Land Tour Part 2 - Puerto Chino Beach
we piled back in the taxis and headed for the Puerto Chino beach ... it was about a 10min walk to the beach, on a nice stone walkway through a very arid environment ...
with a few pretty flowers along the way ...
most everyone was sunburned from yesterday's snorkel trip, so 'camp' was set up under some trees...
which we shared with 2 Sea Lions who slept there the entire afternoon ...
i heard this was the best beach. so far, it is ... really nice white sand and big waves
i decided try out the snorkeling. the center is sandy beach, which generallly means no fish; but the sides are lined with lava rocks ... plenty of places for fish to hide ... i tried the right side, next to those rocks ...
waves were strong and visibility wasn't that good; so i didn't spend much time here, but .... i now can recognize the 'usual suspects' .....
Adult Blue-Chin ParrotFish ...
and Yellow Tailed SurgeonFish ....
plus this StingRay ... first one i've seen here ...
then decided to try the other side.
in the shallows, the first thing i saw were a few of these fish. they aren't in my book; but i've seen them before, but can't remember what they are ... kind of a cool abstract design ...
then i ran into large schools of fish, there was a lot of sand in the water, but it was really cool ... these are Black Spot Porgys ...
there were so many different species of fish, i couldn't decide what to photograph ... and ..., i kept getting distracted ...
then i saw a turtle ....
then there were TWO ....
then i started photographing a King AngelFish, which i had seen at Kicker Rock, but could never get close enough to them ... these didn't seem to mind being followed .... so i was going after them ...
then i spotted another turtle .... to my right in the photo below ...
when i saw another turtle
and another one ...
and then it was all turtles !!!!!!!!!! ....
i could see NINE turtles all at once !!! ... visibility wasn't that good, but you can see several turtles in the background of this photo ...... and i have some video as well ...
in past snorkeling and diving; i've seen one turtle and then another one a little later on ... but i've NEVER seen multiple turtles swimming around me at the same time ... it was amazing
i thought i should go in, and headed back towards shore .... into the sandy area again. the wave action was pretty strong, so in shallower water, a lot of sand was being kicked up .... but it provided for a dramatic strange 'snow scape' ... with white 'ghost' fishes .... at least that's what i thought it looked like ... what do you think ?
i think it looks like a snow storm ... but then i've forgotten what it really looks like :)
sorry ... that was cruel :(
i got out of the water and told a couple people what i had seen; Olivia, Rob, and I went back out. they were sharing one pair of goggles, but they got to see a couple of the turtles.
the waves were really pushing me around ... i was chasing this Hieroglyphic HogFish around and around this big rock ... everytime i thought i had him, another wave pushed us around ... i finally won :)
and i called it quits for awhile ...
i got out and took a tour ... you can climb up these rocks ...
and get a nice view of the beach ...
on the other side of the beach is a small rocky cove ...
and below you the waves are crashing into the volcanic rocks ....
and the Frigit bird was flying over head ...
in the middle of all these black volcanic rocks, is all this RED rock .... where is my geologist when i need him ? ... so many questions, and few answers ... :(
i walked the beach a bit and saw several sets of tracks that a female turtle makes when she goes ashore to lay her eggs ...
then i walked the rocks for awhile ... and saw this Great Blue Heron ... all the way from Michigan :)
and saw this piece of Whale bone ... it was huge, but i don't know enough about whale structure to know what part it is ...
i thought this was interesting .... a 'bowl' in the rock that collects water as the tides come in .... filled with salt .... of course, it's salt water ...
another look at the beautiful beach and it was time to meet our taxi ..
i'd like to come back here again ..
when we arrived home ... ANOTHER guy had arrived ... this is nuts ... :(
No comments:
Post a Comment