We decided that we wanted to explore the North side of the island (the Blue Room in particular) a little more and dragged Steve along for the ride.  He picked us up in his dinghy (since it is on the way) and we hopped on the free grocery bus.  We were then able to walk the short distance to Mickey’s Car Wash and Car Rental where we rented a small car for 55 naf ($30/day) with a two day minimum, which includes all taxes, fees and insurance.

Our little Hyundai i10

Today was a day for errands and exploring.  Steve is rebuilding a grinder station and needed to find a machine shop.  He had originally stopped at a place by Napa Auto Parts while we were getting the car, but was redirected to another place called Mechanical Machine Shop Gabriella which happens to be located in the heart of a residential district.  We thought surely we were lost, but low and behold, maps.me directed us right to this hidden gem.  I had no idea what most of the machines were or did, but Matt and Steve were duly impressed.

The nice gentleman took his part and pressed the bearings out of his part.  Sweet!  He also told us where to get new bearings so we headed there next, to Kuzeta.  Unfortunately, after much measuring, researching, and checking inventory in the back they did not have either of the types of bearings Steve needed.  Bummer – but now its time to do something fun.

We wanted to start with the Blue Room since it had eluded us before.  We met a French family who found it on foot and gave us directions so we were determined to find it this time and if not we had a back up plan which was to pay $22 per person to take a tour with Captain Good Life who takes you by boat to the Mushroom Forest, the blue room, black sand beach and lover’s beach.  We drove straight to Playa Santa Cruz and arrived around 11:30 am, we easily found the trail and headed off with our snorkel gear, water, and camera equipment.  It was a fairly easy trail, nice dirt path, and not many cacti to avoid, step over or run into.

Matt & Steve on the initial hike

Within about 15-20 minutes we arrived at Playa Pretu which is also called black sand beach.   I will have to admit that the sand is darker than most, but I hesitate to call it “black” as it is really dark brown (in compared to other black sand beaches I’ve visited). None the less it is really pretty and deserted – no other people around.  We only stayed a short while as the blue room was beckoning us.

Playa Pretu “Black Sand Beach”

Playa Pretu “Black Sand Beach”

Matt found a small trail up a hill and off we went.  This trail was dramatically different from the first part of the trip in that it was small, narrow, ran along the cliff, and had tons of cacti to avoid (both on the ground and above ground).  It was not too terribly difficult in flip flops but it was a little challenging.  Our trusty maps.me app kept us pointing in the right direction until we finally came to the elusive cliffs at the blue room!

As we arrived, a group of four girls were just preparing to jump off the cliff (about 2-3 meters high) so we took our time to gather our gear and equipment before we followed them off the cliff.  Steve jumped in first and Matt tossed his snorkel gear after him, then I joined him.  I am not a fan of heights and jumping off a cliff in my bikini was not on my top 10 list, except I really did want to see the blue room so off I went.

Trying to convince myself to jump.

Matt soon joined us and we headed into the cave.  The cave was U shaped so the highest entry point is in the center at 1-2′ from the water to the ceiling.  As you snorkel in, you are immediately greeted with the most amazing turquoise blue water.  It was spectacular!  Toward the back was a protruding rock that you could stand on and behind that rock were several schools of fish.  A breathtaking experience!

Entrance to “Blue Room”

​As it was past lunch time, we decided to head back. to the car  We scurried up the cliff and back down the trail – but wait!  We noticed a little intersection that presented us with a nice flat, dirt path about 3 meters wide and the original path we came on (narrow, by the cliffs).  We decided to take the new path which deposited us right back to Playa Pretu.  As we looked around we saw that there are two paths – the one we took to get there that was more challenging up along the coast and the much easier one down a dirt road.  Oh, well, it is an adventure after all.

Easy trail back to Santa Cruz

We arrived back at the car hungry so we headed to Playa Lagun to eat at Bahia.  After we were fat and happy we decided to head back to Playa Piskado which is where we swam with the turtles.  This place is worthy of multiple visits. The majority of the turtles at Playa Piskado are juvenile green turtles.  As juveniles, they are omnivores which means they eat meat as well as plants.  At this beach, they primarily eat fish scraps from the fisherman’s daily catch.  As they get older, they will become herbivores eating mostly sea grass and algae.

Fishermen cleaning fish & feeding turtles

Some turtles have names & are tagged.

Some turtles have names & are tagged.

Entrance Playa Piskado: Fun Art

Entrance Playa Piskado: Fun Art

We wanted to squeeze in one last stop before heading back, so we continued north and stopped at Playa Kalki which is in Westpunt at the far northern tip of the island.  This was a new spot for all of us, so we piled out of the car, headed down the short stairwell and were presented with a beautiful little rocky beach with a few palapas, a small eatery, and gorgeous water.  We were running low on time so we did not snorkel here but I made a note to come back at a later date.

Playa Kalki eatery

Playa Kalki

Just your neighborhood goats crossing the road to get to the other side – somewhere on our drive back into town.

Goat traffic on opposite side of street

Conqueror:

• Jumped off a cliff
• Swam in a cave