The Cano Island scuba adventure through Southern Expeditions, was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. In addition to the incredible diving, the trip was an adventure in and of itself! The van picked us up at 6 am and drove south towards Sierpe, one of the southernmost towns in Costa Rica. We stopped along the way at Le Bistro, a charming little B&B type place for some delicious Tico breakfast. Then we continued down the road for over an hour. We finally reached the small jungle town of Sierpe which is right on the river Sierpe (the native term for serpent - which is in reference to the giant river snaking through the jungle).
Our guides loved Kylan because he could speak perfect Spanish as well as the Tico slang!
In Sierpe we boarded a small boat and shoved off into the massive river (about twice as wide as the Mississippi). We followed the river for about an hour and a half through the mangrove forests of southern Costa Rica. Here we saw spider monkeys, macaws, and wished we could have seen some crocodiles! After about an hour and a half we reached the coast where this giant river emptied into the ocean. We continued out into the Pacific Ocean for about 30 kilometers until we reached Cano Island where we were able to enjoy the best scuba diving in all of Costa Rica!
I am officially a scuba diver.
Between the two dives we saw 6 white tipped sharks, 8 eels, giant angel fish, a whole school of manta rays, more than 10 puffer fish, beautiful coral, lobster shrimp, and lots of other fish I didn't recognize! The most memorable and beautiful thing we saw was a school of over a thousand 2-3 foot long barracudas swirling around us in a giant vortex. Think National Geographic. Seriously the most incredible thing I have ever experienced.
Kylan is a proficient diver and has dove in some beautiful Caribbean waters. Although the visibility at Cano Island wasn't the same as the crystal blue of the Caribbean, the sea-life was worlds better. Not bad for my first open water dive!
Next stop, Palau!
The comments above might make me sound very calm and confident.
False.
I was pretty nervous before we went down for our first dive. I certified for scuba in Utah and did all my practice dives in a swimming pool with the "open water" dive up at the Homestead Crater in Midway. For those of you that have never been to the crater, it's about 30 feet wide and 60 feet deep with absolutely no wildlife. And that was over 4 years ago! Needless to say, I was pretty nervous!
When it was time for the first dive, I was able to get my gear on and fall backwards into the water. I had my mask on, my regulator in my mouth, and my BC full of air. The dive master signaled that it was time to go down so I started to let the air out of my BC in order to sink down. As the water line came up over my mouth, then my nose, then started to come over my goggles, I lost it. I started to hyperventilate. I kicked frantically to the surface and through almost tears told Kylan that I didn't think I could do it! Luckily he was able to talk me through the panic attack and I was able to enjoy the spectacular dives. Thanks for always pushing me Ky!
In between the two dives.
You could tell that I was still pretty nervous while we were diving because when I ran out of air Kylan had only used half of his! Hopefully next time I won't be quite as nervous and we'll be able to stay down twice as long!
Beautiful Cano Island.
Unfortunately we weren't able to see any of the island because it was pouring down rain and all the hiking trails had become giant rivers of mud. As one of our guides said, "they don't call it a rain forest for nothing!"
Agua de pipa.
Looks very tropical, but tastes nasty.
I'll stick with a pina colada!
Costa Paraiso, just outside of Domincal, Costa Rica
You can't see it in this picture, but the ocean is about 10 feet behind us.
It was truly paradise.
Our jungle bungalow
Our next door neighbors was a group of very loud and foul mouthed Canadians.
Canadians love Costa Rica.
Not a bad view to wake up to!
On the road back to San Jose.
One of the best parts of our trip was all the time we spent driving between the cities. Costa Rica is an unbelievably beautiful and diverse country and that was one of the best ways for us to see the countryside. We were able to see all different aspects of Tico life and as we listened to mission stories from Kylan and Rich, we could almost imagine what Tico life was like.
A giant statue of St. Joseph just outside of San Isidro on the way back to San Jose. We chose to visit Costa Rica at the end of the rainy season and the rain had wreaked serious havoc on the roads. This was one of many stops on the road as construction crews cleared the mud off the highways!
La Familia Barrantes
Victor, Giselle, Grevin, Steven and Valerie
one of Kylan's favorite investigator/convert families, still holding strong 10 years later!
La Familia Brenes
Bishop of the San Antonio de Belen ward while Kylan was a missionary, one of the stalwart families in the area. Sister Brenes was a very gracious host and fixed us a delicious dinner including the biggest piece of tres leches cake I have ever eaten!
the mission office of the San Jose, Costa Rica mission
After getting off on the wrong exit and receiving contradicting directions from at least 5 Ticos, it is nothing short of a miracle that we were able to find this!
To Kylan and Rich,
thanks for sharing so much of your mission with us and for guiding us on the trip of a lifetime!
2 comments:
Ok, barracudas are FREAKY, right? The first time I saw one, it took me right back to being 5 years old watching Disney's Sword In the Stone when Merlin turns himself and Arthur into fish, and they get chased down by that HUGE barracuda... yikes. Glad you got through it. Alive.
Looks like such a great time. Glad you got to go and have fun. Way to get through the panic attack and go scuba diving, I don't know if I could do it.
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