lots of the pictures I share came from other people, especially Jared, Katelyn, Shaylee and Mikayla, and a few from others in the group.

After a nice "nature walk" (Kyle doesn't like "hikes"), we arrived at the Juan Diego waterfall.

Some of us took a turn walking under the waterfall and getting drenched. It was hard to breathe when all the way under there.

Chase and Kelsi took a turn as well.

Kyle had fun watching for birds. He brought a powerful zoom lens with him for the occasion.

Here's the whole group at the waterfall.

Here is Eva checking Sienna's mouth.

I was a little confused by this tree, because it looks like it is growing out of the ground, but it also looks like it tipped over and its roots are at the top.

It was a fun visit to the waterfall.

On the way back down the trail, there was a smaller waterfall, so I decided to check that one out, too.

And there was only one way to really give it a proper inspection. (A random lady offered to take my picture with my camera).

The jungle was so lush and green, with vines hanging everywhere.

I took Kelsi, Chase and Eva with me, and we stopped at the Yokahú Tower and climbed to the top.

 

It was built in 1963 and is 69 feet tall.

Since it was taller than its surrounding trees, it provided a nice view all the way to the shore at Luquillo (where we would be staying after our cruise).

There was thick jungle in every direction.

The windows on the way down provided some nice views as well, along with a refreshing breeze.

We saw La Coca Falls as we drove by, though the parking near there was under construction.

Meanwhile, Erika and Kyle took Shaylee on a short walk to a pool called El Baño Grande (the great bath).

While this was all going on, Linette went with Jared, Katelyn and Mikayla to the San Juan Temple so that they could do an initiatory session, since they had missed out on a trip to the temple the day before.

We grabbed some food at Pollo Tropical, which someone had recommended as the local fast food place to eat, and we really did enjoy the chicken, fries and other food from there, especially after all that hiking.

Back at the AirBnB "mansion", we had fun swimming the afternoon away. Erika had found some water hammocks, which had inflatable pillows to support your head and knees, and a mesh that you could lay on. Since you were down in the water, it was much more stable than balancing on top of an air mattress, and packed down really small. So we enjoyed floating around on those.

And Sienna and others took turns jumping off of the waterfall into the pool.

We didn't have candles for a cake, so we had Jared blow out a lighter and then had cheesecake and ice cream for his birthday.

It would have been a nice, pleasant way to end the evening.

But wait, the night wasn't over yet! Puerto Rico is home to three bioluminescent bays, and we were really excited to try one out. There was one 45 minutes from our AirBnB in Fajardo, but the reviews we read said that the one two hours away in La Parguera was way more fun, because you could both kayak and swim in the glowing water, and it tended to be brighter there.

So, being adventurous gluttons for punishment, we drove two hours to get down there, arriving in the nick of time to join the tour that started at 9:20 pm.

A boat took us 40 minutes or so across the water. Along the way, they taught us that the bioluminescent effect is caused by Dinoflagellates, which are single-celled organisms that live in the water and light up when the water is agitated. It's a cool light, meaning that very little heat is generated and glows blueish white.

The dinoflagellates can be 30 nanome

(Nerd alert: When the water is agitated, the luciferin light-emitting compound within the dinoflagellate reacts with oxygen and the enzyme luciferase that acts as a catalyst to release energy in the form of a brief flash of blue-green light. According to Gemini.)

As we approached the area, the engines stirred up the water and the organisms lit up.

One of my favorite parts was when we were near the shore and the fish swam in response to the boat being nearby. You could see a glowing trail through the water for every fish that was swimming! Unfortunately, it was really hard to capture in photos and nearly impossible to capture video with the tiny sensor in an iPhone.

But soon we arrived at our destination and climbed onto kayaks. Here you can see a glimmer of light around one of the paddles.

And here are a couple other flashes of light captured by a camera. It was much more impressive in person.

Eventually, they called us back to the boat and let us jump in the water and swim around! It was so cool to have the water light up every time you move your hand or kick your feet. I brought a mask in the water so you could watch your hand light up in front of your face underwater.

Here's a short video of Katelyn jumping into the water.

The rest of my video was rubbish, as the sensor on an iPhone is too small to capture enough light to do the experience justice. But here is a 46-second video that some other guy named Matt Miller took in the same place a couple years ago, that gives you a good idea of what it was like:

Here's a picture the tour guide took of us, using a light to light up our faces, and then without the light to capture the water as we splashed around.

You could also see the stars really well from out there. It was cool seeing the Milky Way above us and glowing water below us, like we were surrounded by stars in all directions!

It was a pretty ride back to the dock.

It was almost midnight by the time we got off the boat, and then we had another two hour drive to get back to the AirBnB (plus a stop for some gasoline and a welcome stop at McDonald's).

It was 3am by the time the last of us got home, and many of us had done a red eye flight two nights before, so we were all pretty tired.

Sunday morning, a bunch of us attended the English-speaking ward at church nearby, and we had fun talking to a family who had moved there to avoid income taxes on the dad's business.

After church, we had the afternoon to hang out at the mansion. Adam and I played a round of pool.

Several of us went swimming, and Kelsi and Chase were still in the pool when it started pouring rain really hard. (Eventually, enough runoff made it into the pool that it turned it brown, so that was that).

Inside, we found a collection of DVDs, including two copies of "The Testament", which tells the story of the Nephite people in ancient America at the time that Jesus Christ visited them, just after his resurrection.

While we were watching, Eva got hold of the remote, so I joked that babies have an uncanny ability to not only turn off the TV, but also to modify settings to make it so you can't continue to watch.

Sure enough, she turned the TV off, and when we turned it back on, the audio was in German! It took us a while to figure out how to change it back. Well played, baby!

I had never been to Puerto Rico before, and it was an interesting experience. In some ways, it was a lot like being on the mainland, with some good highways, some familiar restaurants, and U.S. flags flying. In other ways, it was a bit like being in Mexico, with off-ramps coming out of nowhere, rougher roads in places, and signs in Spanish. Overall, it was beautiful, and I was so glad to have a chance to visit.

In the next episode, we board "The Rhapsody of the Seas" and visit St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.