Isla "El Tigre"
Sunday - March 21, 1999

$29 for a round trip charter.  No life jackets or safety instructions.  Loading up on Isla Zacate Grande, an extinct volcano joined to the mainland by a road through the mangroves.

Who is The Skipper?

Zacate Grande recedes into the distance.

Port of Amapala. We stop to refuel (gasoline from a jug).  Dark rocks on dock show water level at high tide.  Click here for view of map.

Mitch appears to have triggered a mudflow from the slopes of the dormant volcano.  Bird experts John and Tim assure tourists that the white material on the rocks and trees of Isla El Pacar (left of photo) is neither ice nor snow.  At low tide, a narrow strip of sand connects this small island to El Tigre.

"You all rode out to an island in that?  You are braver than I thought"  Passengers disembark at Playa Grande from The Minnow.  Shelagh is aided by the captain and Roy.  Isla El Pacar is visible, center right of photograph.

Playa Grande beach at low tide (note bare rocks exposed above water line).   Charter captain loads passengers for Zacate Grande, promising to return in 2 hours (he has not yet been paid).  Water does not appear particularly inviting.  Some of the locals are swimming, but tourists find beachfront tables in the shade.

Come to think of it, there are no signs prohibiting animals on the beach.

Rising tide and wind combine to prevent charter boat from rounding Isla Picar.   Pick-up trucks provide overland transportation for tourists to the Port of Amapala, where our cruise ship is waiting.  No, this is not the truck we rode.   Apparently open pick-up beds are a common means of transportation at this tropical paradise.

Corn field on Zacate Grande with a view of the mangroves and shrimp farms.

Mangroves up close.  When we drove through this area 4 hours earlier, the water was 2 meters lower and lots of mud was exposed.

Mitch took out the road from Zacate Grande to San Lorenzo and the Panamerican Highway.  This area is where the deltas of the Río Choluteca and Río Grande have built up a nearly level plain of sediments into the Golf of Fonseca.

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