Spring in Playa Las Tortugas
Having made the decision to buy Villa Reyes we decided to take a 2nd trip down to Playa Las Tortugas for spring break in April, having gone in Feb previously. I was a bit nervous to stay there having already agreed to buy the villa. What if I don’t like the house?!
No matter, it was awesome!
We brought the surfboards down again and were rewarded with great morning surf sessions just a short walk down the beach at Punta Custodio. Mellow waves but large enough (2-3 feet) to have fun. The south swells start picking up this time of year. We also did a lot of boogie-boarding right out front. It’s a bit warmer in Apr vs. Feb and no clouds at all. But still cools off at night a bit, which I like.
A few humpback whales were still breaching, but nothing like what we saw in February. The bioluminescence was also pretty faint compared to Feb. But the devil's rays gave us a big show as they rode waves and leaped out of the water. The kids were nervous and didn’t want to surf at first, but eventually realized the rays are harmless and we all jumped in.
We also brought fishing poles down for the first time to fish the estuary. We had 4 weight fly rods and used shrimp flies. My son caught a bunch of fish. A small-ish Jack Crevalle which gave a great fight and a bunch of Lady Fish. We didn’t eat any. Apparently the ladyfish are not good for eating. But they are great for catching. They leap way out of the water and put in a good fight. I read they’re sometimes called the “poor man’s tarpon”, haha. Whatever, super fun to catch! Also discovered fishing is a great way to meet locals who fish there. Even though my Spanish is still weak we were able to talk about lures and where to fish. Soon they were feeding my son and me tacos and beers (Cokes for him). Wonderful people.
Highlights
A great first stay at Villa Reyes
Mario and Maria are great hosts
Caught our first bunch of fish in the estuary
Great surf sessions at Punta Custodio
Tacos and beers with the locals
We did a clean-up of trash at the Estuary
Mario handed me a cold beer right when we got out of the airport
We also did a trip to Platanitos for lunch. You have to swim across the estuary, or wait until very low tide and wade across. Followed by a 15-minute walk with some hills. This time we went mid-tide and my wife was too wary to swim in the current. So, she went back and we pushed on. It was a weekend and I was surprised by how many people were there, compared to our previous mid-week visits. It was full of Mexican families all playing in the water and sand and having a great time. It wasn’t as peaceful as I like but was still pretty cool. We ate at Kin Kon, which is owned by Maria’s family. It’s named after King Kong, which is a fun nickname given to her father because he is so strong - and then the name stuck for the whole family!