Back to the Beach

January to April is our summertime, and although we are 9.5 degrees north of the Equator, our summer is still switched from the rest of the north, because now is when the skies clear, and there for the most part won't be a drop of rain until about the first of April.

This is Playa Grande (the big beach in spanish) which is about a 40 minute hike from town along the Nicolas Wessberg absolute reserve. This beach is foot access only, but a beautiful hike. It also gets big swells periodically:

This is also the site of the Chunches del Mar art festival, where local artists spend months cleaning up debris and trash that float over from the other side of the gulf and make an art installation from the items collected, as well as coordinate beach cleanups on this beautiful beach. This is an annual event, which usually takes place at the end of January, this year it falls on the 30th.

For more information, you can check their website here.

While you are out there, you can keep on hiking along the foot access only beach until you get to El Chorro waterfall out at Cocolito, which is a beautiful little river that falls directly out into the ocean, and you can climb up underneath at low tide, although below the waterfall is inacessible at high tide, but you can always hike up the trail that takes you towards Tango Mar resort and check out the view from above on the river.

There is also a way to drive closer to this waterfall, but you'll have to ask for detailed directions from us, because it can get a little confusing, and you'll feel like you are out in the middle of nowhere.

If you aren't interested in the hike, and you don't have a car, you can always take the Tortuga Island snorkeling tour, which takes you past the El Chorro waterfall by boat out on the way to the snorkel sites around Tortuga island. The tour leaves at 9am, and you get back around 3pm. They do a nice lunch out on the island, and there are lots of things swimming around in the gulf, although water clarity can be a gamble at times, just the trip out is worth it for the time on the water and the lunch on the island, although don't mistake this for a remote getaway, as it is a popular destination for local tours and boats and fishermen. Sometimes the water clarity is pretty amazing, though.

Thanks for the snorkel pics, Heather