We unloaded the dinghy and went ashore to check out the beach. We walked down to the resort and stuck our heads in. A cruising guide said they sometimes let cruisers to patronize the restaurant and use their swimming pool, but they wanted to sell us expensive wristbands to cover certain times of the day for around $30 per person. While a was getting this information, Dr. Mark was engaged in heavy negotiations in Spanish for beer and pizza. He'd negotiated a rate of 150 pesos (about $15 US) for beer and pizza for the three of us!
The next day we packed a lunch, grabbed our snorkel gear and left early to take the dinghy up the river for another Jungle Tour. Still no crocodiles, but it was very cool. Larry had said the area was off limits, but the cruising guide said and maps indicated that you could go to the end and then walk over to the next bay which was labeled "The Aquarium" on the maps.
When we reached the lagoon at the end of the river there was a rope across it and a bunch of armed security guards standing on the shore near a dock. Mark called out to them and asked permission to approach them, requesting permission to go snorkeling for an hour. They said there were no services available on shore. Mark has such a way of disarming people. In Spanish he asked 'What no beer, no pizza, no dancing girls?" The guards responded with laughter and agreed to let us go ashore. They only said "no photos".
So we took a short walk over a berm to the beautiful sand beach on our way to the appropriately named snorkel spot "El Aquario". It was teaming with amazingly colorful, tropical fish - incredible varieties, including rays, eels but thankfully no jelly fish. I was sufficiently spooked by the jelly fish in just the next bay where we were anchored so the nasty little blue rasps that thought they were piranhas and kept picking at me were really freaking me out.
It was a great day that would not likely have turned out as it did without Mark's quick wit and charm. We had cold beer a lunch on our way back down the river to Ten Bay. He was felling so good that he did a hand stand on the beach - Beto's treatment had worked miracles on his injured shoulder. Since there wasn't anything else there, we decided to sail to Malaque that afternoon as it was only 6 miles...