monterrico on the coast

needing to warm up a bit i spent the weekend at Monterrico which is on the pacific coast.  it's less than 2 hours from Antigua on good roads so it's even possible to do it as a day trip.  

there is a cruise ship port on the pacific coast so they run a lot of day trips from there to Antigua [thus the good road].   Monterrico is just a one street strip of low range hotels but the food where i stayed was surprisingly good.

i did go to the much larger turtle 'sanctuary' here but it felt much more commercial than the smaller one i visited last year but i got to see something just as spectacular here.  i was on the beach early in the morning and there was a WHALE just offshore.  it was playing for about 30 minutes and it was amazing to watch it in it's natural environment and not in some small concrete tank in an amusement park.

the coast is on the migration path but the staff later told me it's rare to spot a whale so close to the beach.  i don't know why anyone would want to kill or eat such a beautiful animal.  there's an increasing awareness here of the problem with both dolphins and whales being caught in old fishing nets but like everywhere there is driving economic need for the fishing which will always win over the concern for animals and the health of the oceans.