Sabana de Nisibon

Last weekend we had an information session for the fishermen at Sabana de Nisibon, which is an hour car ride away from Miches and a Peace Corps volunteer, Angela, is stationed there. There are about 35 fishermen there who use nasas de bambú, free diving, compressors, and harpoons to catch lobsters and other kinds of fish. They were extremely interested in learning about how to develop ecotourism in the area because they complain that there is a lack of jobs and they need an alternative source of income during the fishing bans. Initially we were considering this community for the lobster house pilot project but it is an hour drive away so it would make monitoring difficult. Instead we are going to focus on the community of Los Mameyes.

After the information session, we went for a boat ride to explore the coral reefs and mangroves in the area. In order to reach the beach, we piled into our respective cars and motos. The road to the beach was one of the worst I've seen. There were deep puddles that are known to have leeches in them. One of the priorities would have to be to make the path more passable. The beach was gorgeous! Much better than Playa Arriba, the beach off of Miches. There was also a lot less trash because it's so isolated and is lined by coconut palms. Here are some stunning photos of the beach.

Paul took us out snorkeling in some shallow reefs and saw a few brightly colored fish, but not many. Diving in the deeper reefs off of Sabana de Nisibon is supposed to be the best diving in Miches. Before we meet up with Paul, he went snorkeling and he saw a sea turtle! This beach is also a nesting site for leatherback sea turtles, which could also be another tourist attraction.

Fun Facts: Leatherback turtles are the largest of all sea turtles and is different from other sea turtles because it doesn't have a shell but it's back is instead covered with oily skin.

After we got off the boat, we took a coconut break. The fishermen broke out their machetes and cracked open some green coconuts. The juice was so refreshing! It tasted vaguely of coconut and was slightly carbonated. Then they cracked the coconuts in half and chopped off a small section of the outer husk that we used as a spoon to scrape off the coconut meat. It was very delicious.

Then we took some fishing boats out to explore the mangroves, which would be another tourist attraction. There are many birds that make the mangroves their home but we didn't see many of them because it was midday. I got eaten alive by jajenas, which are tiny sand fleas that remind me of no-see-ums in the Northeast and no amount of bug spray works against them. I had about 150 bug bites on each leg! I'm not exaggerating... I counted.