Day trip to Zapatilla Island(s), Sloth Island

Awesome morning. Temps around 81F, same as every other day so far, but clear and with little wind. It’s been a couple of days since we’ve had a sunrise with few to no clouds. Today we’re back with Capitan Mario for a full day of snorkeling and sightseeing. Mario’s boat is in the shop so we’re going out in a water taxi piloted by Marsh, a nice young man who has excellent English and a working boat.

We met up with Marsh then picked up Mario before heading south to Zapatilla Island. It’s about a 35-minute boat ride through the mangroves to reach this set of two islands, Zapatilla 1 and Zapatilla 2. Both of these islands are nature preserves so no private homes are allowed to be built. There is a caretaker’s house here that accommodates the people in charge of maintaining the island’s beaches and restrooms. Pretty good gig if you can get it.

Soon as we get within 100yds of the beach at Zapatilla 2, Collette dives into the water and swims to shore to check things out. Just can’t break that Navy Seal training. I, on the other hand, remained calmly in my seat until she declared the island safe. Go Army!

View from Zapatilla beach

Really nice island. Big sandy beaches with absolutely no one around, for a while anyway.  The water was a little cooler than by our house and really refreshing.  We don our snorkel gear and head out to see what’s there. Not much. A parrot fish and a school of jackfish were the biggest fish we saw, along with a few green, silver, and black fish you’d typically see in a dentist’s aquarium. And that’s ok. Just cruising around in the ocean with no one around is really peaceful. Also had a bit of time to just relax on the beach.

A few people started to show up so we decided it was time to go in search of the elusive sloth. Besides, it was close to 1pm and lunch.

Typical water taxi

Sloth island is situated in the midst of the mangroves and not easily found. Marsh knew exactly where to go and shot through the mangroves like our boat ride in New Zealand, sharp turns and side-slipping his water taxi to give the Gringo’s a good ride.  Damn near soiled myself but enjoyed the ride.

Turns out Mario is a damn good sloth spotter. Right away he found one clinging to a tree trunk. You could barely see it’s arms but Mario spotted it. Then he spotted one coming down a tree branch. Marsh slowly moved the boat closer so we could get a few pics. Wasn’t afraid of scaring the sloth, there’s just no reason to hurry.  Collette was one happy camper. She loves sloths. (Yeah, I know, she’s lived with one for 39 years, haha.)

Sloth climbing down a branch

Time for our late lunch back at Buena Vista restaurant then off for home. All this sun a sloth hunting takes a lot out of ya. Couple of margaritas should do the trick. Tomorrow is a down day so time to gather our laundry and do a little blogging and emailin. You guessed it; Friday is LAUNDRY DAY! Off to see Sammy and get the duds clean. As long as we’re there, we’re going to snorkel a bit at starfish bay. I’ll tell you later how it got its name. Til then…

Zapatilla island local (about the size of a small shirt button)