5 Sept 2005 - Going home :(

Woke up early AM to catch flight home.

September 04, 2005 - San Jose

Was awoken by the sounds of the USH arriving back at port at about 230am. Marviva the broken ranger patrol boat that we were towing had to be released. Sounds of deck hands bringing our boat home. Finally got up at 7am to have our final breakfast on the USH. Those pineapples are soooo sweet.

Said our goodbyes then loaded into the van that was to take us back to San Jose. That’s when we first heard about Hurricane Katrina and the disasters in New Orleans and the rest of the south – from our driver Rudy.

We stopped on the way at a souvenir shop because Paul the Swiss guy wanted to buy Macadamia crème liqueur. We bought one as well & also some Café Britt liqueur.

In San Jose that afternoon, we had lunch at Manolo’s. Tried their Black bean soup with egg. Did not really like it. Had 2 glasses of the papaya milk and a churro. Then we walked to the Mercado Centrale that unfortunately was closed. We then went to the gold museum. The antique gold ornaments were Ok, but I enjoyed the mask exhibit best.

We then went to a supermarket and bought a ton of Costa Rican coffee and some of that Lizano salsa. Then we went to an outdoor crafts market. Bought a wood chopping board- I am so glad I did because it looks great in my kitchen with all its checkered colors.

That evening, we went El Pueblo, the little Spanish styled village known for its nightlife. It was pretty dead. The bars and clubs and restaurants were empty. We were either there too early or else it was because Sunday was a bad day to visit. Had dinner in a restaurant that served Costa Rican cuisine. So tired of Costa Rican food. Can’t wait to go to Ebisu!

September 03, 2005 - Cruising on the Undersea Hunter

Travel day. Spent the day watching movies in the dining room and reading Harry Potter.

September 02, 2005- Pirates stole our buoy!

I didn’t sleep well. Had a cup of that superstrong Costa Rican coffee the morning before and was too eager in my anticipation of seeing the school of hundreds of hammerheads at Alcyone. I had a very good feeling about it. We were supposed to dive Alcyone first thing that AM. The boat ride out there was rough- very high swells. When we got there, the buoy was no were in sight. Our buoy & anchoring line had been stolen by pirates! (Or perhaps by the stormy weather) I was very disappointed.



Dive 25: Manuelita (out)

So we returned to this now familiar dive site. Only one hammerhead sighted. But it as Cristiano called it was ‘Galapagos paradise’. There were 5 Galapagos sharks abound and they followed us during our dive, often in close range. Also saw a black tip shark Ended again in open water, swept out by current.



Dive 26: Manuelita (out)

Went in to say goodbye to all our fishy friends- to the big eye jack, the yellow snappers, the blue and yellow snappers, the blue fin trevally, and the white tip sharks. Hopefully gazing out into the blue for the whale shark but she never made the date. We had above average encounters with the hammerheads on this dive. Upon descent, I practically landed myself on top of one. They were mostly solitary ( no schools) but came by in close range. I wish Mike had bought that underwater camera. 1 Galapagos shark. I hit 0 on my no deco time on this dive and was scrambling up the vertical rock face in the strong current to ascend. Overall, it was a decent ending to our adventure in Cocos.

The USH set off into the open ocean shortly after the 2 pangas were reloaded by crane onto the decks. We were towing Marviva the broken ranger patrol boat back to mainland. Apparently the fishermen are going to have quite a week fishing illegally in Cocos!

September 01, 2005 - The Best & the Worst of Manuelita

The rains have been replaced by wind and huge swells that are worsening as the day progresses. Mike & I are feeling a little burnt out on the diving. Our plans to dive the Dos Amigos have been foiled due to the outrageous swells, & hence our hopes of encounter the large hammerhead schools.



Dive 20 : Manualita (out)



These crazy downward currents are exhausting. Galapagos sharks in close range. Isolated hammerheads in the distance. Turtle in distance. One spotted eagle ray.



Dive 21: Dirty Rock

The enormity of the school of big eye jack here still takes my breath away. It’s kind of cool to swim amongst them and pretend that you are one in the school! Spent the first half of dive with the school then followed the current which whipped us a high speeds around to the other side of dirty rock. My computer starts beeping like crazy on the drift. Not sure why. I think the drift was causing a simultaneous rapid ascent. The other side of dirty rock had some large rocks to explore in. White tips came swimming at me at very close range. Watched a parade of marble rays- one of which was very large. Pretty cool sight. Tuna in open water during ascent.



Dive 22: Manualita (out)

It takes 22 dives in Cocos to get what we came here for. This was and probably will be the best dive in Cocos. Even as I descended, there were scattered hammerheads roaming. The waters were current free when we came to the cleaning station at about 90-100 feet. As I hung hiding behind a rock at about 80 feet, hammerheads came and went, some in fairly close range ( closer than they have ever been thus far). We must have observed at least 40 pass us by during the 15minutes we hung there. Had to surface as I had 3 minutes of no deco time left and only 850 psi. The others went on to observe more hammerheads at a 2nd cleaning station at 60 feet. We had come to Cocos to observe the hammerheads. It took 6 days and 22 dives and it was worth it!



Dive 23: Manualita (out)

We tried to recreate the dive from earlier but failed miserably. If that was the best, this was probably the worst dive in Cocos. It is amazing how quickly conditions can change in just 2 hours. The currents were ripping and we were swept flying past Manuelita at high speeds. Hanging on to rocks for dear life in order to catch a breath before taking off again. Saw fish and rock surface fly past us. If there were sharks around we certainly didn’t have the opportunity to see them. Surfaced out at sea. Thank you, Manuel, our pangero, for always being there to fish us out!



Dive 24: Night dive Chatham Bay

I am getting better and searching for the small stuff. I have learned that in every crevice of a coral head there is a resident. You just have to train your eyes to find him. I found a baby moray- its diameter narrower than a pencil. About 6 shrimp ( gotta look out for those little red reflexes), another of those brilliantly red crab. Another larger crab ( about the size of a Maryland blue crab) that was very pretty- purple and red. And many tiny colorful fish.

August 31, 2005_ The Calm Beneath the Storm

It is raining heavily in Cocos today. It is likely to rain all day long from the looks of it



Dive 17: Dos Amigos Pequenos

Despite the weather above, it is calm beneath the storm. As I descend into the depths, I penetrate a large school of jacks. Down at 80feet, there is no current, and we hang for the first 10 minutes, waiting. Tuna, the largest I’ve ever seen come by. Hammerheads, come by 1 or 2 at a time. I have yet to witness them actively being ‘cleaned’. Several large Galapagos sharks come by in close range. Black jacks and other large fish, marbled rays. We start a gentle drift to the other side of DAP, to the steep walled side. Less action on this side as we wash back and forth in the surge at 40 feet. Finally take a turn out into the blue - unfortunately, no action there either.



Dive 18: Dos Amigos Grande (still pouring rain)



On this dive, we pass through a large arch. Supposed, at the top of the arch there are barberfish swimming upside down because the think the ceiling of the arch is the floor. The arch was cold and dark and the top of the arch was way up at 40feet whilst we were diving at 80ft, so I did not see the barberfish. It was much nicer after exiting the arch. Many fish. Giant snapper. Some hammerheads and Galapagos sharks.



Dive 19: Dirty Rock

The giant schools of big eye jacks have partially dispersed into mating pairs. We see them swimming in pairs, the males turned to black and swimming with their silver female counterparts. Crazy down going current makes swimming very disorienting. The schools of snapper ( yellow snapper, Jordan’s snapper & blue and gold snapper are all swimming pointing upwards)



Skipped the ‘feeding frenzy’ night dive tonight. Have a headache. Too bad because there was real live feeding action tonight.

August 30, 2005- Dolphin friends at Sharkfin Rock

At 530am, engines were started and the USH was moved. I looked out my porthole to see only open ocean, no Cocos island in sight. That meant we were moving south along the eastern shore. That also meant that the seas were calm and we were going south to Ygelesias Bay! Yeah! Apparently the USH has not been to this part of the island and its southern dive sites in 4 months due to the strong currents in the rainy season.



Dive 13: Sharkfin rock- the southernmost dive site of Cocos, last visited 4 months ago by USH divers.

This rock is named Sharkfin because the exposed tip resembles the shape of a shark fin. Underwater it is the shape of an upside down cone. We descended to 80 feet . I, as usual, was stuck in some current pulling me away from the rest of the group. Thank goodness it wasn’t too strong. I pull myself along the outcrops of the rock to get myself with the rest of the group. Once collected, we each wedged ourselves into some out crop in the cone to watch the sea life go by. Many schools of a variety of fish- big eye jacks, blue fin trevally, black jacks ( these were my favorite- they were really big and a deep green color that I though was gorgeous), blue& gold snapper and many others I am still learning slowly to identify. In a large crevice in the rock, we found some resting white tips. After that we did a drift around the cone at about 60-70 feet ( in the direction that I was struggling against when I first descended). 1 hammerhead spotted in the distance. A few large Galapagos sharks came by. Apparently there were 4 but I saw 2. One came really close and circled around me – from what I understand, a territory defense behavior. I got to observe a few smaller fish ( rainbow runners) batting their bodies against it- cleaning mechanism?

When I surfaced, the dolphins showed up. Went back in with snorkel and got to swim with the dolphins! ( Finally! Been trying to do this since Australia 10 years ago when I went on a dolphin swim trip and saw NO dolphins!) There were about 6 dolphins, one mom & baby pair. I was the first to hit the water and completely exhausted myself splashing and screaming into my snorkel to get their attention. Luckily it worked and they were vocalizing back to my screams. We had a good 10 minutes playing with the dolphins. I guess they are just as curious about us and we are about them. They are smaller than the dolphins we encountered in Rangiroa.



We are at the midpoint of our adventure in Cocos. Sharkfin rock was the best dive yet in Cocos. Beautiful, fun, relaxed and interesting. We took a scenic boat ride on the way back. This part of Cocos is gorgeous. Waterfalls, steep rock cliffs, sea caves and arches. Sally red crabs( ? what are they called again), even spotted a deer in the hills. Many boobies & other seabirds nesting on the cliff faces and we can see their fluffy white chicks everywhere.



Dive 14: Alcyone

The seas are flat today and I am much more relaxed going down the line to Alcyone. We reach the rocky outcrop and find some rocks to hide behind. Large Almaco jacks come by. Many curious fish come by in close range. Tuna, several hammerheads, mostly isolated, 1 school of about 12. Am still waiting for the school of hundreds. Started ascent when no deco time hit 4 minutes.



Dive 15: Manta Point

This is the southern tip of Cocos island proper. Not too much to see here and visibility was not that great. Several green morays with white specks- one quite large. Lobster, small fish, white tips.



Dive 16: Night dive at Pajara

This is the best night dive ever! There is an extensive coral garden here . On first descent at dusk there wasn’t too much going on, but as it got darker, the night life started to awaken. A couple of turtles close range. Played with the flounder in the sandy bottom. Box crab ( also called shamed-faced crab)- funniest looking crab ever! When I first saw it, it look just like a rock on the sand, as it was perfectly circular. Then you notice the short stumpy legs hidden under. And then you notice the unproportionately oversized claws held up close to its face. This crab looks like it is a boxer on steroids. Saw an octopus hiding in a hole. Stuck my finger in and it changed colors from a beige- purple to a deep purple color. Saw a tiny red shrimp in another hole – first caught my eye when I noticed its tiny dual red retinal reflexes shining back at me. Giant hermit crab in a beautiful cone shell. A family of tiny bright red crab hiding in coral. There were also families of tiny very beautiful red and white fish living in the coral.

August 29, 2005 - So many sharks!

It was a beautiful morning, the sun was up.

Dive 9 : Alcyone

I had been so looking forward to this dive I was feeling a little nervous. Woke up many time last night in anticipation of this dive. We went down to 90-100 feet via an anchored line. Many jellies seen on the way up and down. This is the famous dive site when hammerheads school in the hundreds. From there we had to swim across the rocky bottom and were instructed to hide in the rocks laying in wait for the hammerheads. We saw about 3 schools of about 10 hammerheads each. Most were in the distance, casting eerie silhouettes. A couple of hammer heads came really close. The water was quite cold down at a hundred feet and I wasn’t really feeling very well. I was dizzy and felt an impending headache and the breathing was laborious. Not to mention I was constantly worrying about Mike running out of air because he was so anxious about it. There were also some large (2feet) silvery fish down that were very curious – yet another species of jack ( Almaco jacks). It was my shortest dive yet, 28minutes, as I had to accompany Mike back up , and who was running low on air. Reboarded the panga with still 1100psi. The rest of the team returned 10 minutes later- no whale sharks but they did see some silkies and Galapagos sharks which we missed.



Took a scenic boat trip back on the panga. Stopped a rock because the curious sight of a blue footed booby amidst the other plain boobies. What’s a blue footed booby doing here? It has come a long way from the Galapagos. Edward, our divemaster said he had never seen one here before. Perhaps this booby will start a colony of blue feet in Cocos. I wonder if the blue feet is a dominant gene?



Dive 10: Submerged rock



Entered on the gradually sloping side of submerged rock. This is the home to many white tip sharks. Found them resting in packs on this rock, in the cracks and crevices of this wall, all snuggled one on top of another. Large schools of fish guarding the entrance to the swim through channel that took us through submerged rock to the other side. Swam through the school and entered the tunnel. Again a pack of white tips cuddling each other on the floor of the tunnel. The yellow coral lining the tunnel were ‘blooming’ like flowers in the spring time. Close to the exit, there was a giant lobster deep in a crevice. On the other side of the rock, the wall face was steeper and there were fewer fish. Played hide and seek with a Panamanian jawfish sticking out of its burrow. This fish is so cute and its colorations so beautiful. Its face is like a cartoon- huge lonesome eyes, mouth twisted down in a woeful, worried expression. It was adorable. Surfaced with Mike as he was out of air. 36 minutes



Dive 11: Lobster Rock



Not the best visibility on this dive. Spent most of our time exploring the sandy bottom at 100feet for the rosy-lipped batfish. Just when I was about to give up hope, Isabel found one! They are really bizarre looking! Pouty red lips – visible only if you get down to their level ( i.e. eye to sand level) . Can’t believe Mike did not come down to check out its lips. From its head protrudes a horizontal horn- like a unicorn. Its back resembles a frog and its pectoral fins and side fins are like webbed feet. When they run from you, they don’t swim. There waddle away on their 4 ‘ feet’! We found a second one shortly after the first. In the sand, I also saw a snake eel ( white with black spots), and played with some tropical flounder. On lobster rock itself, there was quite a large moray on first entry- brown with yellow spots. On the sloped sandy bottom to the side of lobster rock, I got to see garden eels in detail for the first time. Usually garden eels shrink down into their burrows as you approach. In this case, the mass majority of the eels were gone by the time as was 2 feet from them. But there were 2 adjacent neighbors that were out fooling around with each other. They were too busy with each other to bother with my presence and I got to see the top 2-3 inches of their bodies in detail. They aren’t bland as I thought they were. They actually have patterns in brown, black and white. Saw a medium sized turtle on initial ascent.



Went on land in Chatham bay. Saw the rock inscription on the beach made when Jacque Cousteau made his landing at Cocos. Saw the ranger’s station- they have a pet piglet.



Dive 12: Night dive in Manuelita coral garden

White tip shark feeding frenzy again. When I descended I was having major issues with buoyancy. I filled by BC about 20 times and was still sinking like a rock. I was struggling for 7 minutes trying to stay off the bottom that I couldn’t even get to Mike for help( who was at the other end of the group oblivious to my distress). Was debating whether to drop one of my 6 lb weights to head to the surface. Observed that as I filled my BC , there was a hissing sound. I’m leaking air from somewhere. Where? There was no leak from the BC hose from what I could see. The other air exhaust source was adjacent to my right shoulder & I couldn’t see it. Grappled for the pull string and found the end. But it wouldn’t pull. Decided that it must be caught somehow. I wriggled around in my BC all the while kicking frantically to keep from landing on the white tip sharks below, and lifted up on the shoulder strap on the right. Finally the exhaust pull string came loose. I filled my BC again. It only took 2 puffs to get that neutral buoyancy. I floated very still for the next minute just to catch my breath. I was so exhausted my eyes were tearing. Lesson learned, luckily in shallow waters.

August 28, 2005- Rock climbing on the Ocean Floor

Woke up scratching itchy bumps all over my arms neck and face. Must be the damn jelly larvae again. The seas are rougher this side of Cocos. We are on the northwestern coastline.

Dive 5: Dirty Rock

We went to Dirty Rock first- a rocky outcrop west off the coastline of Cocos. Gigantic schools of jacks! Absolutely gorgeous! Could see them on initial descent. Thousands of silvery medium sized fish just clustered along the edge of dirty rock. Spent first half of dive just playing in the schools. Then, unexpectedly, the current suddenly picked up. Just as Cristiano signaled for me to move in closer to the rocks, I got swept up & back and away from the group. Managed to grab on to a coral head- drained my BC of air and hung on for dear life- I think I went from 70 feet to 45 feet in a matter of seconds. Cristiano had to come and rescue me and we basically followed the current around to the other side of Dirty Rock. On this side of Dirty Rock, we encountered a spotted eagle ray feeding. It swam around with its mouth agape-quite an amusing sight! Also spotted some small to medium morays, including a very beautiful emerald green one.



One of the girls Fuensanta, on our dive team got an ear infection and she has stopped diving since dive 5. Poor thing. To come all this way and to have to sit out must really suck!



Dive 6: Punta Maria

(The gold team did not make this dive site earlier this AM because the currents where to strong.)

VERY strong currents here. We emptied out our BCs & followed a mooring line down to the ocean floor at about 90 feet, pulling ourselves down against tremendous current. It took me 5 minutes of dive time and 500 psi of nitrox just to make it down. Could not see anything but blue for the first 4 minutes- it seemed like it was never going to end. When we got to the bottom we hid in the rocks till Cristiano descended and he lead us over the rocks to an overhanging cliff at about 100 feet. I scrambled over the rocks once again against tremendous current, pulling myself hand over hand, scrapping everything against the rocks. ( My Gekko computer has the scratches to show for it) When we reached the cliff edge, it was like watching a big 3D IMAX movie, watching the multitude of fish, turtle and a pack of 5 hammerheads cruise by us. The current was so strong, I feared my mask and regulator would be washed right off my face. There was no chance of swimming into the blue in this dive. I started making my way back as I was starting to run low on no deco time & despite having still 1200 psi of air, I had a feeling I was going to need quite a lot of it to get back. So back up over the rocks, this time with my fins blowing up against my butt . I was quite fearful that I might stick my hands or knees right into the mouth of a white tip, as I had noted quite a few hiding under the rocks when I first descended.- luckily this did not happened. And then back up that endless mooring line. Sure enough, by the time I filled my BC at the choppy surface and got back on the pang, I had drawn my last breath and no more would come. The spg gauge read ‘0’! Apparently, the currents were so strong that the hammerhead we saw were also having trouble getting into proper position for cleaning!



We took a short exploratory boat cruise along the coastline on our way back to USH. Saw the nesting boobies. Crab on the shoreline. Explored a sea cave.



Dive 7: Viking rock

60-90 ft

Not too much big action on this dive- 1 hammerhead sighted, 1 Galapagos shark, few tuna in the distance. The coral heads here were actually half way decent. Schools of fish. Spent more time looking in rocks and at the smaller fish. Crevices filled with lobster. In one elongated crevice, there were 6 white tip sharks resting side by side. Loved the purple and yellow puffer with white spots. Spent some time playing hide and seek with a flounder. First he’d have blue spots and when he landed on a rock, he would have green spots in order to camouflage itself. I would go bother it and it would have to leave again to find yet another camouflage rock. Kept expecting a big current to come & wash me away at anytime as we circled this rock but luckily, that never happened.



Dive 8: Night dive in Chatham Bay coral garden

50ft, 43minutes.

Spent time playing with the various puffers- they can’t swim very fast so you can get really close to them and look them eye to eye. The puffers here are really pretty and very cute. One type is a bright orange- yellow, another is brown with white polka dots ( guineafowl puffer), another is the yahoo purple /yellow with white dots ( pacific boxfish). There were many lobster out and many sea cucumbers in beautiful colorations. Even the cucumbers were active and you could see them slowly moving along grazing. The coral reef was surprisingly colorful in the night lights- brilliant reds & yellows. Pink sea fan. Play with a mini flounder but lost him in the sand when I tried to get Mike’s attention to come and see. The fish colors are so much more brilliant under our dive lights. All in all, just some low stress frolicking – too bad it’s always cold at night.

August 27, 2005 - Cocos island, at last!!

Woke up this Am when the engines stopped- technically last night since it was probably around 11pm. We had arrived at Cocos island.

There are many birds here flying around, some brown boobies. The rest of them I can’t identify. They seem to be nesting in the rocky outcrops of the island.



Dive 1:

Manualita –coral garden.

Our first dive at Cocos. Everyone was quite excited. Seas were calm, weather fair (cloudy, occasional drizzle, occasional break of sunshine) Depth about 80ft. Not much in terms of coral reef, but as we’ve been told, we aren’t here to see the reef but to see the sharks. Many white tip sharks, about 3 feet on average. Saw 1 black tip shark 'bout 4.5 ft. Marbled rays – several, cow rays- 2. Manta ray-1 ( which I was the first top spot and alert- yay!) Visibility fair- about 60ft. Many schools of fish – soldier fish and many I don’t yet know to identify but will by the end of this trip.. Couple of grouper( or maybe sea bass). Several lobsters. Calm- current free.

Short dive 36 minutes. Mike was out of air and I accompanied him to the surface.



Had an empanada then

Did our nitrox course during our surface interval.



Dive 2:



Manualita channel – windward side and then around the tip to the coral garden

Used nitrox for the first time. Max depth to about 99 ft, average 90ft. Saw our first 2 hammer heads. They are so cute. Not as spastic as the one I saw in the Galapagos that had some serious issues. These were just calmly coasting by. Many sharks,- a couple of large one – probably Galapagos sharks ( about 5-6ft). More marbled rays, 1 spotted eagle ray. Did a drift along the rocks at the tip of Manuelita into the coral garden yonder. 1 moray.



Lunch- best meal yet on board. Beef short ribs in some sort of stew, and very yummy squash with rice , tortillas, black beans (which I did not touch) and slaw.



Dive 3:

Manualita (out) –windward side to opposite tip the off into the blue.

Upon, descent, encountered several hammerheads close up at the cleaning station. Many large schools of fish. At one point, I immersed myself in a school and watched as they swam at me face on. Very different perspective- fish have much more charismatic expressions head on. Many marbled rays. One turtle. Several large ahi tuna! Currents were strong as we approach the end of Manuelita- very difficult staying behind our dive master Cristiano. As we headed off into the blue, we encountered a small school of hammerheads – the scene was just like you see in the pictures-but dynamic. Being in the open ocean is rather eerie. You have no sense of depth because there is nothing static from which to gain perspective. I was constantly checking my depth gauge. Doing a safety stop alone in the open ocean is even eerier. In the open ocean, swam through a school of large silvery fish that I later learned were big eye jack- very cool fish.



Dive 4 ; Night dive in Manuelita coral garden



Tonight, we went in search of the feeding frenzy of the white tip sharks. Apparently the white tips have learned over the years that the dive lights of night divers tend to blind and stun prey fish, making them much more susceptible as dinner. The first half of the dive was relatively quiet, few sharks here and there. The suddenly swarms of white tips started approaching, up to probably a hundred a least, diving to the coral, squeezing onto little holes between he coral heads, giving a good chase to a variety of smaller fish. Didn’t actually see anyone get eaten though. We were told to keep at least 1m off the floor and to not wave our hands as the shark might mistake it for prey. Additionally , was told that some prey fish have tried to hide in our BCDs, and well the jaws of the shark will certainly follow them there. Later learned that people have gotten bitten on this dive.

August 26, 2005- Crossing on the Underseahunter

Travel day. Storm in the afternoon. Watched Mr & Mrs Smith on DVD, read Harry Potter book and watch Paparazzi on DVD. It seemed like the boat rocking was never going to end.

August 25, 2005 - Sunsets & Seasickness

We were picked up at 845am for the drive down to Puntarenas. On the way, we stopped at a butterfly garden that was full of blue morpho butterflies. They also had a very friendly pet toucan that liked to play with my hat. Their colors are amazing.

When we arrived at Puntarenas, we were actually greeted by Seahunter and their crew as they had just arrived and were docked. Seem like Seahunter is the bigger and better boat- they even had a BBQ grill. If we ever do this again, we’ll have to do the Seahunter. A tug boat ferried us out to the Underseahunter anchored about 30minutes away. Was hoping to get by with the Seabands but the moment I stepped onto the anchored Underseahunter, I knew that Seabands was not going to cut it. Downed 25mg of meclizine rapidly with my welcome punch and actually had to take 25mg more during the next 4 hours as Underseahunter hit the ocean. Spent that first afternoon on the sundeck ( in the shade of course) reading the Gekko manual then the Nitrox manual. We were lucky to see dolphins just within 4 hours of our trip. The dolphins clustered in the front of our bow playing in the currents for a good 15 minutes. There a beautiful sunset just before 6pm… Too bad Mike doesn’t know how to appreciate these beautiful things in nature. He barely just glanced up form his magazines to comment’ nice huh’ and left in the middle of the sunset to go inside. The sky was lit a brilliant fiery red. Not so much in terms of color changes ( no purples or pinks) but very red for a very long time before fading to brown and then going out to leave only darkness in the horizon. Since I could no longer use the horizon view to help with the seasickness, I had to go inside. Skipped dinner and stayed supine in bed the rest of the night.

August 24, 2005 - Banana Republic

It was amazing I actually got some Zzzs at Tortuguero. I was not expecting to sleep. The crickets were so loud and the air so hot and humid. Yet amazingly, with the ceiling fan on , I was actually cold and couldn’t sleep at first because I was too cold. Gave up and got the comforter and actually managed to sleep about 4.5 hours. Of course I heard the Howler monkeys screaming at predawn ( despite the ear plugs). Finally, what got me up was the sunlight streaming in onto me & birds singing at 6am.

Today was pretty much a travel day. I am very disappointed with Costa Rica expeditions. Based on out prearranged itinerary, I was expecting a 2-4 hour guided wildlife tour of the canals on the way to Limon. Instead, we were transported water taxi style directly to Limon in 1hr 10minutes. There was certainly no ‘guiding’ from our boat driver. We got to Limon we had to wait another 35minutes for our van to arrive. Our van ride started with 1.5hours on a bumpy dirt road. We pass through the Banana Republic of CR, where all the major banana exporters ( Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte) have their banana plantation and processing plant. We stop the Del Monte processing area and watch the workers wash and sort the bananas.

We stopped for lunch at some butterfly farm restaurant. I had the Arroz Arreglar – which was seasoned rice with mixed meats ( chicken, beef and bacon). It was a sweltering afternoon. Lucky for us we were no longer in Tortuguero.

Checked back into Tryp Corobici where a fax from Undersea hunter was waiting for us, stating that the ‘vessel is ready and waiting, the sharks, mantas and dolphins are all lined up and we’ve even put in an order for a whale shark or whale and all that’s missing is you…’ J can’t wait J


We had dinner at Le Monastere, a converted restaurant up on a hill in the suburb of Escazu that had a panoramic view of the city light of San Jose. It was a beautiful and romantic place. Food was so-so.

August 23, 2005 - Tortuguero - Turtle Babies & Turtle Mommies

This morning , we took a chartered flight into Tortuguero. I got to sit next to the pilot! And got to watch him fly the plane and play with the little knobs. I have never been in such a small plane before- seat a maximum of 5 passengers. We flew over San Jose , then over Braullio Carillo National park. The clouds were very pretty and it was a very scenic flight. It was quite exciting watching the landing from the front windscreen. So much so that I missed seeing the endless trails on the beach created by turtles moving in and out of the sea .

Tortuguero NP is quite a magical place. It is like the Venice of the jungle. Narrow canals cutting through the jungle, navigable only by boat. We took a guide scenic boat tour that morning and saw kingfishers, toucans, bats, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, caiman, river otter, tortoises, and a SLOTH! Wish we could find that elusive manatee.

This afternoon, we went on a guided walk on the beach of Tortuguero, in hopes of possibly finding some hatching green turtles. We were told that only1% of all the nests on the 18 mile beach were hatching at this time (i.e. too early in the season). Lucky for us, our very knowledgeable guide identified a nest that had hatchlings. I think he saw the trail created by the hatchlings leading from nest to sea. And he started digging into the nest. Sure enough , he dug up about 15 little leatherback hatchlings. There were so cute!! Little baby turtle friends. About 2 inches long. Once the hatchlings got their bearings, they each started waddling off towards the ocean. Some were faster than others. Right before the water, there was a little cliff . As the hatchling, tumbled down the cliff, some would flip over. And some were better at flipping back than others. Some got help flipping back over from our tourist companions weary of watching them struggle and not quite making it. Once in the ocean, our little turtle friends will now have to try and find safe haven to grow big. Probably none of them will make it, but perhaps, just maybe, I might see one of them again whilst scuba diving in some other location far far away in years to come.

This night, we went on the turtle walk to seek out green turtles laying eggs. The access lots on the beach were distributed to the different lodges by lottery and we unfortunately got the stretch of beach furthest away from town. It took us about 30minutes to walk there from town. When we got to beach, we got to follow a turtle going back out to sea. She was about 1m wide and had turned back to sea without laying her eggs. After that we had to wait over an hour before we could get to see another green turtle finally laying eggs. Apparently it takes them a long time to dig their nest and if you disturb them too soon, they will abandon their nest with laying their eggs and turn back to sea. But I got to see what I came to Tortuguero for- to watch the turtles lay their eggs- round white ping pong balls, about 100 of them deposited into a upside down funnel shaped chamber in the sand. Then she buried them, packing sand tightly over the eggs with her hind flippers while mobilizing sand backwards with her front flippers. While she was burying her eggs, she actually dug unknowingly into a previously set nest- turtle eggs were flying! And she threw sand at me when I was behind her. It was another long walk back to town afterwards. Oh we got to watch the moonrise while on the beach.

August 22, 2005- My Birthday(!) on Pacuare River

Es mi cumpleano!

We went with Costa Rica Expeditions on their white water rafting trip on the Pacuare River. During the decision making process of picking which of the multitude of rivers to go on in Costa Rica, I finally settled on the Pacuare because it was reputed to e one of the top 10 most beautiful rivers for rafting it the world. Was considering the more intense class 4-5 Rivers but gave those up for the class 3-4 Pacuare. We left in a van from our hotel Tryp Corobici for a 3-4 hour trip to the river. We stop in an inn on the way near Cartago for breakfast, where they serve pinto (rice &beans) and eggs.

There was only one raft with Costa Rica expeditions that day and on our raft we had our guide Jorge, a very friendly anesthesiologist from Cal pacific named Michael (who incidentally lives very close to me) & 2 guys from Spain. I have to admit the river was quite beautiful. There were many gorgeous waterfalls tumbling from the top of the canyon into the river. The canyon walls were mostly lined with rainforest, though in some areas, there were steep bare canyon walls. The rapids were fun but nothing super memorable compared to the California rivers. Sledging in the Pacuare would have been quite terrifying though as there were many rock obstacles. While rafting, I kept imagining what it would be like to sledge this river. We stopped at a small beach across from a small waterfall for lunch. The guides Jorge & Alex flipped the raft over on the beach and used it as the buffet table. We had cerviche, cheese, and hearts of palm, tuna, chip & salsa and an assortment of deli meats. Not quite as yummy as the AO spread with the cream cheese salsa and sweet hot mustard sandwiches, but I wasn’t hungry anyway. Our take out point was near Siquirres. A few local boys jump off a cliff into the river and climbed onto the raft. Jorge says that there are there every day.

It was a 3 hour trip back to San Jose. We drove through Braullio Carillo NP.

That evening we went to the Grano de Oro Hotel restaurant. Mike says that the filet mignon stuffed with gorgonzola was the best steak he’s ever had. I say that yes it was very good but wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was the best ever. For appys, we had scallops and asparagus which were good, seafood crepes which was excellent. The macadamia crusted corvina was not as good. The best thing there I had was actually the fresh squeezed guarina(?) juice. Tasted a little like custard apple. It was delicious

August 21, 2005- Abseiling down Tropical Waterfalls

This morning, we went canyoning with Pure Trek canyoning. This was adjacent to the town of La Fortuna. They took us on the back of a pick up truck on dirt roads to the top of the canyon in the rainforest. Accompanying us was a family with 2 boys. The abseiling was similar to what we did in Wanaka, with the exception that the guides did the hook ups in to the figure 8 ring for us. And there were 2 guides, one holding the safety rope from above, and another holding on to the end of your rope from below. Unlike the one in Wanaka, the first rappel did not involve standing on a bar. We just went off a platform built at the edge of the cliff. The first rappel was a dry wall that seemed to last forever. I was having trouble feeding the rope into the 8-ring and it took me forever to get down. I though it was never going end. And I wasn’t even scared. I guess I’m used to it by now. The next few rappels were in or along side a waterfall. The canyon walls were not as smooth as the one in Wanaka, and the waterways were not as sculpted. This was good because it was less slippery but bad because we couldn’t do any waterslides. There were no deep pools at the end of the waterfalls and you ended up landing on your feet rather that swimming against currents to get out from under the falls. Overall, I’d say that it was a fun adventure, but the one in Wanaka was better. After the last rappel, we had to walk out of the canyon through the rainforest. Back at the Pure Trek headquarters, they fed us lunch that they purchased from a local soda. We had tamarind juice, a cabbage slaw, and some rice mixed with tuna fish, peas and other seasoning. Also a side of beans that was quite yummy but made me quite ill in the belly that afternoon.

After we checked out of the Lost Iguana that afternoon, we went to the Arenal Hanging Bridges. This as a series of suspension bridges in the rainforest that put us at the level of the canopy. I guess it is supposed to help us see the wildlife. But on our own with our untrained eyes, the only thing we found was a parade of leaf cutter ants- which was certainly interesting in its own right. I had only seen them in documentaries prior to this. During our 1.5 hour hike in the rainforest here, the clouds cleared, and we got to see the peak of Arenal for the first time from up in the suspension bridges. The clearing lasted for about 30minutes, after which the clouds loomed in again. We were fortunate to catch that moment.

After that, we had a long drive back to San Jose via San Ramon. We wanted to stop at the CocoLoco Art store on the way but it was closed, ( Sunday) much to Mike’s disappointment. We had dinner at Manolo’s restaurant in the city of San Jose. The papaya milk drink was yummy- they make just like the way the make it in Singapore. And the churros were filled with a custardy brown center- I’m still craving it now. For our mains, we had grilled corvina and smoked pork chops (which was essentially bone-in ham cutlets). Mike also had wine and beer and the entire meal was for less than $20.

August 20, 2005 - Flying in the Canopy of the Rainforest

We arrived in Costa Rica at 930am after a 1.5 hour delay in Guatemala city due to dense fog. Would have slept better if we didn’t have 2 stopovers on the way over in LA and in Guatemala city. Picked up our rental car and headed towards La Fortuna. On the way, we passed by San Ramon, the biggest town we’ve seen so far, and a few other smaller towns such as La Tigra. Many Sodas along the way, mostly empty, even at lunchtime. Amazing they can survive or even keep their food fresh given the low volume of business. We passed by a cheese producing area. Many little shops/stands selling Palmito Queso. Stop by one for a taste and end up buying a block of cheese & some platano chips for the road. Can’t believe we ate a block of cheese, munching on it straight from the bag. It was kind of like fresh mozzarella string cheese. I later learned that palmito queso is cheese the strips like the hearts of palm- hence the stringiness of the cheese. The drive was quite scenic, passing through lush green tropical valleys. Funny how people get you to stop to ask for donations. The first was a make shift toll booth on the edge of the road at a road junction. You stop because you think you have to pay toll – even though it looks rather unofficial & suspicious, only to learn that it is ‘voluntario’. The second was a blue rope that runs across the road and when you approach the kids pick up the rope at both ends forcing you to stop.

We passed to through La Fortuna in search of a soda recommended by Frommers as a good steak place. Of course it was empty when we arrived. We had some fried yucca – which was quite addictive once you got started on it, even though at first taste it was just like giant steak fries. As I ate more, it sort of reminded me of goreng pisang and I just could stop. We also each ordered a steak, mine with garlic and the Mike had the house special which turned being toped with canned button mushrooms and bacon. (They really do love using bacon in their cooking in this country - or so I later realized)I could only eat 2/3rd of it- way too big, and each for less than $10!

On our way to the hotel after lunch, we encountered an extended family of an unfamiliar rodents, which I later learned were coatis. They are about the size of a merecat and almost as cute. Very friendly creatures, especially when I started offering the rambutans and plantain chips.

We checked into our hotel the Lost Iguana, which is up on a hillside facing the Arenal volcano. It has been overcast the entire stay (as expected I suppose, given that we are here in the rainy season) and we have to seen the peak of the volcano. The Lost iguana is quite pleasant, large sized rooms, high ceiling and king sized beds claiming to be fitted with Egyptian cotton sheets. There is large balcony facing the volcano with a trellis of bougainvillea. We are surrounded by greenness, not another building in sight.

At 330pm, we went to the Sky Tram/ Sky Trek. This was at the south side of Arenal. The sky tram consisted of an open top cable car that took us straight up the hillside and into the top of the canopy of the rainforest. We saw some Howler monkeys on the trip up in the distance, but little else in terms of fauna. When we got to the top, we were enshrouded in clouds. That’s when the sky trek part of the trip started. This consisted on a series of cables connecting one platform to another, from the tree tops of one cliff to the tree tops of another cliff. We were hooked up to the cables and sent flying across the skies. The first zip line extended so far that it disappeared into the clouds. The cables were so long that one could never see the next platform until we were almost there. The scenery was gorgeous, with the Arenal Lake usually on one side and the rainforest on the other. The braking system was interesting- just some rope tied to the end of the cables over the next platform that brought you down in rapid deceleration. It always seem like you were going to crash into the platform because you would come at it at such speed. There were about 7 zips. The 2nd to last zip was the longest and probably the funnest because it took you very close to the treetops as opposed to the other zips where you were flying across the valleys. This was definitely going to be one of the most memorable adventures in Costa Rica. Mike was holding on so tightly his arms were aching. Don’t know why he had the white knuckle death grip going on. I tried to tell him to relax but I guess he thought his belly was too big for the cables to hold him.



That evening, we watched the volcano spewing lava from the balcony of our room. Streams of glowing red lava would erupt and flow down the west edge of Arenal. During the day we had heard it exploding and booming multiple times.

Later, we went to the Tabacon Hot springs, taking advantage of the discounted entrance fee after 7pm. $19 instead of $29. Very popular place-apparently the biggest attraction in Costa Rica. Many pools, mostly with original lava rocks and sand in them. Hot spring waterfalls. Spent an hour there, and then went back to the Lost Iguana for dinner. The meal was so-so. Food preparation was mediocre- reminded me of diner food.