When I went to view my apartment in London I met Kassuas who said if I did one thing in Puerto Escondido then I needed to take a boat trip to see the dolphins. He showed me videos of scores of dolphins jumping out of the water. Initially sceptical, as I’ve been on a tonne of boat trips promising wildlife, but then started doing some research and it seemed that there were lots of people backing up his story. We opted to go with Roberts Eco Tours, who were not able to do a trip so put us in contact with Omar’s Sports Fishing. We had an amazing time with Omar’s but I think it you go for either company it will be good. It cost 500 pesos each which is around Β£20.
Our guides spoke good English and were conscious about the wildlife. They kept their distance from the whales and also took their own route so we were ofrecen the first boat to see the wild life before the other boats came and scared them away.
A taxi arrived around 6:30 AM and were greeted by our guides. Within a few minutes we were in the boat, with life jackets and touring the harbour as the sun rose.
When I was back in the UK I brought an new zoom lens and I was excited to try it out. I loved snapping things like these dogs playing on the beach.
You can see how this area has so much wildlife. It’s only recently that this area has become more populated by humans and i wondered if this is how all the beaches in England once looked.
I particularly like the fisherman working and the surfers playing. And yes the water is warm.
After a quick tour of the main bay and a talk we headed out closer to the beach where we released the titles and straight away saw some whales. We were one of the first on the scene but soon a small amada arrived.
I was really happy with this set of photos. The whales disappeared each time they came up for breath and we were not sure where they had gone. They kept coming up for air. Then we were told that they were right underneath us and this happened.
I never thought I’d get up so close to whales and it was so exciting to see them. The boats all left one by one and we were alone and then headed out away from shore.
There was movement and we realised that we were surrounded by dolphins.
They were playing and then started to see them jump out of the water.
We were the only boat around and followed them for some time. A few people jumped in to get a closer look but I was happy taking photos.
We then saw a turtle approach. He seem the just be chilling as he swam past.
And then we found more dolphins.
These next shots are my favourites. Everyone jumped in the water and there were a few boats around at the time so the dolphins ran away, and then I saw a splash in the distance and got these on full zoom.
Another turtle came to hang out.
We saw a bird seemingly walking on the water but realised he was resting on a dead turtle. We pulled some plastic out of the water and then soon after saw a sea snake. I know snakes can swim but I didn’t know you would find them so far off shore.
There was then a short tour of the other beaches and we were given so much information. If you are coming to Puerto Escondido is really recommend doing this on your first day. It’s 3 hours and out is in such a good mood and the guides were full of recommendations and information about the town.
After we stayed on the beach eating a full lunch and beers around 11am. The afternoon is lost to me now but I think we just relaxed on various beaches until it was time for our next adventure of the day.
The Laguna de Manialtepec
There is a lake to the north of the city which is teeming with wildlife and you can go during the day and take boat tours to see all of the birds. You can also go at night and see a very different effect. There is bacteria in the lake which’s glows in the dark when unsettled. We paid 300 pesos, which felt like a lot after we had paid 500 for the boat tour in the morning. I can’t remember which company we booked with but I feel that your experience wouldn’t change much.
We were picked up late and the van was already full and we drove about 30 minutes to the lake. Here there was a chance to change, although no changing rooms offered. I realised at this point that brining my camera had been futile. It was pitch black and I wouldn’t capture anything. Actually it caused me more worry than anything as although I had a dry bag there was so much water on the boat that I spent most of the time worrying about it.
We split into groups and Angela and I ended up with some Mexicans and soon we were racing across the lake on a speed boat. Life jackets again provided. It took another half hour to get across the lake, sadly we had cloud cover but I can imagine with a new moon and lots of stars it will be stunning. Our guide drove the boat in circles to make the water glow, parked up and gave instructions in Spanish. He then proceeded to spend the rest of the time playing on his phone.
Angela jumped in first and I joined her shortest after and as you moved the water glowed. This was fun and the water was warm but the it became boring after a few minutes. I actually started to find it a little scary but maybe that is just me. Out of everything we did I found this the least exciting. Maybe visit the lake in the day but it was a lot of effort and money for not much payoff. We were in the lake for around an hour when we left by boat, a quick change and drove back to town.
On the Sunday we got up early and walked along the beach watching the surfers practice. Angela wanted fish tacos for breakfast so she took me to the most amazing place and at 10 am we had fish tacos and a beer. I could have eaten these all week.
We had been told by the German guy from the hostel that it was possible to buy a day pass to the fancy hotels. On the beach the boat trip the day before they had recomendad visiting Playa Coral. So we headed off in that direction but couldn’t quite find the entrance and ended up in the beach next door. We decided to grab some cocktails and sat in hammocks deciding what to do with our lives. In the next couple of hours we decided that I was going to move to Colombia for a few months before moving to Buenos Aires at the end of the year. There we go life sorted in one short afternoon. It was a really nice and romantic relaxing day and we stayed until it was dark.
The next day it was time for me to meet Lorenzo and have lunch with Angela’s her family. I finally found out how amazing at cooking Angela was, she made seafood pasta, and afterwards we spent our final afternoon on the beach, watched the sun set and made sand castles with Lorenzo. Then I’d was time to pack our things as we were flying to Mexico City the next morning.
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