25 November 2023 Uvita

In search of the Whales Tail

“Right now, it’s like this”
Ajahn Sumedho

“Suffering equals pain times resistance (S=PxR)”
Shinzen Young

Awake early with a worsening bad tummy. It wasn’t a bad night’s sleep until the urgent need to get to the bathroom quickly.

I have all the symptoms of heat stroke and/or dehydration or a bit more worryingly, Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile or C.diff). Let’s see how the next few days pan out.

I am not hungry but I know that I need to eat, so I had an ‘American Breakfast’ at La Colonia Restaurant across the track from the Uvita Pirates Hostel. Rather amusingly, an Iguana wandered into the open air establishment, passed my table and went behind the counter… nobody batted an eyelid.

I stayed out of the midday sun but packed a bag with sunscreen, a small towel, water and a hat. I headed off to Uvita breach at 2:30 pm with the sky growing dark and the threat of rain.

Playa Uvita is part of Ballena Marine National Park and there is an entrance fee of $6 to access the beach. However, as I did yesterday, I avoided paying the fee by walking to the end of an adjacent track behind the beach until reaching a crocodile inhabited river flowing onto the beach and into the sea. I actually felt a bit guilty because the beach is in such good condition. It is the cleanest stretch of sand that I have seen in years. I am here for a few more days, so I will pay the fee the next time I come to the beach, which is likely to be every day.

I was feeling so unwell yesterday that the full experience of this beautiful location didn’t make a mark. But this afternoon, even under dark skies with the tide going out, I am in wonder at this spectacular beach.

The forest comes right up to the wide beach. There are no sunbeds or umbrellas, there are no hawkers or ghetto blasters; in fact there aren’t many people on the entire beach.

There are just a handful of surfers and a few people sitting on driftwood in the shade of palm trees.

It is such a great joy just to feel my bare feet sink into the sand.

This particular beach is about 2 km long before it meets with another similar sized (and free) beach – Playa Hermosa. Where they meet is the famous Whales Tail feature.

The walk to the Whales Tail can only be done at low tide which is still perhaps an hour or more away. It was getting dark and the park would be closing soon, so I stripped down to my swimwear, stuffing everything else into my backpack, and started to wade in thigh deep water towards the ‘tail’, the rocky promontory at the end of the sandbar.

As the tide recedes, the waves from Uvita beach cross with the waves from Hermosa beach. It is quite a sight to see and experience. At one point, a shoal of fish jumped unexpectedly from the water on one side of the sandbar towards the other beach, at least three of these scaly skinned vertebrates struck me in the bathing suit vicinity; I wonder if this is the origin of the Codpiece 🙂

As I walked towards the end of the ‘Whales Tail’ the tide continued to recede marked by a change from wading to paddling through the water. The sea on either side of the ‘tail’ looked perfect for swimming so I resolved to return another day to have a plunge, but for now the daylight was beginning to fade, so I set off back to the mainland.

It was a long walk back along Uvita beach in near blackness, as there is no light pollution.

Back at Uvita Pirates Hostel, I spent some time catching up on writing, eating crackers and drinking water.

Good night.

Budget costs: