Finding Nemo

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Today Captain Jack (for those of you who know, Curtis makes a mean Jack Sparrow at halloween) and I, ventured into town early this morning in order to take the snorkeling tour to Isla Tortuga. We arrived in town and wandered around, had coffee and then sat out front of the Eco Tour company waiting for information about when and where to board. It turned out that there were 11 people on our boat. News from Costa Rica does not always make headlines at home so I am sure very few people have heard about the Isla Tortuga tragedy that occurred a week ago. A catamaran, that was overloaded, flipped over in the high waves killing 3 people, one of them a Canadian. Don't think that wasn't in the back of my mind when we booked our tour but our day turned out amazing!! The trip to the island was about 50 minutes. Needless to say our captain, "Elvis" was a nice, young man but certainly lacked the charisma and charm of "Giorgio Cloonio" who sailed us around the Isle of Capri in Italy on the date of my 50th birthday!! All kidding aside he was great! The tour guides pointed out several beautiful spots along the way. The rugged coastline is amazing. We saw another beautiful waterfall as it cascaded down the cliffs to the turbulent shoreline. We sailed through a stone archway not long before reaching Tortuga. As we came upon the island you could imagine being aboard the Black Pearl with Captain Jack, sails flapping, and the clear blue water splashing along the sides of the ship. Well my imagination may have been running wild but the sight of the beautiful white sands set in the crystal clear water was a wondrous sight. We headed to shore where the cooks hopped off with their culinary treasures. The Captain then steered us out to a huge outcropping of rock. We donned our flippers, snorkels, and masks, then jumped into the warm ocean water. Now granted, I'm not the bravest or most adventurous person in the world and I was a tad nervous but my fears were soon replaced by the splendours that swam amongst the coral below. We swam and marvelled at the beautiful schools of fish that moved in perfect unison, the brilliant colours of different species and the mysteries that hid within the coral. Curtis loved the underwater camera and took lots of great photos. After circling the little island twice we climbed aboard and were taken to another great spot. This is where it got a bit tricky for me as I started to feel a bit seasick(no big surprise to my family). I decided to head back to the boat for some Gravol while Curtis explored more of the reef. Shortly after we headed to shore where we were directed to a long table with a platter laden with fresh fruit. A pig was wandering around and we found out he loves to have his sides rubbed and then be buried in the sand!!

Lunch was soon served. We had chicken, potatoes, vegetables and a most delectable sauce with fresh bread to sop up the excess. A cold beer topped it off. We enjoyed every bite and got to know some of our fellow snorkelers. We met a lovely young couple from Quebec City, another couple from New York/New Jersey, and a girl from Oregon who had come down to Costa Rica for a full body cleanse. The details weren't too pretty, especially the aftermath of the liver cleanse, so we just decided to keep eating healthy and to exercise!! Everyone was very friendly! After lunch we wandered along the white sands and then placed our towels in the sun. A Tico had pulled his small boat up to shore and we noticed that the cook from our boat was over there cutting shells open. They creating some delicacy. The man had several conch shells that he would split open with his knife. He would then clean out the goopy black stuff, leaving behind the succulent white flesh of a clam. He would next slice it up in the shell, dice some onion into it, squeeze a lime onto it and top it off with hot sauce. He would then suck the whole thing back. He turned and grinned at us, "Viagara!". The young couple from Quebec got in on the fun and for 2000 colones they had one prepared for each of them. They said it was delicious. We stuck to the chicken. Not long after that the tour operators rounded up players for soccer. Of course my husband was in like a dirty shirt and scored the only 2 goals for his team. As the day wound down we got back on the boat and headed for Montezuma. The swells were a bit more daunting on the return trip but the Gravol did the trick. We headed to the only bank machine in townonly to find it was out of money. "Maybe tomorrow it will get more money", they said. We stopped for a beer at a popular spot and thought about staying in town for dinner bit our skin was hot and tight from the sand, salt, and sun and a shower sounded better. We hailed a taxi and made our way home, safe, sound, and somewhat sleepy. What a fantastic day, in spite of my initial apprehensions and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

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