One Last Adventure

Today, Kate and I put on our tourist hats for the last time in Costa Rica and went snorkeling.  Ok, I guess they’re not tourist hats so much as tourist outfits (bathing suit, t-shirt, flip flops), which are actually identical to the typical tico outfit, minus the fact that Kate doesn’t wear her clothes 2 sizes too small.

After a bit of difficulty, we hooked up with Seabird Sailing in Playa Flamingo, and they provided us with a perfect snorkeling trip.  We set off for the Catalina Islands, along with a group of high school students, on Seabird’s catamaran.  On the trip over Kate and I were served snacks while we laid out on the boat’s hammock-like bow netting.  We were even treated with a front row viewing of 2 turtles mating.  Once we arrived, we geared up and started snorkeling.

Despite her illustrious career as a swimmer and swim coach, Kate is notoriously a ‘pool only’ swimmer.  She doesn’t particularly like lakes or oceans, as “you can’t see what’s underneath you!”  Nonetheless, she braved the open water, did a bit of diving, and ultimately declared snorkeling to be fun.  Though I hated competitive swimming as a kid, I’ve taken quite a liking to water sports over the years, and since learning to scuba dive a few years back, I’ve discovered that Sebastian was right: “It’s always better, down where it’s wetter.”

We had a great guide who found a lot of life for us to interact with: an octopus (don’t mess with the tentacles – they’re harmless but tough to get off you), a few blowfish (quite slippery), a sleeping turtle (it didn’t like our presence much once it woke up), a starfish, a few oysters (which I ate once we got back onto the boat), and a few scallops (which I also ate raw – while snorkeling).

The guide provided a real treat when he cracked open a scallop with his knife, and put it on the ocean floor — starting an absolute feeding frenzy.  There were easily 100 fish swimming around us pecking and diving at the scallop.  It was great to watch.

Once back on the boat we headed for home while they served us lunch.  An unexpected bonus to cap a great final tourist adventure.  Hopefully the pictures below will show how much we enjoyed this.