SV MANGAS: La Tovara

After Isla Isabela, we stopped in Ensenada de Matanchen just south of San Blas. The anchorage is a bit nerve wracking with the depth hovering around 11 feet for about ½ a kilometer and we have an 8 foot 8 inch draft. Yikes. Once in, however, we were treated to a large anchorage where there was only one other boat that left that same evening. This should probably tell us we are heading in the wrong direction as everyone else zooms north ahead of hurricane season.

We quickly jumped off the boat to cool off. The water felt great, but due to the large estuary dumping into the sea, the water was very murky with really low visibility.

The following morning, we took the dinghy into shore and found a great palapa restaurant where the waiter was more than happy to watch over our dinghy while we adventured inland to take the La Tovara tour. We had a great time, as you will see below, but on our return we were eaten alive by Jejenes. Bastards! The kids looked like they had the pox for days.

Purchasing some refreshments in exchange for dinghy babysitting

On the tour were a great variety of herons as well as cranes and other water fowl. Our guide was very informative and had a great eye, spotting 4 crocodiles for us on the way to the zoo at the end of the estuary. The zoo itself was one of those where you are glad that they only have a few animals, because those animals don’t have it so good. Not many zoos where you will find Pacifico bottles among other odds and ends holding down the top of a pen where a red fox was being kept.

It is a pretty sad commentary that for the first 15 minutes I couldn't shake the feeling that we were on the Magic Kingdom Jungle Tour complete with animaltronics