Costa Rica Day 6: Tortuga Island

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November of this past year I spent a week on a catamaran exploring French Polynesia: Bora Bora, Raiatea, Huahine, Maupiti, and spent a few days on Moorea and Tahiti. (Read all about it on this site, you’ll need to go back a few pages.) When I saw that there was a day excursion to Tortuga Island by catamaran I was 100%!o(MISSING)n board. Our day started about 6:30, packing and heading to breakfast before boarding a bus that took us into Puntarenas. We didn’t know that they would have breakfast here for us. Oh well, we sat outside and did a little people watching while waiting to embark on our one day journey. There were probably 50 people that boarded this 71 foot catamaran, which was equipped with a bar, cargo nets at the forward part, along with two fresh water pools to soak in. We sat near the front on cushioned seats and settled in for the hour and a half ride.

The ride through the Gulf of Nicoya was gorgeous. Islands rising up out of the water, brown pelicans skimming the water watching for fish, a beautiful sunny day, I really couldn’t have asked for more.

A group of teens from some high school in Miami had booked on the same boat tour and were jumping around on the cargo nets, spitting ice and discussing their first world problems. “I can’t wait to use my phone.” “I can’t believe the hotel didn’t have internet.” “Michael, we already have eight on here, don’t put your feet on it.” Made me sick. I really hope I was never so unappreciative of the opportunities I had at that age. (I would like to take this moment to thank my parents for all that they did for me. The experiences that they made sure I had. If I seemed ungrateful at the time, I am most certainly not now. I am humbled by the life lessons you taught me and this wonderful world that you introduced me to. Love you both.)

As the catamaran eased up to Tortuga island I could make out the beautiful white sand beaches and various speed boats parked near the shore. We had a wet landing, meaning they lowered the dock and we jumped off into the sand/water to walk ashore. Once there we made our way to a group of picnic tables to unload our gear, pick up beach chairs and listen to the briefing. Sophie and I made our way to the beach and situated our chairs in the sand; after we were set up we went for a swim in the turquoise water. I like to jump off things into water, the higher the better. (Youtube “Brent Cliff Diving Phi Phi” for an example) The first thing I did was scale a cliff off to the right and do a back flip into the water. I checked depth first of course, the height was not anything serious, maybe three/four meters. Later others tried, it was funny to watch them struggle with the climb, if you could see a wall at Saguaro lake in Arizona that we climb to jump at 5150 this little cliff would look like a staircase by comparison.

The swim was refreshing and cooled us off, now we were ready to lay out and soak up some sun. A conch shell was blown to alert us about lunch. The little area with the picnic tables had been completely transformed. All of the tables now had tablecloths and an umbrella, overhead large canopies had been drawn, off to the side was a large spread of food, behind us a full service bar, and to our left a little island band playing some dining music. Lunch was nice, we sat with a girl from San Francisco, a girl from Ireland, and Ben from France. There was also a wild pig that walked around trying to beg food from people at lunch called an agouti, the thing was tame enough that it allowed people to pet it, and one kid even buried it in the sand when it laid down near the hammocks. The only thing really worth mentioning about lunch was a coconut curry sauce that was used on the chicken, it was wonderful.

Snorkeling was an optional activity from the island, and we took the hour long trip shortly after lunch. A smaller speed boat dropped about two dozen off us off near an island about 400 meters from shore. Visibility wasn’t great, and there was not a large coral reef like those that attract the delicate and colorful fish that are really nice to photograph, but there was a ton of fish. I don’t know how anyone would have lasted an hour out there just staying on the surface…. Although that is what everyone save one other person did, Ben the kid from France was a pretty decent swimmer too. The thirty foot dive down to the bottom was worth it. I found starfish, snails, shells, and various brightly covered fish. There was a large school of fish swimming in a color current that I was certain would draw in larger predator fish, but I never saw one. Disappointing, I would have loved to see a big tuna, grouper, or shark. The closest I got was while reaching for a decent sized sea snail I got bit on the top of my head by some territorial, brave, little fish. I came up and told Sophie that a fish bit my head and then asked Ben if he wanted to see it. He swam down with me and I pointed to the shell, he then tried to pick it up and was met with the same biting fish. He was bit on his arm, when we surfaced he showed me, there was even some blood there from that little bugger.

The snorkeling ended shortly thereafter without incident. We boarded the boat that took us back to shore to prepare to leave. Sophie has been wanting a coconut the entire time that we have been here. Someone must pick them up here, cut the tops off and sell them because I found the remains of a few in a heap of debris. I decided that this may be our only opportunity to find one so I made my way around the area until I found one. I beat the crap out of it, pounding it against a tree stump, just as I had been taught by Wen in French Polynesia. Before long I had the seed out, found a hook that I used to pierce the weak spot on the top and viola! Sophie had coconut water. We drank it as we waited in line to board the catamaran and kept the empty seed for the meat when we got back.

The ride home was gorgeous, the sun was getting low in the sky and started casting a warm light on everything in sight. Sophie had the genius idea of getting an Imperial and enjoying it as we made our way the hour and a half back through the gulf. “I just feel like we should be drinking that beer here now on this boat.” Great call. Back in Puntarenas we disembarked and boarded the bus back to the resort.

Sophie showered for dinner, I broke open the coconut on the concrete steps outside and peeled the meat away, cutting it into manageable pieces and leaving it on a plate we pilfered from one of the snack bars. We ate a bit of it before heading to the bar in the central lounge before dinner. On our way there it started to lightly rain. After ordering a drink I realized I didn’t have the ticket confirming our reservation so I headed back to the room to get it. And that was when the rain really started. I would have had better luck swimming back to the room. All I could do was smile. There are definitely worse things in this world than getting soaked all of the way through in Costa Rica! Sophie felt bad when I came back, water streamed from my head and my linen shirt clinging to my body. I tried to find a dry spot on my shirt to wipe my glasses off, but in the end I just kind of left them. We made our way to the same upscale Latin American restaurant that we had visited earlier in the week for a nice meal.

Mitch and Lynette were at the main bar after we completed dinner. They introduced us to six others that they had met on a tour that day. They were all having drinks and were a pretty fun group. Especially this guy Brian and his wife Jamie, I pegged them as being from NorCal the second he said something was “hella cool.” It was fun to catch up and hear about their trips/tours and to tell them about ours. Shots of some sugar cane liquor made the conversation even more fun. The group was definitely loosened up when we walked into the theatre to watch the show.

On the agenda tonight was a lip syncing dance style show. There was a card and a list of six bands/groups/performers, we had to rate them of how we thought they would finish. A panel of judges and the audience would combine, each worth 50 points, to determine the rank. The first group out was KISS. Once again it was so awesomely bad, I took video of each group, otherwise you may not believe this show. They were in full costume and the stage was fixed with pyrotechnics! Second was some Latin American group that I did not know, but highly entertaining. Third was Pitbull and friends that did a montage of a few songs. Fourth was the Village People, is sounds awful and it was… awfully entertaining. When LMFAO came out everyone on stage was in only their underwear, wigs, ridiculous glasses and the like. We couldn’t help but stand up and dance. They wrapped up with some Latin American duo that ended up winning. I didn’t understand a word but it was really entertaining. Maybe it was the shots that Brian kept pushing on us.

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Photos

Colorful fish
This was my favorite one at the Shedd in Chicago, first time photographing him in the wild