Yes, it sure rained last night, judging from the huge and deep puddles, and was still doing so this am. So we got to poke around the room in the early hours – including doing some much-needed laundry (there are laundry rooms on every other floor of the building). The locals made it sound like today would be dreadful, but it cleared off and, while the winds were still up and coming from the “wrong” direction, it has been a lovely day. We checked out our Tres Trapi place (where we saw Hungry Boy turtle) and the waves were crashing over the rocks! We then stood and watched the kite surfers and wind surfers enjoying the winds at Hadicuri. Then we visited the Holiday Inn, where Tom and Amy had stayed about 30 years ago when ... read more

8:30 am and we are off and at’em, with a quick trip to the Huchada Bakery to get a frappochino each to go. But it turned into NOT such a quick trip. Yes, it’s always been busy – with maybe 4 people in front of us, but this was PACKED. Was David telling people about them too? Anyway, frapps in hand, we drove to Baby Beach, but not on Big Mama’s side, but on the n.e. side, near the padi dive shop. We had been recommended to try it for turtles. There were lovely sea oat trees for shade, and a sandy entrance. We did not see any turtles though, although conditions were lovely and calm and warm and not very deep. Then a huge black cloud finally drew near so 3 of us got out ... read more

We were all up and at ‘em to go snorkeling early again – would the sea lice be the issue again? NO, it was the abrupt change in wind direction and speed. There are white caps on the ocean at Eagle Beach and all up the usually leeward side of the island! So, it was off to Linda’s for Dutch Pancakes rather earlier than we’d planned. Mary Jane was there and liked her little gift of maple syrup. And the pancakes were delicious – we split the brie, walnut, and honey, Tom had the same, and Amy a gluten-free banana and honey. With the nice wind we thought it would be a good time of day to visit the Alta Vista chapel, built originally in the mid 1500s. We were inside the cozy contemplative chapel with ... read more

The day that the H3O golf outing is taking place – and evidently in good weather, yeah!! Meanwhile, in this part of the world the McClung family and we enjoyed breakfast on the veranda of the B&B: pancakes, cereals, or the Pinto Gallo (leftover rice and black beans) with scrambled eggs and either bacon or sausage. We were picked up for the zip line adventure by the “Original zipline” company van. I wore my long thin pants and a bum bag with small camera & binoculars, tissues, etc., but probably shouldn’t have taken anything but the small camera, as there was never time for any looking around. David reluctantly left his big camera home – and that was absolutely the right thing. First we had to hike up, and up, and up, and it was quite ... read more

Sadly our amazing visit to Costa Rica is coming to an end – just 1 more day till we leave ☹ This morning we had a guided walk thru the Bogarin Trail, a birding (and sloth) habitat virtually 2 blocks from the center of La Fortuna that was highly recommended to us by someone we met at Magee Marsh when birding for warblers a few weeks ago. Our guide Kenneth knew his stuff about birds. He did point out a sloth to the 2 other folks in our group, but he was a birder at heart. We ended up picking up some marvelous new birds – 8 all day: a MARVELOUS boat-billed heron (5 were sitting up in a bush near a pond) and an American pygmy kingfisher. It started raining on us (a little earlier ... read more