Day 3 - Shete Boka NP & Playas with Turtles!

Day 3 (8/8/23)

There's a little more action today. After breakfast we drive north to Shete Boka NP. Our first stop is BOCA PISTOL, where the waves crash against the rock and shoot into the air like a giant geyser. Very impressive! By the way, it's a good thing we have an SUV. Although the sandy slopes are also easy to drive on with normal cars, an SUV like this is a lot more fun 😊

We continue to BOKA KALKI bay, where we find hermit crabs and admire stone towers. The bay is rocky and huge waves roll onto the beach. You can walk along the rocks above the bay or go to the beach below. We do both – despite the heat! It's incredibly hot today. The car thermometer showed +35 degrees earlier. After a short stop at BOKA WANDOMI - the "Natural Bridge" we only look at it from a distance due to the heat, we go to the last stop BOKA TABLA, past a large (fake) iguana to the bay with an underwater cave. It can always happen that a large wave floods the viewing platform. So we are careful - the water is low right now and the big waves are far out. We go down slippery steps to the viewing platform down into the cave, from where we can look directly at the waves in front of us. Adventurous – and scary at the same time. Get out of here quickly 😊

While my husband and daughter want to watch the whole spectacle from the edge of the rocks above the bay, my son and I walk back along the path to the visitor center and look for shade. We're all soaked in sweat now, it calls for swimming!

We drive to Playa Piskadó / Playa Grandi, Sabana Westpunt, where there is said to be a jetty from which fishermen throw their “fishing waste” into the sea, attracting pelicans and turtles. The parking spaces are well attended, the small pier road to the harbor is completely parked. We're lucky, a car is driving away and we grab the only free parking space. Before we go snorkeling, we treat ourselves to a portion of fries and an ice-strawberry smoothie in the small bar on the jetty. We also want to avoid the midday heat and stay in the shade in front of the fan.

After eating, I look at what there is to see from the jetty. The water is absolutely amazing! I have never seen such clear and turquoise sea - not even in the Maldives was it so clear and turquoise!

There are already a few tourists snorkeling right at the jetty and I can see several turtle silhouettes in the sea from above. Cool! A pelican also sits on the edge and waits for a piece of fish. So quickly get your snorkeling gear out of the car and get into the fun!

We snorkeled for about an hour around the jetty and a little further into the bay and saw countless turtles - in between the not so attractive fish remains such as dorsal fins from large fish, "fish skeletons" and other "remains" lying on the white sandy bottom and all kinds of animals attract.

But the turtles are awesome!!!

We leave the sea just in time when a busload of about 50 people with life jackets shows up. Now it's getting crowded! Let's get out of here quickly.

We drive to Playa Kalki, where we rent 4 loungers and umbrellas (approx. 10 € / set) and chill out and snorkel for the rest of the afternoon. The highlight are the bathing platforms with chairs and a table in the bay, from which you can jump into the crystal clear water.

It's also great for snorkeling. You don't have to snorkel far, right along the beach/rock and you're in the middle of the coral garden. There are fish cavorting between the bathing platform and the beach; I see a particularly large number of trumpet fish in the afternoon.

We end the evening playing cards on the terrace - but only with enough mosquito spray! The beasts like to eat me...