We had been con- templating doing one of the boat tours that everyone along the waterfront seemed to be organizing. But we figured we missed it for today as it was 9:30 already. As we passed the mini-market someone asked if we were interested. We asked for details - head to Dolphin Bay to watch the dolphins, then snorkeling at Crawl Caye (coral caye), stop to eat at a floating restaurant, hike to Red Frog Beach, and then snorkel at Hospital Point. Ok basically exactly what everyone was offering and at the same price. We are always hesitant to take organized tours as they can be so "disneyland-like". But we figured the only way to go snorkeling would be a tour or an expensive private boat rental. So "when does it leave?" We expect to hear the time for tomorrow. "Ahorita" or right now! The boat has spaces left and is about to leave. We look at each other - dumbfounded - well alright then I will run to hotel for my bathing suit as the guy runs to the dock to hold the boat. And so it goes - 10 minutes later we are on zipping across the water in a lancha filled to the gills with eye-poping tourists. We head into the thick mangroves and I am instantly relieved we did not take our own boat and try to navigate this area.
Our driver glides us into a narrow and shallow passage-way in the mangroves just big enough for the our boat. On the other side is Dolphin Bay. Living in Southern California we are not as gaga about dolphins since we have the luxury of seeing the magnificent creatures quite often. Once while surfing in San Diego I had the good fortune to be snaked by 2 dolphins playing in the surf as they literally caught the wave I was paddeling for. After the momentary scare and requisite scream (thinking "shark") I realize they are playful dolphins. Amazing! That unexpected real world natural interaction was far better than paying to enter a pool to swim with them.
Here, we were to soon find out, the boats took turns circling in the water which attracted the dolphins who liked to play in the wake caused by the boat. There were maybe a dozen dolphins and they chased the wake and each other. It was actually quite fun - although I was a bit worried that it was detrimental to the animals. I was somewhat consoled by the fact that they did not feed or touch them.
Then after a quick pit stop to order our lunch at the floating restaurant we were off to snorkel at Crawl Cay. With all the tours following the same itinery I thought it would be a madhouse of kicking flippers. But surprisingly each boat seemed to have its spot sufficiently far enough away from the next. John says the snorkeling was pretty good. I spent most of the time emptying water from the mask which was 2 sizes to big for me. Not to worry - I saw plenty of fish and coral only slightly more blurry as seen through the sloshing water in the mask. And front the boat we saw these huge colorful starfish.
Lunch was a multi-lingual affair - 2 Venezuelan women, 2 Italians one of which speaks Spanish and English, the other only Italian, and John and I. Conversation was being translated from Spanish to English to Italian and back to Italian. It was great. I only wish we had had more time.
Next stop - Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimiento. We enter from the south side of the island, pay our park entrance fee and walk along a wooden boardwalk across to the other side of the island and the beach - about 15 minutes. Along the path this young boy approached us with a perfect specimen of the red frog - tiny little things.
It was a beautiful setting with a windy, wild beach. But no sooner did we arrive and the rain joined us. We all clamored under the small awning of the only shelter still heavily engaged in conversation. But the guide tired of the rain and suggested we head back. Although the tour allowed for one more snorkel stop we unanimously decided to head back as the rain made snorkeling a lot less appealing.
After a full day of excitement we needed to take care of a few chores, pay some bills, check our accounts and a little money laundering to subsidize our trip... ha, ha, ha.
