Yes, I am a glutton for punishment and hope springs eternal, so I signed up for the 7 am guided bird walk on Canhabaque (Roxa) Island. I was all ready to go but at the end of the line when I got down to the zodiac loading area. They were only running two 10 passenger zodiacs. They loaded them up and took them to the island. It was nearly 30 minutes of waiting before they came back. They loaded the first one with 10 – I was number 11. I decided to just bag it and not go. Besides the bird walk, they would end up at the village over 1 ½ miles inland over an uneven pathway. It just sounded like too much for me – 30 birders on a narrow path. I returned to my room, took off my life jacket and went and had a nice breakfast instead. After that there were five groups on guided walks to the village so by the time it got to go on a boat for “free rangers/beach combers”, it was 10 am. Turns out I was the only one on the zodiac. Landing on the beach was a bit of a challenge because it was a steep slope with waves so I couldn’t get my footing. Finally made it. The tide was so high, there was very little beach to walk on plus it was very soft, sloping sand so really hard to walk on.

I ended up walking a few 100 yards inland on the trail. Not too much to see until I got to an opening where there used to be a small village. There were a few thatched huts.

I saw one cattle egret.

By this time, people started returning from the village, followed by lots of kids. A few attached themselves to me, wanting my water bottle.

One had some kind of berries.

At the landing area there was a large cashew bush.

Did you know that there is only a single nut hanging from the bottom of each fruit?

But then the fun really started. Lots of kids (mostly naked little boys) were swimming and then “helping” to load the zodiacs. It was pure chaos. If nudity bothers you – don’t look at the pictures….

In the afternoon there was a beach party with a bar. I am not a “lay on the beach” kind of person and I cannot swim very well I so decided not to go. I heard that while there were adults from the village, the kids were under control. But when they left, the kids swarmed the bar and started grabbing sodas and other drinks, so they finally had to take everything back to the ship.

Tomorrow onto our third island in the archipelago.