beaches and mangroves 7/19-7/20

Meredith had advised me that German travelers were avid tourists and that I could probably just tag along with them. On my second weekend, they were going on a mangrove tour. Mangroves are trees the have some crazy looking roots that grow out of the branches and and keep the salinity of the estuaries stable. Here are a bunch of pics from that. 

Near the end of the trip, you stop at a deserted beach that is a sea turtle reserve you can stay there for $10 a night + meals and watch the turtles come up on the beach at night. There are always a few turtles, but it's not quite the season (mid August to October). It was gorgeous. In addition to being beautiful, the horizon is empty apart from ocean and sky. I think every other time I've seen the ocean there have been boats and oil rigs in the distance. 

After the tour we had fresh seafood for lunch and then went to surfing turtle lodge for the rest of the day.

The current is super strong here, so we took a few spills in the waves. Around the time I was getting the hang of it, the girls I was with looked at me with concern and asked me if I was ok. I had a tiny bit of sand in my eye but I smiled and said I was fine. They still looked mildly horrified. It turned out I looked like a character from a horror movie with a steam of blood and salt water flowing from my nose. Oops. Probably from pinching my nose while wearing a nose ring... But I couldn't feel it at all.

We sunbathed and played a volleyball tournament before dinner. After watching the sun go down, we took the last boat off the island and headed back home