Dinghy ride to Isla Bartholome

When we awoke the next morning, WAHOO had already left, whereas we decided to stay at Isla Contadora for awhile and do some exploring. Although the weather report was for rain, by mid-morning it had cleared up, so we decided to take the dinghy over to this charming-looking little island about a mile away called Bartholome.

With the new propeller, it was easy to get the dinghy up to a plane and in a few minutes we had crossed over to the island, put the wheels down, and hopped out in a foot or two of water, then hauled DITTY up on the beach where she would be safe for an hour or two as the tide changed. This little spot was absolutely stunning.

What had started out as a cloudy day had turned into a bright shimmering one. The sand was white and soft beneath our feet and the views in every direction were spectacular. Off to one side was a majestic rocky reef with the small waves getting magnified and breaking on it with gusto. The beach wrapped around to another point and another rocky projection that looked like something from a beer commercial. We started walking around the island, marvelling at the turquoise blue waters and enjoying the sun shining so brightly.

Part way around the island, we found a crab that was tangled up in a discarded fishing net. We spent a few minutes liberating him from the net, even, it seemed, sometimes against his own wishes, as he would re-snarl himself in an attempt to get away. We had no knife, but we were able to use my lighter to burn away parts of the monofilament, and sticks to prod and poke with, until finally he fell free of the net. We turned him loose down by the water's edge, and the last we saw him he was making his way along the beach, quite nicely, thank you!

We cut into the small jungle and hiked to the top of the small hill in the center of the island. It looked like someone had used it as a campsite. There was a small area cleared, a rope strung between two trees, perhaps to form a lean-to, and a fire pit lined with rocks. We returned to the beach the way we had come, continuing our walking circumnavigation of the island. There were a few spots where we had to take a little care walking over the reefy rocks between two beaches.

Just out of view of the beach where we had first started, we came upon what was apparently a leftover set from the "Survivor" series. There was a stage built from plywood over 55 gallon drums that were welded together to make a float of sorts. It was painted green with distinctive thematic patterns in white. We stopped for a bit and took some pictures of it and the pretty point there, before finishing up on the beach we had started at.