Bahía Bioluminiscente (La Parguera), Lajas

The fishing village of La Parguera took its name from the Northern red snapper once abundant in these waters — the population collapsed, and tourism replaced it. What tourism brought, among other things, was attention to Bahía Fosforecente, the phosphorescent bay tucked within the La Parguera Nature Reserve on Puerto Rico's southwestern coast. One of three bioluminescent bays in Puerto Rico, and one of the seven year-round places where bioluminescence can be seen in the Caribbean, it glows from concentrations of dinoflagellates — microscopic organisms that produce light when disturbed. The bay is also, by the reserve's own account, the most pressured of the three: boat traffic and coastal development have done their work here.