We went to this beach (11/10/07) on our own but with our group.

We took a water taxi to the beach $3.50 round-trip, you buy the tickets at a little store at the other end of the pier. There were others on the dock offering boats to Las Gatas beach but were $1.50 more per person and didn’t seem to belong to the same boat taxi service that ran all day. The boats are old and un-painted but seemed safe. Getting in them at the dock was sort of easy however getting out and in them at Las Gatas was very difficult, even for the fittest! When we got to the beach landing we had to be helped out of the boat.

We then walked down the beach past many restaurants (if you can call them that, they were shacks with all seating on the beach) with umbrellas and some shaded lounge chairs to reach our group at David’s big Pirate flag. Each restaurant you pass (they literally are right next to each other with only the color of their lounges/chairs/umbrellas to tell the difference) has a pushy waiter trying to get you to stay at his place, which was the best of all the beach!

Our group choose the one by the $25.00 1 hour full body massages. Service was lousy at our restaurant shack, it took forever to get an order of food or drinks. While it doesn’t cost to rent the chairs and umbrellas, your required to eat or drink at their place to sit in their chairs. There are no free chairs on the beach.

My husband had a couple of beers and we had the garlic shrimp (which was fantastic) and we did not leave a tip as every time my husband got a beer they would tell him they didn’t have change, so we considered that their tip, which in the end was $4.00 between the beers and food! They don’t speak much English there, just the basic stuff they need to know to get you to buy their stuff. Janice & Willie sat at the restaurant right next to us as they were the only place that had loungers left and had great service. They all are very limited on lounge chairs, so get there early if you want something other than table, chairs, & umbrella.

There were a few banana boats for rent but I never saw a price as I didn’t get down to that area. There were no parasailer’s, but we saw jet skis for rent (I didn’t see any prices), I did see a few kayak’s but don’t know if they were rentals or not. There were many beach vendors walking around but were not too aggressive.

The water seemed clean and clear but bring your water shoes as all along the waters edge was coral pieces that cut your feet. I took my own snorkel gear (don’t know if you could rent it there) so was able to get into the water with my flippers and later water shoes.

I swam over to a reef area, it was in shallow water (approx. 3ft.), there were many colorful fish, sea snake, and an eel, however the current kept pulling me into the reef. I had to put out my hand to stop me from crashing into the reef and cut my hand on the coral, so that ended snorkeling for the day.

When it was time to leave, we walked back to the little cliff like dock, a boat was called in for us, we didn’t wait long. It was quite a challenge getting my disabled husband back into the boat without getting hurt. There were lots of boats, just waiting idle to take people back, unfortunately they were all in the same condition and size so we could not wait for an easier boat to get into.

To get into a boat it was a 2-3ft drop over the edge of the cliff dock, yes there were many natives with helping hands to help you but they seemed little in size compared to my 6ft husband. We waited a few minutes for others to fill the boat (didn’t take long at all as this was around 3 pm and last boat taxi was at 4:30pm).

Once back at the main tender dock, my husband went back to the ship and I ventured to the other end of the dock for some shopping. There was a car taxi service willing to take you to downtown for shopping but I chose to shop at the 3 streets of shopping at the dock.

Most shops (in buildings) would not deal with you but the few shack vendors at the beach edge were very willing to. I did not spend a lot of money in the shops as their prices seemed a little high, I was later told it was because you were not in town.

The day we were there the weather was hot but bearable. I did enjoy my day at Las Gatas beach but would try something different next time. The cost for the days excursion was great, and those with large families would have a great day at the beach for little money.

Photos posted here:
ziggy638's photos and albums on webshots

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