day 12. Boating the Pacific

Todays adventure involved boating the Pacific in search of whales! Costa Rica boasts one of the best areas in the world to whale watch. In January both whales from the Antartic and Arctic join in the warm waters off the coast of Costa Rica to mate while dancing and relaxing in the ocean waves. Between the fact that Costa Rica has the longest whale season of anywhere in the world and that they have 35% of all whale species, you are likely, with any luck, able to see whales on any given trip into the sea. Unfortunately for us, we didn't seem to have the luck of the sailor....either that or the full moon played its role in nature as it often does leaving us with nary a whale sighting.

I should have suspected from the start of the trip that luck wasn't on our side. We booked a boat trip with a "local" who mainly speaks french from Ojochal. We met him at the local wifi hot spot. It would be us, another couple that only speaks french and him. But, really, who needs to understand what is being said when you are gazing at whales in the ocean. So we met first thing in the morning at the local boat entry. Arnaud, our fearless captain, boarded us, the other couple, and his helper and off we set. Shortly after turning over the engine, the captain turned the helm over to his helper, another local, that only spoke in Spanish. We, our family of 5, had settled in the front of the boat to feel the splash of the waves and be the first to spot nature. Quickly, however, the splash of the waves, turned into huge waves that I was sure were going to either capsize the whole boat or at least throw one of us overboard. I requested life jackets for my kids, and my request was met with a "really?" type of stare. Uhm, yes...really! When at least 3 of us of were tossed to the floor of the boat I crawled to the back while wishing I spoke French so I knew whether treading ocean water was in our future. Our destiny lied in the hands of the hopefully experienced, probably fisherman, true local of the area...not the captain of the boat. Suddenly after being tossed around like a cork for quite some time, full speed ahead we went over the waves onto the other side of the break and much calmer waters. When my nerves had settled, we once again began to search for marine life. We looked for any and all signs--following birds watching for breaks in the water, watching other fisherman boats. And, after several trips up and down the coast of Marino Ballena National Park, we realized that no whales were going to be spotted, and we headed for the mangroves. The shallow waters of the mangroves took charge of our small boat on several instances. And, when the motor was of no use in went Arnauld or his friend to push the boat through the croc filled waters. Graham was able to spot crocodiles on the shores. We also saw monkeys and lots of birds. Around lunch time we ended back where we had started, and somewhat happily met dry land and headed off towards lunch!