Just when I thought that yesterday could not be surpassed, we spent another day at the beach at Marino Bellena National Park, this time at a more northerly location.  Today the beach was almost entirely sand, and although there were people there, it seemed very isolated.

We first went through a coconut palm and then a mangrove forest.  At the base of a coconut palm tree, our guide, Noel, taught us about the dangers of coconuts falling on our heads.  These suckers were big!  Then you could see them sprouting, all of which is very natural, but a little remote from the coconuts you can occasionally buy at the grocery store.

The mangrove forest was so different, and fascinating.  We saw a fair number of termite nests, which are built above the level of high tide, so they don’t get carried away.  Noel touched a couple of ants while showing the nest, and ended up with the terrible smell of formic acid on his finger.  Obviously

something to see and not do........

Our group continued on down the beach and waded across some water to a spit of land that had some very interesting rock formations.  While some of the group went swimming, others of us went to check out some tide pools. 

One tide pool was only about 8” deep and maybe 12 feet long, but it was full of creatures.  There were about a dozen different kinds of small (1-2”) tropical fish, ranging from deep blue in colour, to black and yellow striped, to one with polka dots and another one with a dramatic stripe.  Then there was a striped eel about 12” long, a sea star, a puff fish and little crabs.  (No pictures, these moved way too fast.)  One thing I found astonishing was how hot the water was in these tide pools.  In one, the water was too hot for my feet to be comfortable.  How these little beasties survive in this speaks of tremendous agitation.

We strolled back in a leisurely fashion, with the Brits using the hotel umbrellas to keep the sun away.  We had to go back for another big lunch, following by an afternoon of lounging around.  The weather continues to be very hot, humid, and sunny, although we have seen lightening at the end of the day the last couple of nights.  Coming home will bring us back to reality very quickly.

Tomorrow, we will be on the bus for most of the day, but I will provide some highlights of different things we have seen.