The smallest of our coastal lagoons, with an area of 1400 hectares, it is located in the department of Maldonado, a few kilometres from the tourist hotspot José Ignacio. It exhibits a variety of habitats, mainly wetlands and grasslands, and is well-known for the diversity of its bird life.
A highly diverse environment with beaches, sand dunes, small lagoons, wetlands, forests and grasslands, it was designated as a national protected area in 2014 . A fragile sandbar separates it from the ocean, which opens several times a year, both natural and artificially.
This 7.200 hectare-lagoon is recognised nationally and internationally as significant for conservation, particularly with regard to shorebird populations. A national protected area since 2010 and a Ramsar site since 2015, it is also separated from the ocean by a fragile sandbar.
Declared a Refuge for Fauna by decree 266/1966, it was designated as a national protected area in February 2020. This lagoon is singular in that it is connected to the ocean by a canal, the Arroyo Valizas, which gives it a unique configuration and an unusual landscape.