Lake Nicaragua's Las Islitas

The world's only freshwater sharks live in Lake Nicaragua, but as we boarded the third small boat excursion of our Panama Canal cruise, I had doubts we'd see anything but herons, ducks and other assorted water fowl among Las Isletas, 365 palm-covered mini-islands near the shore.  Nicaragua pleasantly surprised us.

First, the flora, with orchids and water lilies, proved to be much more colorful than the mangroves outside Cartagena or the leafy jungle we personally saw in Costa Rica.  The birds themselves seemed somehow more naturally graceful and serene, despite the fact that many of the islets housed private estates worthy of wealthy investors on House Hunters International.  Then again, wealthier investors have greater financial motives as well as means for protecting or even enhancing the beauty of the environment where they live versus indigenous natives who naturally see their world primarily from a more immediately practical perspective as a source of food and other elements necessary for day-to-day survival.

Our youthful but experienced skipper navigated among the tiny islands, knowing instinctively where to idle to allow his passengers to soak in the sights and snap away with cameras. 

He read our appreciation of the luxurious estates as well as the pristine lagoons perfectly, and we all enjoyed every minute of our boat ride.  Without question, arrival at "monkey island" brought the most oohs and aahs from his appreciative audience.  Our guide not only knew of monkeys but seemed to have built a friendship with Ponchito and the other monkey residents.  During our ride, the skipper never built monkey island up as the grand finale or even mentioned it.  He just positioned the boat perfectly and waited for monkeys to come out of hiding in the trees to put on a self-directed show.  

No other boats competed with us for the attention of the apes, and we spent about fifteen or twenty minutes bobbing gently in the water, laughing at their antics.  We stayed so long, in fact, that by the time we headed into the harbor, the rest of the boats in our group had already returned, and there didn't seem to be a mooring left for our boat. 

Our skipper took some verbal flak from shore for arriving late, and the motor stalling out a couple of times as he tried to find a place to park didn't help.  Nonetheless, when we returned to the bus, his passengers were all jabbering like howler monkeys, singing praises of our great boat ride on this beautiful sunny day.