12 – 13th July
From Guachipelin, we drove to Samara for a kayaking and snorkelling expedition, before heading to our beach bungalows at Playa Carrillo. But first we stopped in Liberia to pick up a local SIM card to enable us to access data on the move and visit an ATM to get some local currency.
We had single kayaks, at Peter’s request, and paddled across the bay to an island, Isla Chora, about 1km out. It had a lovely coral sandy beach, home to hermit crabs, iguanas, buzzards, hawks, frigate birds and a brown pelican, who showed off his fishing skills. Even monkeys swim out to the island for a couple of weeks every year.
We snorkelled just off the beach, where there were many colourful and lively fish. Just as we were arriving back on the mainland beach, the heavens opened, but it was warm and our transport was waiting to ferry the two of us to our lodging for two nights. The beach bungalows turned out to be rather grand, with magnificent views of the bay. Our room was enormous.
The following morning, we met up with Alan, our kayaking guide the day before, for our first attempt at paddle boarding. This time we had a private group, which meant Jimmy could join us.
Neither of us had done this before, so there was some trepidation as we were briefed on the beach. The bay was calm, but was definitely not still. It took a while and a few toppling offs before getting the hang of just standing up.
Then, Lynne excelled, and managed to paddle as well! Peter decided after a while that standing was not for him, so kneeled for most of the 2 1/2km distance to our landing point.
Paddling Desperately balancing
Although we could have organised some more water sports for the afternoon, we decided to give our bodies a rest and retired to our room to work on the planning for the next stage of our journey, down the Pacific Coast, whilst we had the luxury of Jimmy’s proffered support.
We spent our last evening at a great family-owned Argentinian restaurant where everything, but especially the beef was excellent. The food in our hotel was really good too, but service was painfully slow, when we hadn’t pre-ordered. We had enjoyed the Active Adventures on the first stage of our visit to Costa Rica. Also it was great, in Costa Rica, to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables again.
