Snorkeling!

Playa Hermosa

Day 2 of our first beach weekend since moving to Costa Rica was a pleasure.  We had arranged yesterday with Adolfo, the energetic captain and guide we met on the beach, to meet at 9 this morning for a snorkeling outing.  He expertly backed his boat right up to the beach so we could board without having to navigate the breakers.  We picked up another couple and headed for a small island just offshore.  

Heading out on Adolfo's boat

This was the first time that our kids had ever really snorkeled, and Madeleine and Henry jumped right in and were off.  Sullivan was ok with getting in the water with a life jacket on, but he did NOT want to look down at the fish.  Although he loves to wear his snorkel and mask in a swimming pool, apparently the idea of looking down into the murky depths and seeing the creatures swimming there was not his idea of fun.  Too freaky!  Nik tried to convince him to give it a go, then I did the same, but we had no luck.  Fortunately he was fine with sitting on the boat, while one of us snorkeled around nearby.   

Ready for action

Before he realized we expected him to look at the fish!

Madeleine and Henry (on left) were naturals.

Adolfo was eager to show us as many fish as possible, and we were a little shocked when he would swim down to the bottom and grab a poor puffer fish to bring up and show us.  While this seemed to go against what nature lovers would typically do, we did get a big kick out of touching the fish’s spines and noting the slightly crazed look in its eyes, as it swam away with its too-small fluttery fins and little gaping mouth.  We saw some amazingly large schools of hundreds of colorful fish, large and small, a couple of zebra eels, and overall an impressive variety of creatures.  Perhaps more than we have seen while snorkeling in Hawaii, which was a surprise, as we have heard that snorkeling is not so great in Costa Rica.  It was a great experience for Madeleine and Henry, and I guess we should not be too surprised that they took to it so naturally.

After an hour or so of snorkeling, Adolfo took us to Playa Escondido, a drop-dead gorgeous “hidden” beach that is probably easier to get to by boat than by car.  We tried in vain to spot the howler monkey that was making a racket in some nearby trees, then spent a little time observing a group of hermit crabs.  They had been congregating on the beach, and we must have spotted them just as their meeting was ending.  They were heading off in all directions, until our kids gave them some sand obstacle courses to slow them down.

Happy crew.

Adolfo returned us to Playa Hermosa, and we spent the rest of the day on the beach, soaking up the sun and warm water.  After fueling up with grilled pork kabobs, we hit the road in the late afternoon, for the two-hour drive back to Arenal.  It was striking how much cooler it is here at ~2000 feet than at the coast.  We actually had to put on fleeces to be comfortable eating dinner outside!  No school tomorrow for our kids, as there is a meeting for all of the teachers.  Maybe we can sleep in… say until 6:30, if we are lucky.