Kayaking in the Ocean

Kayaking in the ocean is no joke probably why I’m writing this after three hours sleep.  At 11:22 PM, my host family is now going to sleep. I can hear them washing their faces and running the shower now that the big Costa Rica vs. Brazil soccer game is over. I slept through the entire game.  I got home took a  shower and was laying down by 8 pm I think. 

Today, we purchased a snorkeling excursion. I say “we” because I was with another American volunteer who wanted to purchase additional excursions to fill our day. In the past, when I have done snorkeling, there has been a boat that takes us to the spot. This time we were each the power behind the boat… The kayak for us, keeping the kayak, moving straight, took so much effort, coordination, skill, who-knows-what because we really really struggled to keep moving straight. 😩 I was at the back, so maybe I should have been more skilled about knowing how to compensate for every movements in the front… but our afternoon  basically went like this. 

1. Get on a kayak. (when the photo above was taken, we were still feeling energetic and optimistic.)

2. Kayak and zigzag all the way out to a rock in waves.

3. Snorkel around that rock and see a few yellow and black fish in murky waters. 

4. Get back on the kayak and kayak all the way to Biesanz beach a cove where the shore is nice. 

5. Get back on kayak to kayak all the way back to the shore near the marina where we started in Quepos

6. It really went downhill… our guide asked if we wanted help we said, “yes”. I assumed help meant some advice about paddling. no he wanted to tie a rope around himself, which was attached to our boat… Though we would still paddle it would be like him towing us.

7. He pulled us for half the time the. Whistled to call his helper who kayaked back from the front to take over. Both were working so hard they took off their  shirts and their life jackets to better maneuver.

8. After about 45 minutes, we make it to the shore. 😓 

9. The rest of the group probably got there about five minutes earlier.  I would know exactly but my Fitbit died maybe forever during this excursion. I read later that night that you were not supposed to submerge it in saltwater! Which I had been for the past hour while snorkeling. I will see if I can revive it today. 

All of this has me feeling like I could stand to exercise one hour of cardio per day when I get home and take a kayaking lesson… sighhhh. But I suppose it’s OK not to be good at something. I may just let it go lol

Today was also long because prior to that we hiked with a Guide through Manuel Antonio park and after about 2 hours my feet started hurting. I wore some water shoes with no socks that I had purchased right before the trip. I also head a somewhat heavy backpack on. I had a pre-existing plantar fasciitis in my left foot and for whatever reason my right foot’s outer edge started to really hurt. Lesson Learned : On tomorrow’s hike, I am definitely wearing the sneakers I brought for construction. I did have some time at the beach though within the park to get in the water, then lay down for a while to rest. Most everyone else cut the tour early to go to the beach early. Maybe I should’ve done that too. 

On Wednesday, we are scheduled to do white water rafting. Let’s just say I may skip out on that. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. I have all day hiking through waterfalls. I hear it is pretty steep! And that I should have hiking shoes on. I don’t have hiking shoes so the worn-down sneakers will have to do… At least I’ll be able to avoid foot pain. 

Auditorium we did see a few animals. Here are some highlighted photos: crab, snake, bats, monkey, and sloth. 

I’m not one for complaining so I’m going to end this now. Tomorrow I will avoid all the pitfalls of yesterday and also make time to have breakfast. Today. I needed to leave before 7 AM, the time breakfast is typically served at my homesstay. But I can leave at 7:40 AM which gives me time for breakfast. When you work hard physically you really need it!  I went to the marina yesterday around 5 PM, after having dinner with the kayaking group. I really earned that rum raisin ice cream and I have a feeling I will be earning it again tomorrow!