Like most tours, the guide picked us up at our hotel. The bus was a large, clean, well-maintained, somewhat new vehicle. The guide was multi-lingual and obviously loved his job. After collecting all the tourists, he transported us to the marina, where one of King David’s open-air boats awaited to carry us on our adventure.
While the skipper steered the boat through the bay, the guide pointed out everything nautical along our path and had interesting bits and pieces of information for us. We were told about the shrimp fleet, the cruise ships, the sport fishing boats and the Navy base.
As we left the main harbor area, we entered inlets and waterways lined with mangrove trees with hundreds of waterfowl. At the end of one waterway, we pulled into a dock and went ashore to tour a small farm where we saw live alligators, crocodiles, and turtles as well as more common farm livestock.
Next we boarded a trailer, pulled by the farmer’s tractor and rode to the beach. While there for about an hour, some walked the shore collecting seashells, while others rented horses to ride along the beach. Then the farmer returned us to the dock at his farm, where another man and a woman had prepared meals, giving us the choice of fresh fish or quesadillas. We ate and drank our fill, while sitting at roughhewn tables under a huge palapa.
On the return trip, we were in for a great surprise. The guide was able to attract about 40 or 50 pelicans to the canvas cover above the boat. He invited all who were willing to come up to the bow, individually, to hand feed the pelicans that flew along with us as the boat carried us back to the harbor. It was amazing fun for all.
After returning to the marina, we again boarded the bus for the ride back to our individual hotels.