I traveled to Tela in March during the first big sunny week of summer.  Antal suggested we go exploring some new parts of the coast where I had never been. We headed around the peninsula called Punta Sal and into a series of lagoons on its western side. The rock formations were stunning; black igneous layers that have been pitched at sharp angles over geologic time. Whatever the stone is erodes in right angles giving them the look of dragon scales sticking up out of the water.

In one cove, the seawater had eaten away a tunnel underneath one of the cliffs. The water was calm enough that we could swim the whole way through. “It’s called the Tunnel of Love,” Christian Carias, the dive master told me. It was super fun to swim through the natural tunnel, a kind of thrill at being inside both the earth and the sea at the same time. On the far side, I paused to notice encrustations of limpets and barnacles in the ridges of the rocks. Tropical ferns dripped off the cliff and frigate birds patrolled the skies.

We continued on to the next cove and pulled up to a small island. There was a tree hanging over the water where our boat landed and as we drifted up a fragrance like jasmine mixed with honey and something else wonderful overwhelmed us. I’ve never smelled anything like it. You wanted to melt in its presence. And I wasn’t alone. As the canopy of our boat brushed against a branch, a rainbow of a thousand butterflies took to the air. The tree was fluttering in reds, yellows, oranges, blues and of all sizes and shapes. If you look at the video below carefully, you’ll seee them flickering like confetti. We immediately dubbed the spot La Isla Mariposa. There’s a lot more to say about this magical island, but I’m going to leave you with this teaser for now.

After exploring La Isla Mariposa, we headed back to Tela. It was still such an incredibly calm day that even though it was afternoon, and the winds should have picked up, we were able to make a stop at the Acropora gardens to see how they’d fared over the winter. They fared very well! The elkhorns were deeply colored and happy. The Acropora prolifera were gorgeous in their filligreed white tips. Even the brains and boulders that grow a little deeper than the Acropora looked healthy and happy.

Elkhorn

Elkhorn

Brain coral

Brain coral

Boulder coral

And to finish off what was truly and incredible day, a jellyfish I’d never seen before met me on the way back to the boat.