Niyama Resort: Exploring the reef

At low tide I (Eric) thought it would be fun to put on my old running shoes and walk out into the ocean to see the outer reef at close hand. This was on the eastern side of the islands, the western side dropped off more sharply and was the go to side for snorkelling. However on the east side at low tide you could walk out for half a kilometer without getting more than chest deep in the ocean.

On the reef there seemed to be a lot of dead coral however in a few places marine life was making a comeback. I did my best to stay on the sand and off the delicate coral but this required a bit of careful navigation. There were a few fish around including small sharks but no where near the massive numbers I saw when snorkelling on the other side of the islands.

The view from the reef was interesting. It's a bit odd standing in the middle of the ocean looking around at the land in the distance. There was a light surf breaking on the reef but not much of the wave action made it across the rocks and into the lagoon where I was walking around. Eventually I returned to shore, again playing tiptoe through the coral.

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Inca Trail day 4

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