After a week in Granada, we drove to Lake Apoyo to spend about five days. “Laguna de Apoyo” is a crater lake that is over 575 feet deep. It has six endemic species of fish (cichlids), and because of the minerals of the volcano, is believed to have healing powers from the water. The water is also naturally heated which makes diving very comfortable. The rumor is that there are areas in the lake that you can see sulfur gasses being released, but we never saw it.
Our place overlooked the lake and had absolutely stunning views.
Our “house dog” was named Pinto. Keali did everything in her power to fatten the poor dog up some. He was the benefactor of every piece of food that wasn’t eaten by one of us, and by the end of the five days, he was a little healthier looking. Keali loved on him every minute we were at the house.
Sweet Pinto soaking up the love on the patio.
Our main purpose for the visit to Apoyo was to scuba dive in it. We were curious to dive in fresh water, and we had heard there was a dive shop whose proceeds went to support local schools. Volcano Divers was the dive company we used which ended up being a great group of folks.
We did make it to dive in the lake and had a great time playing with the differences in buoyancy from the salt water that we were used to.
Caden and Scott swimming just above the volcanic sand bottom.
We happened to be there right after all the baby fish were born. It was interesting watching the parent fish hover and protect (to the best of their ability) the small spawn.
I suppose the biggest problem was that we happened to dive just as a huge storm floated over the lake causing it to be very dark.
And while the visibility under the water was actually quite good, the darkness wasn’t conducive to photos which is a complete disappointment for me.
We spent a couple of days chilling lakeside at The Laguna Beach Club. The kids had a tremendous time jumping off the pontoons floats and kayaking.
Scott and I enjoyed it just as much sitting at the lakeside bar reading. (I think I read two novels in their entirety those days which hasn’t happened in months.)
There was also a parrot there that evidently bites, but Keali was brave enough to hold it.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea…”
And as an attempt to do some level of helping our world, we participated in a beach clean up run by the Peace Project.
Cleaning up the beach
Laguna de Apoyo was a fantastic stop. Three or four days there is really all one needs, but the extra days of just hanging out again was also nice. Next stop: Corn Islands.