Monterrico mangrove canal boat tour

Behind Monterrico's black-sand beach runs the Chiquimulilla Canal, a man-made waterway that follows the coast from the Salvadoran border to Puerto San José with mangrove swamp crowding both banks. Boatmen take visitors out from the dock at the inland end of the main street, a ten-minute walk from the sea, for a trip of about two hours through the channels, which shelter a good share of the coast's plant and animal life.

It is a cheap, unhurried outing, and a good use of the hot middle of the day, when the black sand is too hot to walk on and the surf is too rough for most people to swim far. Bring repellent for the mosquitoes.