Barra de Santiago is a thin sandbar peninsula in Ahuachapán department — Pacific surf on one side, a protected mangrove estuary on the other. The estuary is a Ramsar wetland of international importance, with extensive red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) channels, salt flats, and an interior lagoon.
The dawn tour is by lancha (small wooden motorboat) and lasts about two hours. You'll see large flocks of pelicans, white and grey herons, kingfishers, frigatebirds; with luck, a juvenile crocodile or river turtles. The light at this hour is the reason to go — the still water mirrors the canopy.
Local fisherman-guides run the boats; many of the same families that fish the estuary also work the AMBAS turtle conservation hatchery on the beach. Lylli coordinates the booking on the day.