During our stay at Cayo Espanto, I decided to take an Excursion titled “Bird Island” from Cayo Espanto’s Activity list. Cayo Espanto describes their “Bird Island” excursion as follows:
Just a short 20 minute boat ride away from Cayo Espanto enjoy viewing the shore birds like Seagulls, Pelicans, Egrets, Herons. During the month of October to February we have the migratory birds that are: Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills and Reddish Egrets. This is an enchanting three hour adventure.Cayo Espanto
The tour started on day three of our trip, at 4:30pm. I left my wife to relax at the villa, and was guided to the boat dock by Carlos. I hopped aboard Little Kate, the smaller of the two boats operated by Cayo, and we made our way to sea.
We were met by a short rain squall about half way there. It didn’t last more then 3 minutes, and the beer the Captain offered me made the rain irrelevant. We arrived at the first island and turned off the boat’s engine and drifted along the very shallow coast. The Captain pointed out the various bird species which included Cormorants, Herons, and Roseate Spoonbills. After slowly circling the island, we made our way back toward Cayo stopping at another island.
This second island had a lot of activity. There were dozens of White Ibis flying around it. We pulled up close to this island as well, but then we ran aground. I thought this was going to be a problem, as I watched the Captain jump out of the boat and head to the bow. He told me the sand was pretty solid and we could walk up onto the island. I quickly agreed and made my way off the back of the boat. I was a bit nervous as I entered the sand as it was like quicksand in some places. I had my Sony a1 and 200-600mm lens on me and all I could think about was me falling in the water with it. That would be an expensive mistake! I carefully made my way onto the island almost losing one of my water shoes to the quicksand.
Here are some of the pictures of the birds around this island.
We made our way into the mangroves and looked at the Ibis nests in the tree tops. As I turned around to make my way back to the boat, the sun was setting. It made for a great photo.
As we departed, we ran in to two locals working on an island property. They were on a paddle board trying to net some fish. The Captain explained the workers stay on the island and work for 3 weeks, camping out. Then they go home for a week. We tossed them some beers and headed back to Cayo.
Adam Woods