Today we hired a guide to take us on a private snorkeling and deep sea fishing tour. Since we’ve had so many early mornings, Caroline woke up first, at 6am. Caroline never beats Bennett out of bed so that was really surprising. I think it’s great news because usually we need wake her up at 7:15 on school days, so that she can make the bus that comes at 7:33. Since we’re also on central time, I have high hopes that she’ll be ready for school! We had the continental breakfast at the hotel. It was pretty good. We each got a plate of fruit, then could pick a type of eggs (scrambled for Caroline and omelets for me and Joel) and a side (pancakes for the kids and toast for me and Joel). No complaints from us!
We met our guide Terry on the beach of our hotel. He had a hired boat and driver ready to go. We hopped in and headed for Isla Bartoleme, a deserted island about 15 minutes away from Contadora. They were going to do some deep sea fishing first, and since I can’t be in a boat like that, I was dropped off. Caroline decided to come with, which I can’t say was a good or bad decision. It was HOT and SUNNY with no shade for relief. She complained the whole time, first because she was hot and second because she was worried they’d never come back. We explored what little island there was to explore. There were a few local fishing ships off the shore, so it put me at ease knowing I could yell for them at any time and get help. There really wasn’t much to do to pass the time. We opted not to take anything with us because I thought they’d be fishing with the local fishermen. Our guide took them way out there to fish, so that definitely want the case. But it really was fine. We saw some fossilized plants, looked for shells and took a million pictures. And in the end, the guys didn’t catch anything.
After about an hour the boat returned, much to Caroline’s delight. Then we headed to La Isleta, a little island near Saboga. It is a semi-occupied island, but no one was there. The island was full of old rundown cabanas used by the crew of the first Survivor show, which filmed on Saboga. It was since purchased by an expat who has fixed up a few to live in, but also had a place on Contadora. The fixed up cabanas were still very rustic and I had made the fatal mistake of leaving my sandals on the boat. Bartoleme had some pretty difficult areas to navigate barefooted, mostly super hot rocks that burned my feet. La Isleta was a different story. The cabana area had worn paths with shards of concrete, super hot. Then the large rocks were covered in shells or something that made it crazy painful, plus were insanely hot! The beach was full of shards of coral and shells, so that hurt to walk on. Oh, was it bad. I left layers of skin on those rocks, I’m sure. Caroline decided she didn’t want to snorkel and was with me. Luckily she was wearing a pair of water shoes.
The boys were just snorkeling around the island, so we could see them from certain areas. Caroline then decided she wanted to try snorkeling. When the guys came to shore, she was able to join and saw a large parrot fish. I wasn’t sure what was happening but could see her screaming in the water. Like mother, like daughter I guess, because I’ve had the exact same reaction to fish swimming near me in Thailand. But they had a great time snorkeling . They saw 30’+ long brain coral and lots of fish. Joel said it was a little hard to see as the water was murky but it was still a good experience.
Afterwards it was a little after 1 and we went to Saboga for lunch at Gianluca In Cucina, a really good Italian restaurant on the beach. The chef/owner was an expat from Italy, and we just went with his recommendation. Caroline had a much missed pepperoni pizza. Bennett had spaghetti bolognese. I had a seafood pasta with spicy wine sauce and Joel had a clam pasta dish with wine sauce. For me, it was probably the best seafood pasta I’ve ever had, and I’ve had quite a few.
Once lunch was finished, we headed back to our hotel on Contadora. We reapplied sunscreen (for maybe the 5th time today) and hung out at the beach. Then we took some pictures and promised the kids screentime. Since we are a late lunch, but the kids were hungry, we just got them a burger from the hotel restaurant. Joel and I shared an order of calamari. It was little while calamari and was delicious!
Tomorrow is our last full day in Contadora so I’m sure it’ll just be a beach day. The sun is really a 9 or 10 out of 10 for strength. We’re all burnt in different parts of our bodies. We have been slathering sunscreen on like crazy. Caroline’s face and lower back are burnt pretty badly so she wore Bennett’s extra swim shirt and her hat all day. The only benefit of the sunburn is Caroline finally understands why we kept bugging her to reapply sunscreen on Monday, so she doesn’t fight it anymore.
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