Earthquake, Surfing and Turtles in Puerto Escondido: Davis & Michelle's Epic Adventures

 

Day 1: After a 4am start to the day, this is our reward. Puerto Escondido is in the Oaxaca region, on the southwest coast and is a small fishing and surf town with a focus on ecotourism.

Trying out the rooftop hammock at our hotel.

180 stairs down to our beautiful beach. That’s the optimism in me speaking because the 180 back up to the hotel was hotttttt.

Piña Colada Time.

Heading to town.

Bracelet Buddies!

Tlayuda. Traditional food from the Oaxacan region, is a large, thick corn tortilla folded over cheese and other ingredients. It is cooked longer than a typical tortilla. Delish!

Day 2: We survived!!

Earthquake!! Surfing!! Baby Turtles!

We started the day with our room shaking and the earth gurgling due to a 4.7 magnitude earthquake. We survived!

Surf lessons for both of us followed that experience and all was going well. Davis owned his first ride on the sizable 5ft waves and when it was my turn, I was able to stand up for a few seconds. BUT THEN…. La Bruja popped up! The Witch is what the locals call a wave that pops up out of nowhere and destroys EVERYONE. Like, boards up, bodies down, disoriented, destroyed. EVERYONE! x2 because a second one followed. We survived!

We ended our day visiting a sea turtle preservation camp where a local non profit group works to increase the sea turtle population and public awareness. There are 4 species of sea turtle here and today, we released 6 baby Olive Ridleys. They survived…we hope… but only 3% survive, though.

Hiking down to the turtle conservation camp.

Each stick is a recovered turtle nest. The ones in the back with the ring around it are about to hatch. The netting above the camp helps control temps, to control the turtle gender.

Releasing “Rummy”

The release.

Enmoladas … corn tortillas filled with chicken and cheese and then covered with mole sauce.

Day 3: Chacahua National Park: A Secluded Treasure

One hour van ride; over a million speed bumps. Boat ride through the mangroves; saw tons of wildlife. Hung out at the beach; swam and watched surfers. Hiked up a hill to a huge rock formation on the ocean; great views at sunset. Boat ride back to van; stopped to swim with bioluminescent creatures.

Mariposo

Sopes with beans, cheese and avocado.

Yellow Footed Egret. One type of egret out of at least 5 we saw. The lagoon is also home to 4 types of mangrove. There are 246 species of plants and 189 species of animals…including crocodiles, coral snake, rattlesnake and anaconda.

Chilling in Chacahua. Chacahua has been a National park since 1937. It is made up of 4 large lagoons, 35k acres made up of savannas, mangrove and coastal dune. There are a few small communities that live on the islands, but with little cell service and some WiFi.

Walking to the point

Swinging away.

Vibes

Climbed to the top of the rock formation for sunset pics

Climbing down like a rockstar.

Bioluminescence in the lagoon// no flashlights, just natural bio coming from the boat wake.

Day 4: Y’all!! We surfed again today and I rode two waves!! I’m proud that I gave surfing a try, with Davis’ encouragement. We then headed to another beach to snorkel and swim in the ocean, while watching people get wiped out on shore due to the crazy powerful waves.

Sunset Time

Mojarra / Tilapia

Puerto Angelito

My sunset loving buddy.

Day 5: I’ve seen dolphins and sea turtles before while kayaking, but observing them NEVER EVER gets old. I get excited and full of happiness with each encounter. Today, Davis and I went out on a boat for a sunrise expedition. We saw tons of sea turtles mating, manta rays flying, and sailfish sailing in the air, none of which I’ve seen before. Even better? When a large school of dolphin came swimming through (like hundreds of them), I jumped in the crystal clear blue water with my goggles on and swam with them and the bioluminescent phytoplankton that were so bright you could see in daylight. With my head under water and making eye contact with the dolphins, we connected.

A Dream Is Possible, especially at sunrise. 

Fisherman cast netting to catch bait.

Heading out to sea. 

Sea Turtles Mating!!

Mating in action. 

Family of dolphins. 

 

  Breakfast views.                                  Lunch Views.