Friday, 28 December
Meliedy and Melissa went to San Jose today to check out the university so they had to catch the 6am bus. I decided to sleep in instead of making breakfast. I got some money for the sailing deposit and then headed to the bus stop and was greeted to a long line for the Manuel Antonio bus. I ended up making it onto the bus, but had the joy of standing. The bus was the most packed I had ever seen it, and it was only 7:30am. Maria ended up getting onto the same bus and we got off at the beach. We quickly paid the deposit for the sailing trip and then went to the public beach. I got us some chairs and an umbrella for I did not want to fry ( and I didn’t – yeah! ). I mostly sat in the shade and read my book or did soduku. I did a little swimming, where I actually swam instead of just playing in the water. Maria was telling me how in Russia they actually swim in the water instead of playing in it so I figured I should give it a shot. The waves were not as good as before but I was able to catch one wave for body surfing. Maria really wanted to swim so she swam from the public beach to the first beach in the national park. She then walked to the second beach to see what it was like. She was quite tired when she made it back.
We went across the street at 1pm to wait for our shuttle for the sailing trip. Of course it did not show up until 1:30. We got there, paid and got on the boat and ended up sitting in the back under an awning (yeah shade!). We quickly set sail and went south past the public beach and park and out into the waters looking for dolphins. We started with engines but switched to the sail when we were out a ways and it was so nice and quiet with just the sound of the wind and the waves. We had no luck with finding dolphins so we headed back inland and went by the first beach in the park and the public beach. We then headed out into a different part of the open waters and were able to find what was probably just 1 or 2 small dolphins. We then headed into a cove for snorkeling. I was not sure if I was going to do it for I figured I would be cold when I got out given the time of day and the storm blowing in. Then I grew a pair of balls and jumped in. There was at least two other boat tours there, so there were a lot of people in the water. I mainly saw schools of one kind of small fish that swam close to the surface. I would just sit there and watch them swim up to me and around me. It was a very inspiring moment. That is until I saw a guy trying to catch the fish with his hands – I was tempted to pull him under the water but figured that that would not be nice for he did not seem to be a good swimmer (had a floatation device on).
I started hearing popping/sizzling sound while I was watching the fish and eventually figured out that it was raining. There was an amazing rainbow that started one end of the cove and went over the hill on the other side of the cove. It had great colors and was about the 3rd or 4th rainbow that we saw on the trip. By far the best for the rest of them were partials that you could catch in the clouds. We didn’t snorkel for long for the sun was going down and the rain was drenching our stuff on the boat. My bag was wet, but not too bad. I pulled out its poncho and threw Maria’s stuff under it to keep it dry. After we were all on board, we got dinner and I was happy for I was starving. They made us fried fish with veggies and rice and it was great. I even had beer out of a can – I guess I am a beer drinker now. We then made the trip back and headed home.
Overall, I loved the trip and wished we could have used the sails more instead of the engine. I can totally understand why people get into sailing for it is just a cool feeling. Although, I still have no idea how the sails work for propelling the boat for I just cannot figure out how you can move forward against the wind using sails. Oh well. Katie sent me an email yesterday saying that she found a job posting for teaching english to staff on a cruise ship. After this sailing trip, I am much more interested in the job.
As soon as I got home, the power went out in the neighborhood. It came back a couple minutes later but then the water was out. So much for taking a shower. I was pretty wet when I got home and welcomed the warm room for a change. Meleidy had dinner ready a little later and I was starving so I ate again. I was very tired afterwards and was in bed watching eternal sunshine of the spotless mind shortly after.
Below are photos from the sailing tour: