Costa Rica Day 2

Today was my Calypso Tortuga Island Cruise and it was great!  Another long day but it was well worth it!

Started off meeting the tour bus at 6 am at the Holiday Inn (just about a 10 min walk from my hotel - which is Hotel Colonial San Juan).  The Holiday Inn looked really nice (at least from the lobby) and it's located right across from a nice little park in the centre of town.  The bus picked me up from there and we did the routine pickups from all the major hotels within San Jose and then we were off.

Side note...I was really surprised at how many people were out walking (to work I'm assuming) at 5:30 in the morning.  I was expecting the streets to be deserted, but lots of people out and about.  Just something that stuck out in my walk to the hotel.

Before getting to the Puntarenas, where we were to sail from, we stopped off at a little restaurant/souvenir shop to have a traditional Costa Rican breakfast.  The breaky consisted of scrambled eggs, rice and beans, Turrialba cheese, toast, fresh fruit and fruit juice and wonderful Costa Rican coffee.  It was quite yummy!  It sounds like it was a lot but it was just small portions of everything so it was just the perfect amount.  After breakfast we got back on the bus and made our way to the catamaran.  Driving time in total was about 2 hrs from San Jose (with an hour stop for breakfast).

It was the perfect day for a cruise!  It was warm and sunny...really couldn't have asked for a better day.  The cat was nice and big and I planted myself right on the trampoline.  Staff came around for drink orders so you didn't even have to move from your spot...love it!  They also came around with various types of fresh fruit and they were all super juicy and sweet.

I met 3 ladies on the bus ride that adopted me as their friend for the day which was nice.  All very nice people and they made good company.  We spent the day snorkeling, eating and lazing on the beach.  Not too shabby!

Snorkeling was nice.  It was pretty much the same deal as any snorkeling you've done anywhere in the Caribbean.  No crazy coral to look at but saw some nice fish.  I saw a couple large parrot fish which are always pretty to look at.  My favourite part about the snorkeling though was that at one point I saw a bunch of the suns rays shining through the water.  It was beautiful and kinda spiritual feeling.  Almost like an aura around me.  Really cool!

Tortuga beach was beautiful and the spot that Calypso had was probably the best spot on the beach.  It was like our own little cove in the trees.  The neat thing that they did was that they tented the area.  It was like a big ivory parachute that hung over the picnic tables and it was beautiful.  They even covered each picnic bench with table clothes for lunch.  They whole set up was great and made it a very enjoyable lunch.  The food was very good and we were even served at the table for the main course.  Main course was not your typical lunch on a beach food.  It was chicken battered in coconut with a papaya sauce.  Um...can you say YUM?!  The fish app was great and there were also lots of salads to choose from.  Probably the best island lunch I've had in all my travels.  So far...I've been really impressed with the food here.

I spent the rest of the day just soaking in the sun on the beach and then it was time to head back.  I found my spot again on the trampoline and pretty much slept the whole way back.  The rocking of a boat always does that to me, especially after a long day.  Boats to me are just like one big cradle!

While we were getting off the boat we saw a crocodile!  It was actually the first croc I've seen in the wild (I never did see one in Oz other than in the zoo) and it was pretty darn close to the boat.  I guess it was a little incentive to be extra cautious getting off the boat.  One wrong step and you were croc food.

So I said my goodbyes to the people I had met and off we were back to San Jose.  All in all a good day and once again I'm looking forward to my bed.  I'll be meeting my tour group tomorrow for the orientation at 1 pm.  This means....I'm sleeping in!  Yes, no waking up before the sun rises tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to that!

KK

If my passport could talk...
                                          "Sun, sand & sea...sure makes me happy!"