Sal Si Puedes, Honduras
The Sea Lion drops anchor as the rising sun chases the last of the moonlight from the surface of the sea. We are in Sal Si Puedes, or “leave if you can,” so named for the areas once abundant ambushing pirate ships. We launch our own fleet of vessels, the Zodiacs, which take us up the Rio Tinto, and to our first encounter with Honduran natural history. Oropendolas fill the still dark corners of the rainforest with unlikely bird sounds. Iguanas lounge on leafy overhead pillows as our boats glide under reaching mangrove tendrils. In a wind fractured tree trunk lies a real treat, an anteater is curled up and soundly sleeping. He is not stirred by our vocalized enthusiasm. Later our lone empty Zodiac comes zooming by, completely full of native Garifuna women and children, singing, dancing, and laughing in mid river. Children perform difficult traditional hip movements while balancing on the edge of the inflatable pontoon. We head back to the Sea Lion full of sights, sounds, and smells of the Rio Tinto basin.
After repositioning the ship to the snug anchorage of Bahia Escondido we set out on foot into the recently rain moistened forest. One group heads up the famed “six hundred and fifty steps” to the ridgetop for views of two bays and far off peaks. Another takes a trail to a shallow, sunny bay, where we encounter mantled howler monkeys feasting on purple flowers. A new born clings to its mothers fur and watches us with apprehensive eyes when it is not dodging branches or learning to identify the flowers it will someday have to pick on its own.
Back at the anchorage, kayakers and snorkelers take advantage of the calm water. Hammocks swing between palms, chairs dot the beach and the day comes to a close. We feel quite welcomed to the Caribbean.
The Sea Lion drops anchor as the rising sun chases the last of the moonlight from the surface of the sea. We are in Sal Si Puedes, or “leave if you can,” so named for the areas once abundant ambushing pirate ships. We launch our own fleet of vessels, the Zodiacs, which take us up the Rio Tinto, and to our first encounter with Honduran natural history. Oropendolas fill the still dark corners of the rainforest with unlikely bird sounds. Iguanas lounge on leafy overhead pillows as our boats glide under reaching mangrove tendrils. In a wind fractured tree trunk lies a real treat, an anteater is curled up and soundly sleeping. He is not stirred by our vocalized enthusiasm. Later our lone empty Zodiac comes zooming by, completely full of native Garifuna women and children, singing, dancing, and laughing in mid river. Children perform difficult traditional hip movements while balancing on the edge of the inflatable pontoon. We head back to the Sea Lion full of sights, sounds, and smells of the Rio Tinto basin.
After repositioning the ship to the snug anchorage of Bahia Escondido we set out on foot into the recently rain moistened forest. One group heads up the famed “six hundred and fifty steps” to the ridgetop for views of two bays and far off peaks. Another takes a trail to a shallow, sunny bay, where we encounter mantled howler monkeys feasting on purple flowers. A new born clings to its mothers fur and watches us with apprehensive eyes when it is not dodging branches or learning to identify the flowers it will someday have to pick on its own.
Back at the anchorage, kayakers and snorkelers take advantage of the calm water. Hammocks swing between palms, chairs dot the beach and the day comes to a close. We feel quite welcomed to the Caribbean.
