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******
Monday
January 29, 2024
We were up at 6am to catch a cab at 7am over to Dimitris and Rania's hotel to catch a bus for a beach tour at 8am. The bus was actually on time and then picked up more passengers and it took almost 2 hours to get to Playa Blanca (White Beach) in Baru. The last few miles were awful road and we crawled along through pothole after pothole. A person would think that with the traffic of roughly 50-100 buses on weekends, with minimum 30 passengers each, that they could chip in to at least grade and gravel the stupid road.
Included in this tour was breakfast and supper which was a tasteless, unbuttered baloney and awful cheese sandwich. There were stray dogs around who were grateful for the meat and cheese, but even they wouldn't touch the awful bread. Late lunch however was a fried complete tilapia which was very good.
We opted for an optional 4-island tour which was a waste of money as was a tour to a supposed underwater aquarium which was tiny, and above-ground. We were restricted to 35 minutes to view what we could... We did pass by another abandoned property of Pablo Escobar... At least we got a few photos of birds and the odd fish.
Later, Dimitris bought a few lobster which were cooked and delivered to us. Thank you Dimitris for the lovely lunch.
The trips to these places by open boat were about 2 hours on the Caribbean Sea with 1 meter waves, jammed in like sardines, and slammed up and down continously, and drenched from head to toe in salt water.... Fun, fun, fun.... I had my fanny pack with the Nikon and cash, etc enveloped in a plastic bag against me. Thank God that worked reasonably well. My poor hat took a severe beating and my Timex survived until I remembered to hide it in my pocket....
I think we were next to some poor rock star and his entourage at the main beach. The guy can't afford much clothing for his ladies:
https://youtu.be/n3FvBfi_730
And, after dark, we again boarded jammed boats to go into a calmer channel to view plankton in the darkness as they light up in the water when agitated. Dimitris and Rania were part of the group that jumped in the water to make the plankton light up while I took a few pictures. Considering that it was almost pitch black, I am not unhappy with the pictures
Then, all the boats went away, except ours, which would not start.... The idiot running the boat had no proper tools and was attaching bare wires to the battery posts. He did not call for help from other boats before they left. We are jammed in, uncomfortable as heck for another hour until he actually uses Cristina's phone light to try to get it running on his own before he uses Cristina's phone to finally call for help... Finally one man on a boat comes and they finally jump-start the engine and we get back to the main beach deserted, fearful that our bus was long gone, which it was..... But, they had 3 other buses there to take us back and deposit us at our various hotels.
I was up until 1am working on the photos before collapsing in bed.....
I hope you enjoy the pictures.
That was the day’s excitement.
Al
******
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Playa Blanca, Baru
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Dimitris & Rania
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White beaches
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Drive by Island 1
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Island 2
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Island 3
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Rich guys not crammed like sardines
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Island 4, Aquarium
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| Turtle |
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| Pelican |
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| Pelican |
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Pelican taking flight
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| ? |
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Sharks with long tails
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Frigate birds
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Dolphin show,but had no time to watch
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A lot of turtles
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Egret (heron)
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Colourful sea life
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| Seahorses |
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| Eel |
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No time to look it up, but familiar...
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White Ibis
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Frigate bird
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Frigate bird
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Pablo Escobar property abandoned
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Another shot
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Polly the Parrot
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Turkey vulture
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| Polly |
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Another party area in Baru
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Rania showing the lobster before cooking
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After cooking
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What a yummy treat
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Rania and Dimitris
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Beach scene
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Better beach scene
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Better again...
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Tired! I love this shot!
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Our tour's spot at thebeach
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| Jet-skis |
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Dimitris and Rania with plankton glowing
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I was surprised the Nikon worked
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Can't make out faces...
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This is the best I could do
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