A few days later, we found ourselves anchored off a perfect half-moon, white sand beach at Isla San Francisco. Great little hiking trails onshore led to spectacular viewpoints. Several charter and party boats of the mega rich were anchored here for the first day, but then they cleared out. That gave us plenty of space for more hikes - one stunning view after another - as well as a chance to fully try out some of our new beach kit, especially our beach shade.
The center of the island held salt flats. We tried to gather some but it happened to be hard as a rock and we didn't have a hammer or any hard tool with us to break it up.
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| Salt flats in the middle of the island. I'll be back for you. |
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| One spectacular view after another - a view of the middle of the island, with the salt flats on center left, anchorage on far left. |
We were deep "in the zone" now at Isla San Francisco - surrounded by crystal clear water and a harsh but beautiful landscape. We started exploring the reefs and I took my spear gun - it was just a matter of time until I speared a fish. At this point I was doing reconnaissance and making sure I knew my fish well enough to be confident I would be getting one we wanted.
From Isla San Francisco we set out for one overnight at Puerto Los Gatos (we'll come back for a few days there later) and then on to the famous Agua Verde anchorage! We'd no sooner anchored in the gorgeous southern anchorage when a local fisherman paddled up in a sit-on-top kayak and introduced himself. He was Don Alfredo, and he seemed surprised and very pleased that both Jennifer and I spoke Spanish, as he spoke no English. He sold us two triggerfish for a few bucks, and then threw in a third for goodwill. Each of these triggerfish could feed both Jen and I for a meal. We spoke with him several more times during our visit at Agua Verde. I wish I had gotten a better pic, but by the time I grabbed my phone, he was paddling away to go fishing and it was the last time we saw him, because we departed.
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| Friendly local fisherman Don Alfredo, paddling away. |
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| A Triggerfish (and more in the bag) from Don Alfredo. |
It was a magical few days we spent anchored in Aqua Verde. Some highlights included a hike that turned into a rather dangerous arroyo scramble, but led to great views of the anchorage; and a feeding frenzy of pelicans, cormorants, gulls and other seabirds on a school of sardines that lasted for days.
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| View of the anchorage from the dangerous arroyo scramble. |
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| Seabird feeding frenzy on a school of sardines. |
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| Bonus pic: zombie turtle! |
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