A slow start after our late night, we headed out for a snorkel in the reef nearby. Sadly the visibility was not great, there were some massive big coral structures but all looking a bit poorly with loads of bleaching taking place. Quite a few fish but nothing of any size. It certainly feels like the place has been overfished.
Off snorkelling
Late afternoon we decided to head back to the little hotel and try and find Calypso who had tried to sell us a walk to the village and jungle to see sloths. The bar was empty and the waiter told us Calypso was inebriated with too much NYE celebrations. We decided to walk to the village, Salt Creek ourselves and see if we could find him. What an adventure walking along this amazing path through the swampy forest. The path had strategic planks of wood to keep you out of the water and mud, they were in various degrees of decay, with endless tree roots to trip you up, so you had to concentrate hard.
The empty bar
The path to the village
Tree roots and broken boards a lot of the way
We finally made it to the main highway in the village, a new concrete path with brand new solar lighting, that leads from the sea inlet where all their boats are kept, all the way through the village. Obviously no cars here! The village consists of 1100 inhabitants, with a little school, church, and playing grounds. Scarily the path and church is all sponsored by the Jehovas Witness crowd, very Book of Mormon-ish! A friendly lady greeted us and took her to their family shop, we asked after Calypso and she indicated he was on the bottle in fiesta mode, but she got us a guide and Phoebs and I supported them with a few little purchases.
The new village highway with its solar lighting
Typical village house
Our guide took us for a very hot, muddy walk into the jungle. We had to walk through the village first, which was alive with partying, music and bored looking youth. The vegetation in the jungle is so dense and the trees so tall, it would be very easy to get lost. We saw some lovely colourful birds and finally a good view of a sloth although it was up high. Of course we forgot to take the binos! It was rather reassuring seeing a sloth very close to the village, poor things must have had a torrid time with all the bangs from the fireworks, which have gone off all day long too.
Into the jungle
Wild Heliconia
Tall straight trees
The closest we got to a sloth
Phoebe spotted the little red frog famous in this area
A very spiky tree, to keep off climbers!
We left our guide in the village and made our way back to the resort just before dark. There was a lot of mud washing off required before getting back on JeldiJeldi.
Heading back to the resort
Plenty of rubbish around
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