In the morning, when MS and I arrived at the docks, they were being ripped up, so I had to slowly shuffle precariously across planks balanced over the water in order to get to the boat. This was somewhat scary.
Also somewhat scary for me was the snorkelling. I have snorkelled before, off of Hook Island in Queensland, but that was in shallow water near the beach. Snorkelling around an old shipwreck in the deep ocean was different. I had the same feeling of not being able to breathe that I felt when I scuba dived and I kept getting water in my snorkel. I felt vaguely panicky and finally MS gave me a new snorkel mask that fit better and I was able to snorkel a little more sucessfully, though still quite anxiously. I did get around the shipwreck and see some striking huge round brainy coral and electric blue fish, but I didn't snorkel for very long, afraid of getting too far away from the boat.
shipwreck
Cubagua Island is flat and strewn with prickly low vegetation. It boasts a mud lagoon filled with dark grey ooze that MS encourages tourists to slather all over their body, promising their skin will be silky smooth afterwards. So the tourists and I wade into the mud, feet slurping, and proceed to cover ourselves and each other with a thick layer of mud. Then we waded out and waited for the sun to dry us to a cracked perfection.
natural skincare
Once dry, a mud-covered body is propelled into the sea for a soak-off and emerges with oohs and ahhs as to the softness of baby-new skin.
After my mudbath I lunched on the boat with the friendly and generous captain, who brought a lunch for me.
I spent a lot of time standing in the front of this boat, too, on the way home, but it did not have the same degree of bump and fall as the catamaran. Still, fun. And beautiful as I watched the sunset, a moon-colured ball of sun lower in the sky.
Today I woke up in MS's arms. Today we made it to La Restinga. This is a beautiful and extraordinary place. The park is home to mangrove lagoons and two large lakes. The entrance to the park is desert, flat packed sand with cactus trees. There is a visitor's centre and stalls selling jewellery and empanadas. The lagoons have a very homogonous ecosystem and very homogonous naming system: the Love Canal, the Tunnel of Romance, Lover's Way, that sort of thing. Two types of trees make up most of the life in the lagoon mangroves. The 'black' trees have mazes of little spiky roots sticking up from the water and bigger, shinier leaves. The 'red' ones drop roots into the water and have slightly smaller duller leaves that are salt-coated. I also noticed a couple patches of light green furry/prickly growth on the mangrove roots, oysters and crabs.
La Restinga lagoon, photo from www.islamargarita.com/lagunalarestinga.htm
The lagoons lead to the ocean. We were let off the boat at an old Indian town, with little colourful rectangle houses right up against each other. The ocean was calm, the beach shelly and not very populated. There are 22 miles of beach.
On the way back from the beach the water had turned tree-green, as if all the trees had their doubles under the water as well. Tree-green below and green trees on either side made it feel as if I was gliding through a growing tunnel. We took a narrow canal, with knee-high and gnarly roots and leaves canopying the boat. The feel of an ancient place. It should be in a movie.
Arriving back to the entrance of the park quite hungry, MS and I ate empanadas. I had two, one stuffed with cheese, one stuffed with black beans and cheese. Delicious.
I was so tired that I dozed off on the bus ride home.
My little toe still hurts. I slipped down the ladder on the catamaran while going down to the bathroom. I think I've broken it. My toe is very red and very large. I have mango rash spreading on my arms, light but there.
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