Day 6 – Caño Island

The sun was out full force when we got up at 6 this morning; we knew that it was going to be a scorcher.  When it rains at night, we can typically count on a cool morning and clear day.  It was definitely a clear sky, but much hotter than we were used to.  The first application of sunscreen occurred much earlier than usual.

We ate breakfast and made the short walk down the road to Bahia Adventuras, the group that would be outfitting us for snorkeling.  We signed in, tried on our flippers, and got our lifejackets before walking down to Corcovado National Park, which is just down the beach from Playa Uvita (where we surf).  Our boat launch spot was a little estuary where a small creek meets the ocean.  We had two boats that were out in the shallow water with their propellers up.  We walked out into knee deep water and had to time it up in between waves to get on the boat without falling.  Once on board, our guide stowed our backpacks up front to keep them dry.  From here on out, all we could have out was a waterproof camera.

The boats don’t look like a speed boat, but boy did they cruise through the water!  I think our driver, Cristian, was a bit of a daredevil because we kept going back and forth through the other boat’s wake.  Salvador, our house chef, came with us.  He and I received the brunt of the waves since we were sitting in the back of the boat.  I was soaked and sunburned before we even reached our destination!

The ride out to Caño Island takes about an hour and a half.  On a good day, 10 minutes can be cut off of the trip because the water isn’t as choppy.  It took us a little longer because both boats stopped for whales!  Whales usually aren’t in the area until mid-July; however, we lucked out and came across some whales, the only tropical whales that have baleen.  Later in the summer, they will see blue whales and humpback whales because they use this water as their nursing ground for babies.  We didn’t see the whales breach, but it was still incredible to be that close to them.  A little further on, our group encountered an olive ridley sea turtle; they are very shy and usually dive under after they are spotted.

When we got to Caño Island, we could already see fish from the boat- the water was that clear.  Our guide, Wayne, prepped our snorkels for diving.  Wayne used toothpaste to keep the goggles from fogging up- a cool little trick of the trade that had a bonus of making our snorkels smell great.  He gave us a few instructions and then we were all off the boat to explore!  I had never been snorkeling before and I could have done it all day.  I was blown away by how bright and colorful the fish were; it was far more impressive to see them in their natural habitat than to see them in the pet store.  I can’t even begin to describe some of the colors we saw.

We snorkeled for an hour: 30 minutes at two different locations.  Between the two groups, we saw white-tip reef sharks, a hawk’s bill sea turtle, blue tang, butterfly fish, snapper, several types of parrot fish, puffer fish (Wayne caught one to show us), angel fish, a large trumpet fish, and so many others.  The colors were unbelievable.  All of the fish swam right around us and didn’t even seem to care that we were around.

The boats took us back to a different island that was part of Corcovado National Park.  The sky was overcast and we got sprinkled on for a little while.  The boats pulled up as close to the shoreline as they could and again we hopped out in about knee deep water.  The guides unloaded coolers and started to prepare lunch.  Most of us decided to explore along the beach until it was ready.  It was unreal how many hermit crabs were there!  Jacob and Blake built a little “colony” and put all of the crabs they found into a little hole they created in the sand.  We picked up all kinds of shells and sea glass.

We had the option after lunch to go on a short hike around the island- all of the students opted out of it.  By now, the weather cleared making it perfect beach time or others were simply too tired to do anything more.  One of the guides found some animals just inside the jungle, so Cam, Connor, Dani, Mrs. Wooden, Ryan, and I followed him in.  We got to see our first spider monkeys of the trip.  Spider monkeys are endangered in Costa Rica, mostly due to human development.  If you make too much noise, they will run away from you, unlike the white-faced capuchins we encountered earlier in the trip.  We also saw some more howler monkeys and a two-toed sloth.

After an hour of enjoying the beach by playing coconut baseball and “turtleing,” we got back on the boat for the trip back to mainland.  Our captains saw large groups of brown booby birds and they said that was a sign that dolphins were in the area.  Sure enough, we saw a group of brown spotted dolphins shortly after.  Brown spotted dolphins are much smaller than bottlenose dolphins; they are less than 2 meters long.  We continued along our way and laughed as flying fish kept leaping out of the water in the wake of our boat.  Our boat also came across a sea turtle, which we later realized were two green sea turtles (which are very rare) mating.  The other boat approached and the turtles stayed interlocked.  Wayne told us that the sea turtles only mate once a year, but for 3 days straight… and there was an awkward silence among our high school students.

When we got back on shore around 4, we had the option of going to the beach or to an internet café.  The students made the unanimous decision to go to the beach (sorry parents).  I was pleased that our group was enjoying their time here so much and that they were ok with being “off the grid” for a while.  I think it says a lot about their independence, as well as how much fun they are having.

It started to rain again just as we were finishing up at the beach.  The late afternoon rain meant that we would have a chance at having a clear night.  Chris, Mau, Mateo, Ashley, and Gerald wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and planned a surprise bonfire on the beach for after dinner.  Hate to say it, but it was kind of fun to mess with our group a little bit as to what the surprise was going to be.  We gave them all kinds of crazy ideas and told them all they needed was bug spray and a flashlight.  At 7:30, we piled into our vans and after a short stop at the store for some supplies, we headed north to Playa Hermosa.  It was an absolutely perfect night.  The stars were out and we could see so many of the constellations that are too close to the horizon back in Ohio.  There were also storms to our north and south, so every once and a while, lightning would also light up the sky.  The moon was a golden crescent close to the horizon over the water.  It really was the perfect night.

The boys built a fire and we made Tico S’mores with Chikys (Costa Rican graham cookie with a chocolate coating on one side) and flavored marshmallows.  Some students went crab hunting and caught quite a few crazy looking ones!  We decided one of them was the Chagrin crab because it was orange and black J  Steph found what we thought was a weird crab, until Jacob explained it was a sand flea coated in sand.  He dusted it off and showed us how he uses them for bait when he fishes in North Carolina- very cool!  We also heard a ghost story while sitting around the fire- a ghost story about our own surf house.  Thanks to Mateo, everyone was pretty freaked out coming back to the house.  Hope everyone sleeps well tonight!

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to sleep in!  Breakfast isn’t until 8:45, but given our track record, we’ll probably be up with the sun anyway.  At 10 we will go to the national park to do some beach clean-up and in the afternoon, we’ll get to surf again.  Even though you haven’t heard from us, we’re doing great!  Goodnight!