Costa Rica!

Kelly and I recently took a trip to Costa Rica for a week. We sailed up and down the West Coast on a sailboat with 150 of our closest friends. Actually most of our closest friends are reading this blog and none of you were on the trip, so we'll tell you what went on. The ship was amazing with all kinds of amenities, and the service was second to none. The ship was one of the ships in the Windstar fleet. We have nothing but great things to say about Windstar!

Day One we were at sea enjoying the beautiful weather of Central America in February! We were in transit from Puerto Caldera to Nicaragua. It was a great and relaxing day! We got acquainted with the boat's amenities and wound down from our day of travel. I found the most important amenity on the ship--the hammock. Kelly found the pool and poolside bar!



Day Two took us to the country of Nicaragua! We took a half day tour to the city of Rivas. The tour was titled, "Taste of Nicaragua" and a taste is exactly what we got. The highlight of the tour was a rickshaw bicycle tour of the town. Enjoy the video!

After the tour, Kelly and I ventured on our own, in search of some waves to surf. We did find some surfing, but the ride to and from the surfing beach was interesting to say the least.

Day Three we arrived at Playa Del Coco and did the quintessential Costa Rica tourist activity--the zip line! It was a fun activity, but Kelly and I both agree that we could live the rest of our lives quite happily and fully without doing another zip line (Bob Navarre was right.)

Day Four the ship pulled into Quepos--a coastal town with a lot of normal American creature comforts. From Quepos we took a tour van to Manuel Antonio National Park, where we participated in very enjoyable walking, site seeing tour. Our guide, Leo, made the tour. He was very knowledgeable, spoke good English, and was quite humorous. Leo allowed us to take pictures through his very expensive telescope, used to spot various animals throughout the park. We saw 2 and 3-toed Sloths (there's a difference), monkeys, raccoons, lizards, birds, spiders and various plants. It was a fantastic tour. In the afternoon, we hung out with our new friends Pat and Jeanne from Chicago, who, coincidently, happen to know the Navarre's as well. We hung out at the beach all afternoon and then ate dinner together at El Avion restaurant. It is a very unique restaurant built in and around a US C-123 military plane that was tied to the infamous Iran-Contras Scandal of the 1980s. No, we did not see Ollie North there.

Day Five took us on a tremendously successful snorkeling expedition. We left from the ship in Drake Bay and headed toward Cano Island. On the way, we spotted some dolphins and played with them for a while (from the boat). Enjoy the video!

Prior to arriving at Cano Island, we also ventured upon a Humpback whale and her baby. It was an amazing site to see!

The snorkeling brought us very close to several white tipped reef sharks, a sea turtle, stingrays, octopus, and trumpet fish, among other aquatic life. This excursion was the highlight of our entire trip to Costa Rica.

On Day Six Kelly and I went scuba diving off of Tortuga Island. We did not see as many fish as we did snorkeling the day before, but we did go down to 82 feet below sea level and we did see a lobster, an octopus, several puffer fish and many schools of other fish. We spent the rest of the day on a remote beach, reading, sleeping and just hanging out.

Day Seven was a travel day from HELL! It took us 22 hours to make it back home from Costa Rica. I think it would have been a shorter trip had we swam home. Anyway, it was a fantastic trip and surely not to be our last to Costa Rica--the Rich Coast to the lay person. The locals were very welcoming and friendly, and the country was beautiful. We highly recommend it to all!