Such a beautiful lagoon!! The water is a beautiful shade of blue :)We took a boat tour through the lagoon and learned about the landscape etc. Great tour!
Wonderful cruise through mangroves with many wild birds... out to ocean protected by a shallow reef, into a cave en route to the most wonderful beach. Great, sheltered place for kids and swimmers (or soakers) of all abilities. Great service whenever you choose to place yourself along the beach, with food and drink brought to you. We whiled away several hours there, loving the water and the beauty of the setting. Especially great was the number of local families who were there, it didn't feel like such a tourist activity after all (even though it was worthwhile for that). The town of Rio San Juan is charming and a good place to look for a meal or a drink before or after your day out.
We were in the lagoon during our day trip. Unfortunately weather was horrible and we were bouncing around in a small fishing boat across the waves in the pouring rain. Could not even see around to appreciate all nature around us.
The lagoon is small but nice. The tours are organized and there are flat rates depending on the group size. It was 1,500 pesos or about US$34 for an 1.5HR tour. The mangroves are nice with a lot of birds. Then the trip along the cost is interesting. You can stop on the beach for extra which is nice. It is public but clean and safe.
Our guide brought us from our hotel into the town to the Gri Gri Lagoon. Once there he took several pictures of us and then proceeded to negotiate with the locals for a boat to take us out in. In the lagoon were many children swimming and playing, the water was perfectly clear and you could easily see fish swimming in the 4-5 foot depths. As we started our tour we were told to look for barracudas as they frequented the Lagoon often. We were given history and back-stories on everything we passed. It was very informative as well as a beautiful tour of nature.
We took a boat ride from the lagoon, the scene was nice. We were expecting to swim in some cave but the guide did not take us in and said it was not safe because of the waves. When we passed by we saw other people entering so not sure if it was just our guide wishing to return earlier.When we returned from the boat ride, the ticket booth guy demanded another $10 from us, claiming the money we paid earlier was fake. I do not know if he was lying or not, as we do not even know the fake bill he showed was from us, and why he did not tell us when we paid but blocked us 2 hours later. We still paid him $10 as we did not want to waste our vacation time in sorting out these things. Fellow travellors, just be careful!
It was overcrowded but the mangroves were close and the boat trip fabulous it was pretty dirty also....
We were exploring graveyard beach nearby when a local rowed up and offered to take us in his boat. There was a total language barrier so no price was negotiated. We weren't even sure he wanted money. He rowed us out to a great scuba spot, anchored, and swam with us before rowing into Gri Gri. The passage through the mangroves into the lagoon was magical. The intricate weave of the mangroves with the birds and live music in the distance made for a very "off the resort" adventure. The lagoon itself was full of colorful boats and lively people. We didn't see any other tourists, which gave us a greater sense of adventure.
I didn't expect anything, and maybe that is why I was so surprised, but it was beautiful! I just walked around it and took photos, but it was so beautiful I had to sit down in couple of different spots and have a ciggy and just contemplate about life and the beauty and peacefulness of this place. Lovely little boats nested in there... Just beautiful!!
Is very beautiful lake. There are a lot of cool things there. And the best is to take an small tours into the beach.