Thursday June 2nd: It was sadly the day to pull out from our lovely loft on the mountain top, overlooking the Whale’s Tail at Uvita. We all pitched in and got out by 9 am. But we still had had plenty of time for birding!! In fact we picked up 3 more lifebirds this a.m. Then, Great excitement – the well-paved road up the mountain that led to our terrible dirt road had been undermined by the 10 hours of rain (it stopped at 4:30 a.m.) and part of the road had dropped, and at least 4’ at the right edge had dropped even further. Crews were out already but what if we hadn’t been able to pass! We were happy to slow down as David was already trying to take a photo of the gray-headed ... read more

We got to sleep in until later this morning, but the HOWLER MONKEYS right outside the house woke up many of us. We left the house at 7:30 in order to get the kids to their surfing lesson, but then we couldn’t find the location, and the company did not answer their mobile, so we just spent the morning enjoying the beach in the national park called “Parque nacionale Bellena” – the whales tail. One of the photos will show you the whales tail from our house before it is visible at low tide. Then the center and the tail show up. The center is completely fine brown sand, and the tail flukes are rocks. David and Jean brought their goggles and snorkels (no fins) and tried to snorkel, which was supposed to be on the ... read more

Sunday the 29th We were awake VERY early – it’s 2 hours “behind” – and we were able to get in over an hour’s worth of birding before a lovely Costa Rican breakfast of “gallo pinto,” namely the spotted rooster: eggs, black beans mixed in rich, with a flour tortilla. And really good coffee. The driver Gerardo picked us up at 9:30 and we bid goodbye to Villa San Ignacio for a 4+ hour drive s.w. to the Pacific Coast. We learned that there are barely any roads except for single, and lots of hills, and scary driving, and yet we saw lots of bikers!! We stopped at a super muddy river where crocodiles abound, Tarcoles River, got to visit el bano, and bought some snacks. We are finding the various plantain snacks very tasty, esp ... read more

Well, this blog is usually for our travels, but today we enjoyed early morning birding with fellow Marriage Encounter couples. This is the easiest way to get the photos to you. The list below is what we saw, and maybe you did too! The fish dinner at Jolly Roger was marvelous, and the accommodations great - thank you Ron and Mary Jo. We were so glad Don & Carolyn and Rick could join us. Great place! We were VERY VERY lucky to get in the 3 hours that we did on the Boardwalk, with the rain looking so threatening. It's still thundering as I write this. For those who left right away, Fells, Grimes, Mohlmasters, & Rymans (with very knowledgeable Nicole!!) walked around the Visitor Center - and met up with Beth again. Sadly, the Center ... read more

And our last full day. Last night was an amazing lunar eclipse, and we did stay up long enough to watch some of it. The moon turned red too. It said it would rain all day, and it did rain the entire way we drove into George Town for our 10 am Covid tests. Then it stopped just before we arrived, and the sun came out beautifully. We thank God that all 3 of us passed – a quick and not very expensive ($25) 2 hour till results test. Eden Rock was flat, so we jumped in – as we didn’t know if the rain was still coming down further north from there (most winds are from south east), and perhaps up at our East End still. We were in for 1-1/4 hours. Came out to ... read more