Boat tour & surfing

We'll start with the bad news first: one of us got seasick and the conditions weren't great for snorkeling.  The good news: we had a fantastic day nonetheless!

The day began with a typico breakfast at 7 AM.  We then applied our sunscreen and got our belongings for a 7:45 departure.  The ride into the town of Uvita is a short one: just 5 minutes down the road.  In town, we stopped at Bahia Aventuras to meet our boat guides for the morning.  Alejandro and Dean discussed boat safety, what we could potentially see out in the ocean, and our itinerary.  We got our life jackets, then boarded the bus for another short ride down the road to Bahia Ballena national park.  We wouldn't have access to our bags during the tour because they are stored in a dry area in the front of the boat, so they had wet packs for us to place our cameras, phones, etc.  This way, we could keep the bag near us, then take out our electronics when it was safe (when we were stopped) to take photos.  There is no marina at Bahia Ballena because it is a protected area, so the boats backed up along the shoreline and we waded out to hop in.

We had two boats for the morning with 10 people on one and 11 on the other.  We stayed together, but not close, so we could cover more water when looking for animals.  Our first stop was the whale's tail reef formation for which the beach and the national park are named after.  The tide was low, so people could walk out on the formation.  There is a 800 meter sandbar that connects mainland to the reef formation.  At low tide, it actually looks like a whale's tale from above.  The entire reef is natural except for one cement pillar that represents the high water mark.  Our guide grew up in Uvita and said that the only time he has seen it completely submerged was after the earthquake/tsunami in Japan a few years ago.  He said even with high and low tide, the pillar was submerged for 10 days.

The boats headed north along the shoreline and we weren't having much luck finding any wildlife, so we turned out toward the open ocean and a shrimping boat.  Dolphins like to trail behind these boats to get something easy to eat.  This was a great move by our guides because it didn't take long for us to spot a pod of dolphins.  There were 4 or 5 of them and Alejandro told us they were tropical spotted dolphins.  Costa Rica has two species of spotted dolphins: Atlantic spotted dolphins on the east coast and tropical spotted dolphins on the west coast.  The best part was that two of them were babies.  We saw the babies jumping out of the water.  Alejandro said that they were learning that behavior from their mother and that dolphins do that as a social behavior or to slap/stun the fish they want to eat.

Tropical spotted dolphins (sorry I can't edit pictures on the Chromebook)

Then we turned south toward Piedra Ballena.  Along the way, Emma and Katie spotted an Olive Ridley sea turtle swimming near us.  Once it heard the engine, it quickly ducked under the surface.  They are not an endangered species, but they are vulnerable.  It is not uncommon to see them in Costa Rica.  Ben had a great eye and saw a devil ray jumping out of the water.  Right when we all turned and looked, it happened again.  No one knows why they jump out of the water, but the two most widely accepted reasons are that it is to get rid of parasites or it is showing off to a potential mate.

As we approached Piedra Ballena, it was clear that the island was inhabited by hundreds, maybe thousands, of birds.  A flock of brown pelicans flew low in formation right in front of us and continued around the island.  We saw brown booby birds (no blue-footed ones: those are very rare to see in Costa Rica), white ibis, and frigatebirds.  White ibis normally nest in marshes and near rivers, but the water is too high during rainy season, so they come out to this island to nest.  We saw another olive ridley sea turtle, then made our way past the Three Sisters rock formation closer to the shoreline.

Piedra Ballena

Because of the conditions, we could not snorkel around the rock formations.  There was so much rain in the last few days that the rivers brought a lot of sediment into the area.  Alejandro said you would only be able to see an arm's length in front of you, so from the boat we looked at the Window Cave formations. (Note: I have tried to get more pictures to load, but it is taking forever.  I'm tired and the Chromebook is not taking them from my camera, so you'll have to wait for these pictures until I get home.  I'll have my phone for other excursions so I can get pictures on here, but anything on my camera is just not cooperating right now)

Playa de Arco was just around the corner and the boats dropped us off here for a little break.  All the beaches in Costa Rica are protected and public, so anyone can have access to them.  This beach, however, is very difficult to get to: it isn't close to any homes or roads.  We had a pristine beach all to ourselves.  We quickly noticed that there were so many more sand dollars, shells, crabs, and hermit crabs along this beach compared to the more touristy ones.  We dropped off our water bottles and life jackets and could swim for a little while.  The rip currents there are not like Uvita or Dominical, so we could swim out a little farther.

After some swimming, we were called in for a snack: fresh cut pineapple and watermelon.  The students stood around the cooler and made quick work of the pineapple.  Shortly thereafter, there was a commotion in the trees.  A group of white-faced capuchin monkeys was fighting with a group of howler monkeys.  This commotion quickly carried over to the students as they started jumping and hollering like the monkeys themselves.  We got the group to calm down and stay quiet because the noise would either cause the monkeys to go away or it would increase the aggressive behavior of the capuchins.  Alejandro had us stand at a safe distance to take pictures and video.  These two groups continued to chase each other down the treeline of the beach, with our group right behind them.  Several of the monkeys were carrying babies on their backs.  We did not get to hear the sounds of the howler monkeys, but we were able to watch both species leap and bound from branch to branch.  It was incredible.

The excitement wore down and we spent the rest of the time playing in a waterfall or the stream cutting through the beach, climbing rocks, trying to catch the different crab species, or taking pictures.  After over an hour of playing at the beach, it was time to take the boat back just 5 minutes to Uvita, where we would end our tour.  We washed the sand off our feet, then went straight to the hotel for lunch at 12:30.

We had a little free time between lunch and surfing, most of which was spent at the pool.  All free time is either at the pool or playing card games: they never get sick of it.  We left for Dominical at 2:40 to meet with our surf instructors.

Because of the tide and rip currents, we went a little further north today to a different protected beach.  I didn't see the name of the beach, but we were behind "Hacienda Baru Lodge and Wildlife Refuge," so you can check that location out on Google Maps :)  The students were getting more and more confident in their surfing, to the point where they asked if they had to surf with instructors, but today was a major reality check.  With the tide and a storm coming in, the waves were stronger and more frequent.  It looked like they were stuck in a washing machine today.  However, it was a good adrenaline rush and they were all happy with their progress.  It started pouring in the middle of the lesson, so I didn't get as many pictures today.  We had to end our lesson a little early because the storm got stronger and we could see lightning on the horizon.  There weren't any complaints because we stopped for ice cream on the way back to the hotel.

 

We had about an hour to shower (or swim and play cards) before dinner.  We played a few more games before bedtime.

One of the best parts about these trips is getting to see the students' new perspectives.  I absolutely love whatever small group or one-on-one time I can get with them so I can hear what they have to say.  During the surf lesson, I was swimming with Marley, Aubrey, Alyson, and Mikala because they were done for the day.  We were just talking about the trip and Marley goes "Yeah... I'm more of an indoors girl. Like Netflix and cereal." We laughed about it, but then she continued "My mom said that this trip is the total opposite of me, but I'm so glad that I'm here.  Everything has been so fun." So even with bug bites, scrapes, and other inconveniences, they are having a great time.  This is what makes all the planning worthwhile.

Tomorrow we'll have community service and some more surfing.  The Cavs game is on at 6 PM local time, so we're hoping to catch some of that.  There is a big screen in the restaurant; it's been really busy the last few nights, but we're hoping that they'll let us watch it together in there.