Sierpe, Bahia Drake & Isla del Caño

This weekends trip was nothing short of amazing.   The trip was headed by Fabien, a master diver who works for a biological reserve team that counts fish in environmentally pressured areas.   The journey to Serpia, via tour bus, took 8 hours.  The group contained two students from Northern France, who are studying at The University of Costa Rica, a young female couple who mostly kept to themselves and bounced back conversation in Spanish and French, two friendly Ticos, one who is a world traveler and shared stories of Thailand and Vietnam, Alejandra (who is a the beautiful Tica I met at Veritas, who just earned her doctorates), and myself.   After the long bus ride we arrived to a set of *Cabinas- which was walking distance to the port.  We slept right away- and woke at 6AM the next morning, ate a full breakfast (queso blanco, gallo pinto, eggs, pan, piña, & juice), checked our equipment and loaded into two boats.  We then proceeded to go down the Manglares, which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and there was much time to enjoy it, we took the river all the way down to the mouth where it meets the ocean, and proceeded to the island.  When I was going through the Manglares, I kept thinking "I have been wanting to see this my entire life, and here I am!" Below is a video of on the way, when the boat captain had to return some borrowed gas.  I got to see how people live there in the Manglares... their "drive ways" are water ways that you have to push through in a boat.  Amazing. (Sorry it is quick- I didn't want to offend them by taking pictures).  

Back to the island: it was explained to me that one thing that is special about Isle del Caño, is that it is part of a Thermic Globe, an area where the temperature and environment is just right, nearly year round, to support an extremely diverse amount of wildlife.  

All of the dives were amazing.  Imagine the best reef tank you have ever seen, and imagine being the size of a fish and swimming in that tank- that is how big the reef was- but endless.  The parrot fish were half the size of me, and two of the sharks I saw where the same size as I, and there were just white tipsI!!!  The coral was stunning and so were the fish.  While all the dives were amazing my favorite was Bahia Diablo (Devil's Bay), though it was a deep dive (28 M) and hurt my ears- it was worth it.

The travel home was intense, to say the least.  Some of the roads were washed out from the rain, so we had to go slow, and the entire trip home took more than 9 hours.  

On other observations: the flowers here are of course amazing, as all the vegetation.  Some locals don't call it the "rainy season", but "the green season", which it is.  Everything breathes life, and while in the jungle, I understand why scientists call this place "The Lungs of the Earth".   As in many parts of Mexico, you don't flush t.p. here because the water system is often a pipe that flows directly into the river, or simple filtration system of sand and rock.  The natural environment used to be able to absorb this waste, but with increase in population and tourism, the strain on the environment here is visual prevalent.   The master divers talked of the damage being done to the rivers- toxic seaweed that grows due to soap from the large hotels (fish eat it and die) and there is a mass amount of pesticide run off (from North American owned banana plantations such as Dole and Del Monte).  Many locals talk about not having clean water available.  What first appeared to me as heroically simple water collections systems for environmental reasons, I now realize have a lot more to do with the fact that they do not have water available to them in any other way, and are usually not taking precautions in what happens to the waste water because have not the money or knowledge.   When I asked locals in this area about the water many spoke of concern for huge hotels and tourist attractions going up.  Yes, they are productive in a economical sense, but it is not the locals who are reaping benefits.  For example:  a natural aquifer not being available to the people (lack of government funding), and yet a private investor comes in and offer millions of dollars to tap the water. The government usually takes the mone, because they need it.  One man said to me: "It is not good to know the water below you, that you have been waiting to have access to, is being used up by a large hotel that just further pollutes the river."   At the cabina I stayed at the waste water was pumped literally directly behind the cabinas, into an off skirt of the river- which is drying up.  In the last picture you can see the outdoor sink, where river water is pumped back up to use for washing equipment and floors.