Puerto Escondido is a special place where you will find abundant nature, since being located on the coast, the sea breeze gives life to plants, trees and endless multicolored flowers. You just can´t miss the beauty of this place the next time you take one of the flights to Oaxaca, because here the days are a total enjoyment on its beaches while at night the stars and the moon appear, which mark the moment to appreciate a night bioluminescence show. However, to appreciate it, you must hire a night tour that takes you to a place known as Las Negras.

A walk in the dark

The transport will pick you up around 8pm, and only 16 kilometers away you will reach the lagoon of Manialtepec, there you will receive a travel operator who besides being a connoisseur of the flora and fauna of the place, will take you through the darkness to tell you the secret of the lagoon in the dark only with the help of a lamp. You don´t need much time to begin to see how to enter the darkness you can see the magic at night, the mangroves look like giant trees that seem to be watching you.

A show taken from a science fiction movie

The place is home to birds such as kingfishers, diving ducks, ospreys, ibis, pink spoonbills, tiger heron, heron beak and many more species. On the other hand, speaking of its flora, the white and red mangroves give life to everything; if you get closer, you can see with your lamp tiny fish that are part of this wonderful ecosystem. Rare sounds, perhaps from toads or crickets, welcome you to the experience, while the stars and the light far away from Puerto Escondido, are part of the stage.

Bioluminescence occurs thanks to microorganisms known as dinoflagellates, a species of marine plankton that comes from the sea and reproduces in these calm waters. This spectacular phenomenon occurs in certain natural conditions because the lagoon naturally traps the tiny beings that enter at high tide and stay trapped in it for quite some time until nature re-releases them by breaking the natural barriers of sand.

Get ready to swim in the light

However, the ride is not just about seeing from your boat, because if natural conditions are given you can take a dip surrounded by all this natural light that seems to be pure magic. In the lagoon, you can see the different forms that the plankton makes in it since, depending on the conditions of the lagoon, the color of the bioluminescence can change in blue, green or white.

If you plan to do this tour, we recommend reserving it in the rainy season in the months of July, August and September, since the conditions should be ideal in the dark with tide and without a full moon. Remember that you must be prepared in case it doesn´t happen, but in the same way, we are sure that this experience will be something difficult to forget when you take one of the flights to Oaxaca.