12/28/18: It’s been a bit chilly in these parts lately (not surprising since it’s nearly January), and I have a number of friends who are spending the holidays in warmer climes. Lucky bastards. Alas, I’ll have to settle for daydreams of beaches and sunny days, at least this year. 

So when these beautiful waterfront houses came across my desk, I thought “Color! Sun! Water! Yes!” Known as the rainbow boat houses of Puerto Rico, this colony of 90 floating houses is located in Parguera on the island’s southern shore. The wee town’s population is dominated by descendants of the first ten families to build their floating houses on the spot in the early 1800s.

You might think Puerto Rico’s coast would be a dangerous place to put a house, especially one that sits on the actual water, but the gently undulating coastline on which the houses sit is largely protected from the hurricanes and tropical storms that plague much of the rest of the area. A mere 160 feet off the coast sits Isla Magueyes, home to the Department of Marine Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico (and some really cool iguanas). Magueyes is so ideally situated that not even Hurricane Maria did real damage to Parguera’s floating (or stationary) houses.

The neighborhood was originally settled by fishermen, but it has since branched out to become a tourist destination for boating, scuba diving, exploration of their naturally bioluminescent bay, and some of the best bars in the area. This place really sounds ideal!

You can learn more about Parguera on their website, and you can rent one of the floating houses on AirBNB!

Photos by Angelika Pokovba.