For animal-lovers, a place of interest in Lake Nicaragua is the small Monkey Island, home to three spider monkeys that local conservationists oversee. If you get close enough to the island, the monkeys will gift you with playful antics and stare back at you with equal curiosity.
Birdwatching is also plentiful around the lake, and frequent sightings include herons, red-winged blackbirds, doves, kingfishers, and a bird that is endemic to Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica, the Nicaraguan grackle. You will also often spot local crabbers in the shallow grasses near the marina, as well as fisherman all over the lake fishing for tilapia, guapote (an ugly but tasty fish that is usually fried, endemic to the lake), masamiche, palmeta, barsino, and plateada. They fish in the exclusive attaraya net-throwing style and sell their bounty to local markets. Nearby cities aside from Granada include Managua and Leon, where private island buyers can take advantage of a mixture of island living with city visits.
