Day 7 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Snorkeling Trip

On our seventh day we planned to go snorkeling off of Isla del Caño. We packed up our snorkels, had an early breakfast and caught our boat at 7:50am which already had divers and some snorkelers on board. We traveled south down the coast and picked up some additional snorkelers at a tent camp. We then turned west and headed towards the island. On the way to the island we looked for whales and dolphins but did not see any. Once we arrived at the island we dropped off our paperwork at the ranger station. This would be the best place to be stationed in their national park system (Picture 1). After we dropped off the divers we headed towards the rocks where we would be snorkeling (Picture 2). The waves were a little choppy and the clarity was low (2 meters visibility). We had an amazing guide named Johnny who was very animated and tried his best to ensure that everyone was able to see as much as possible. He was very knowledgeable and told us about all the fish we saw. We were able to see lobster, parrot fish, triggerfish, anchovies, and pufferfish (yellow and spotted) among others. There was very little coral but many big rocks most likely from volcanic origins. Unfortunately, we did not have an underwater camera for this trip so you will just have to use your imagination!

Picture 1. Ranger station at Isla del Caño

Picture 2. Snorkeling location

After we picked up the divers we went ashore for a quick break to look at the ranger station and relax. There were some interesting artifacts and bones that had been collected from around the island. Some think that there may have been pre-Columbia civilizations that inhabited the island. One of the most interesting artifacts that have been found on the island are stone spheres (Las Bolas) which were though to carved between 200 BCE and 1500 CE and are made of Gabbro. It is unclear where these spheres originated or how they were constructed as some of them are rather large. Our guide theorized that they were rolled from far away and that was how they became round. I think that it could have been an interesting initiation into adulthood and the bigger the stone you rolled back the more respect you gained from the tribe. Or aliens.

We went back out for one more snorkel and Jeanna and I were able to see a turtle but only briefly. The divers said that they saw sharks and we were jealous. After our snorkel we boated over to San Josecito for lunch which is a popular destination for many tour groups (Picture 3). One the way to the beach I was able to see a flying fish for the first time! It just popped out of the ocean and flew for what seemed like a long time. It was very interesting to see. For lunch we had sandwiches, pasta salad, watermelon, rice, fish, veggies and cookies. After lunch we explored the beach and Jeanna took a little dip. The beach was very beautiful especially through Jeanna’s sunglasses (Picture 4). After lounging around we headed back to the resort to have afternoon tea.

Picture 3. San Josecito Beach

Picture 4. San Josecito through sun glasses. Looks like an old postcard to me.

That evening we decided to relax at the bar and we picked a good day because there was a large sailing vessel that was just leaving. We got to watch as it put up each sail and head out into the ocean. It was quite mesmerizing (Picture 5) and I fantasized about sailing around the world in a big expensive boat. This was probably enhanced by the local rum and coke (Picture 6). We explored around again and Jeanna was able to take a cool panoramic shot with her phone of the resort (Picture 7). It looked a little cloudy but never rained. This was our last evening and dinner at Drake Bay Wilderness Resort and we enjoyed dinner with our new friends and we had a good conversation about wetlands. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and highly recommend it. Everyone was fantastically helpful, the food was great, the rooms were great and the tours and guides were the best.

Picture 5. Awesome sailing vessel

Picture 6. Rum and coke

Picture 7. Jeanna’s panoramic

Day 6 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Christmas in Corcovado National Park

Christmas day started with an early rise to have a big breakfast (Pancakes, eggs, fruit and tea) in anticipation of our hike in Corcovado National Park. Corcovado encompasses 41,800 ha (161 square miles) and is the largest park in Costa Rica. It is well known for its flora and fauna and we were excited to visit. In order to get to the San Pedrillo Ranger Station we had to take a 30 min boat ride (Picture 1). On the way we saw a snowy egret (Egretta thula), pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuate), tiger heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum), great blue heron (Ardea herodias), and a locally rare masked booby (Sula dactylatra). And all that before starting our hike! We were in for a good day!

Picture 1. View of Drake Bay Wilderness Resort from the water

After we arrived at the ranger station we changed into our hiking shoes and before we even started walking another guide informed us that there was an ant eater not far up the trail. We were able to get a fantastic picture of the lesser anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla) through the spotting scope (Picture 2) even though it was not far away (Picture 3). The lowland tropical wet forest we were walking through was much different than the cloud forest we visited in Monteverde (Picture 4). There were little to no epiphytes and the understory was not as dense. I always enjoy seeing fungus (Picture 5) and extensive tree roots (Picture 6). The roots have to spread wide out to find nutrients.

Picture 2. Lesser anteater through scope

Picture 3. Lesser anteater from below

Picture 4. Tree with large buttressing and fluting.

Picture 5. Fungus

Picture 6. Expansive roots

We did not have to walk far before the spotting scope came out (Picture 7) and we saw a mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) (Picture 8) and spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) with babies eating upside down (Picture 9) and right side up (Picture 10). The adult monkey did not seem concerned with us but the baby was quite interested. There were also interesting plants to see including palms with large spikes (possibly Bactris gasipaes) (Picture 11) huge trees (Pictures 12 and 13) and long Heliconia flowers (Picture 14). Jeanna was able to see a Jesus Christ Lizard run across the water but I was able to get a shot of two juveniles (Basiliscus basiliscus) on tree roots (Picture 15). I wish I could have seen them run across the water based on Jeanna’s squeal of excitement!

Picture 7. Jeanna spotting monkeys

Picture 8. Mantled howler monkey

Picture 9. Upside down spider monkeys

Picture 10. Baby spider monkey

Picture 11. Big spikes!

Picture 12. Large tree. Jeanna for reference.

Picture 13. Very large tree. People in lower right hand corner for reference

Picture 15. JC Lizards

Picture 14. Heliconia flowers

We walked out to the beach (Picture 16) before returning to the ranger station for lunch and saw a scarlet macaw (Ara macao) (Picture 17) and a great curassow (Crax rubra) cross the path (Picture 18). I found the easiest way to spot wildlife is to look for this particular pattern of human distribution (Picture 19)! We had a great lunch at the ranger station where we were visited by a White Nose Coati (Nasua narica) that looked like it had been in a fight (Pictures 20 and 21). We also saw an American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in the ocean (Picture 22). They use the ocean to travel from river to river and can’t stay in salt water for very long.

Picture 16. Beach walk

Picture 19. Wonder where the macaw is?

Picture 17. Scarlet macaw

Picture 18. Great curassow

Picture 20. White nose coati with battle wounds

Picture 21. Coati interested in our lunch

Picture 22. Everybody out of the pool!

After lunch we hiked to a waterfall for a swim to cool off. On the way we saw some wild pineapples (genus Ananas) (Picture 23), female cycads (Picture 24) and male cycads (Picture 25) (possible genus Zamia). We walked up to a large water fall to take pictures (Picture 26) and walked back down to a smaller waterfall (Picture 27) to go swimming which was the perfect thing for warm Christmas day!

Picture 23. Wild pineapples

Picture 24. Female cycad

Picture 25. Male cycad

Picture 26. Nice waterfall.

Picture 27. Time for a swim!

After our boat ride back we chatted with our family back home and sent some pictures and enjoyed the afternoon by the pool looking over the bay (Picture 28). That evening we had Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes and rum cake. All in all a great way to spend Christmas!

Picture 28. View of the bay on Christmas day!

Day 5 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Travel to Drake Bay

Our Christmas Eve started with a 4am ride back to San Jose airport to catch a flight to Drake Bay (Bahia Drake). We had the same driver who did not speak much English and I think he listened to bad polka music to stay awake at that early hour. I enjoyed the drive but Jeanna felt a little car sick. Since traffic was light he took a different route back to the city and we drove down toward the ocean. The drive normally takes about 3 hours and we were able to make it in about 2 hours. We got our plane ticket and were going through security when the security officer asked if I had a pocket knife in my back pack. I told him no, but while he was scanning it for a second time I remembered that I had a small pocket knife in my first aid kit that I normally check when flying. It was a bummer, but it was a knife I found so I was not particularly attached. After breakfast (French toast) we boarded a small 15 passenger plane and were on our way (Picture 1). The views from the flight were amazing (Pictures 2-6)! The ride was a little bumpy but we were able to see the beauty of the country from above (and avoid an 8 hour car ride!). The landing was fun because the end of the runway was at the ocean’s edge and the single runway was bordered on either side by fences and horses. After landing (Picture 7) and checking out the airport (Picture 8) we found our ride that would take us to the resort. The road was bumpy and the area around the airport was very rural with some agriculture. We had to make a short river crossing which was fun (Picture 9) and traveled through the small town (Aquijitas) to the beach where most of the action takes place because most of the traveling is done by boat (Picture 10).

Picture 1. Tight quarters. The captain just turned around and told us the flight instructions.

Picture 2. Aerial view of San Jose

Picture 4. More rural land as we leave the city

Picture 4. Mountain lake

Picture 5. Very few roads and lots of forests

Picture 6. The Pacific with mountains in the background

Picture 7. Landing in Drake

Picture 8. Small Airport

Picture 9. River crossing!

Picture 10. Waiting for our boat taxi

After catching our boat ride we arrived at the Drake Bay Wilderness Resort (Picture 11). We were greeted with a cold towel (because it was 85 F) and second breakfast. The view from our room was amazing (Pictures 12 – 14) and the room was amazing as well (Picture 15)! We spent the early afternoon unpacking and exploring the grounds before having lunch (Chicken wrap with banana chips) at the bar (Pictures 16 and 17), which also had amazing views of Drake bay and the pool (Picture 18).

Picture 11. Room #8

Picture 12. What a view!

Picture 13. What a view!

Picture 14. What a view!

Picture 15. Comfy beds and AC

Picture 16. Me writing in my notebook

Picture 17. Lunch!

Picture 18. View of the bay and the pool

After lunch we decided to go to the local beach which was a short walk. As soon as we started our walk we saw a non-native star fruit tree (Averrhoa carambola) (Picture 19) and white-faced capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus) (Picture 20). I also got a nice close up picture of a vine in the genus Mucuna (Fabaceae) which I decided to touch to get a better picture (Picture 21). These seed pods (which contain ornate seeds called sea-beans or ox-eye beans can be used to treat Parkinson’s disease) also have irritating hairs on the seed pods that I was able to experience. It took me the rest of the five minute walk to remove them and luckily they did not produce blisters like other species can. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the beach (Picture 22), recuperating from our early morning start and making new friends (Picture 23). We also saw what I think was a frigatebird (genus Fregata) but it was far away (Picture 24). Dinner in the evening was shrimp and potatoes with cheesecake and we made some human friends at dinner from Australia and New York. After dinner we were happy to turn in early in anticipation of our Christmas Day activities!

Picture 19. Star fruit tree

Picture 20. White-faced capuchin monkey

Picture 21. Prickly seed pods of Mucuna

Picture 22. Playa Cocalito

Picture 23. Our new friend Dot!

Picture 24. Possible frigatebird

Day 4 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Cloud Forest

On our fourth day in Costa Rica we were very lucky to secure a guided tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve with Erick Bello. Erick was a co-author on an excellent book titled “An Introduction to Cloud Forest Trees: Monteverde, Costa Rica”. I was able to purchase the second edition of the book at a book store across from our hostel. The book provides background on the Monteverde region, a section on tree ecology and an identification guide to the common trees in the region. The guide includes a dichotomous key, species description, habitat, line drawings and comments. I recommend it as a great introduction to the trees of the cloud forest. The other book that I purchased for plant identification is Willow Zuchowski’s “Tropical Plants of Costa Rica”. This book is more detailed and provides information about the common tree, herbaceous and vine species across a range of habitats in Costa Rica and has fantastic color photographs.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve is 10,500 ha (26,000 acres) and is located at 1,580 m above sea level in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range. The soils and rocks in the area were formed by volcano. There are about 750 species of trees in the Monteverde region! That is very high compared with ~1,200 species of trees in the whole United States. These trees are providing many important ecosystem functions including providing habitat for >870 epiphytic plant species. The area we visited was secondary forest (forest that had grown back after natural disturbance or human perturbation) that started to grow back in 1972. The rapid growth rates of plants in tropical regions means that forest re-growth can place very quickly and does not require much human intervention. In contrast to temperate regions (like Virginia) that can experience delayed re-growth or invasion by species with faster growth rates. This unique environment provided us with a great opportunity to see lots of plants and animals.

The coolest bird we saw was a juvenile male Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) (Pictures 1 and 2). Check out that long tail! They make their nest in old hollow trees. When old trees fall down it provides an opportunity to see epiphytes that are often difficult to see up close. We were able to see a species in the genus Clusia (Family Clusiaceae) that may be a hemi-epiphyte (Picture 3). This means that is spends part of its life cycle living epiphytically and then can send roots down to the ground. So when you are in a tropical forest you can see many vine like structures than may be roots growing down to the ground or lianas (woody vines) growing up to the canopy. The most common shrub that I was able to identify was Razisea spicata (Picture 4) that bloom during the dry season and are pollinated by hummingbirds. The first animal we saw was a White Nose Coati (Nasua narica) climbing up a tree (Picture 5). They are in the same family as raccoons (Procyonidae). The fruit from Chamaedorea tepejilote are like hot jalapenos, so we didn’t try those (Picture 6). There are ~900 species of Philodendron worldwide but I think this is the first time I have seen the fruit in the wild (Picture 7). The most recognizable species in this genus is the Peace Lilly. Along our hike we stopped to take picture of a lovely waterfall (Picture 8). We also saw a very large strangler fig that was being used to research epiphytes (Picture 9 – Look for the small box on the limb). Overall, it was a very amazing hike and I highly recommend Erick Bello as a guide. He was able to mimic bird calls perfectly and tell us many interesting plant facts (Picture 10).

Picture 1. Resplendent Quetzal

Picture 2. Resplendent Quetzal

Picture 3. Hemi-epiphytic Clusia

Picture 4. Razisea spicata

Picture 5. White Nose Coati

Picture 6. Chamaedorea tepejilote

Picture 7. Philodendron fruit

Picture 8. Waterfall!

Picture 9. Strangler fig research station

Picture 10. Our group hiking

After our hike we returned to Pension and had lunch at our favorite restaurant Orchid. I had delicious sandwich and cup of tea (Picture 11). After lunch we visited the post office (which was incredibly slow) to mail a post card and visited two banks to try unsuccessfully to withdraw enough money for the rest of our trip. For dinner we went to Rico y Tico (Picture 12) where I had chicken wrapped in bacon and another local beer Pilsen (Picture 13 and 14). We went to bed very early because we had to get up at 3:30 am to get to San Jose to catch a plane to Drake Bay!

Picture 11. Lunch and tea

Picture 12. Tico y Rico

Picture 13. Chicken dinner

Picture 14. Local Pilsen Beer

Day 3 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Horse Ride & Orchids

We started our third day with a delicious breakfast from Taco Taco and while we waited to catch our ride to go horseback riding we decided to have second breakfast at Orchid. The owner of the farm picked us up and drove us up to his farm. He jumped on Whiskey his favorite horse and showed us how to control the horse and did a few spins and tricks for us. He introduced us to our horses Walker (like the Texas Ranger) and Darwin (like the awesome naturalist!) (Picture 1). Amazingly we were the only ones who were going out so we had a guide to ourselves. Our ride took us up into the country side away from the city and we were able to see many interesting things. I am always on the lookout for fire stations because my dad is a retired fire fighter (Picture 2). This was an impressive station that had a nice looking fire truck. As we were walking along the road we saw our first sloth (Picture 3)! Since we were on horseback we were only about 2 meters away but were unable to determine how many toes it had. We saw some small coffee plantations (Picture 4) and traveled along some pretty steep hills (Picture 5). After a while we stopped to have some local coffee (Picture 6). They had a nice back porch where we watched the hummingbirds visit the feeders. We saw two species, the Green Violet-ear (Colibri thalassinus) which was small and the Violet Sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus) which was much larger and tended to scare away the smaller birds. Photographing hummingbirds is quite challenging and this was my best attempt (Picture 7). The rest of the ride was great and we were able to see parts of the region that we would not have seen otherwise (Picture 8). The horses were great and only stopped once to forage (Picture 9).

Picture 1. Walker (me) and Darwin (Jeanna)

Picture 2. Fire station

Picture 3. Sloth

Picture 4. Small coffee plantation

Picture 5. Steep hills with Whiskey in front!

Picture 6. Stopping for coffee

Picture 7. Hummingbird

Picture 8. Take me home, country roads!

Picture 9. Walker eating roadside vegetation

We returned to Pension to have leftover pizza and we found the resident cat in the courtyard wanting to play (Picture 10). After lunch we walked down the hill to visit an orchid garden. There are about 20,000 species in the Orchidaceae family and there are 1,400 species in Costa Rica and in Monteverde there are 500-600 species! Most orchids are epiphytic, growing on other plants (not parasitically) and obtaining water and nutrients from the air and rain. The cloud forests in Monteverde are perfect environments for these types of plants. The national flower of Costa Rica is Guarianthe skinneri (Picture 11). It is hard to find in the wild but is widely cultivated, often as hybrids. The garden we visited housed about 400 specimens and there were about 140 in bloom when we were there. So I took a lot of pictures but was not able to record species names because we saw so many. These are the few I thought were most interesting (Pictures 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Also in the garden we saw two birds which I think are a type of parakeet or parrot (Picture 19). This was an excellent garden and our guide (Kaylee?) was very knowledgeable and excited to talk about orchids.

Picture 10. Resident cat

Picture 11. National flower of Costa Rica

Picture 12. Miniature orchid flower

Picture 13. Small fuzzy orchid flowers

Picture 14. Orchid with interesting foliage

Picture 15. Orchid shaped like a hummingbird

Picture 16. Can you see the angry man!?

Picture 17. Cluster of small orchid flowers

Picture 18. Incredibly small orchid flower!

Picture 19. Feathered friend in the garden

After we visited the garden, Santa showed up in a three wheeled buggy with a bullhorn advertising a local party at the community center (Picture 20). It was very comical but felt out of place in the warm evening. For dinner we ate at the Morphos Restaurant which was next door to the orchid garden (Picture 21). I had more rice, beans, chicken, salad and plantains which is the standard cuisine in Costa Rica and very good (Picture 22)! For dessert we shared a chocolate milk shake. We turned in early excited about the next day’s adventures!

Picture 20. Santa!?

Picture 21. Morphos Restaurant

Picture 22. Dinner time!

Day 2 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Hiking

In the light of day we could actually see our hostel room (Picture 1) which had a private bath with a hot shower! The courtyard in front of our room was great for hanging out laundry and had a couple of banana plants (Pictures 2, 3, 4, 5). Breakfast, which is the most important meal, was included in our room and was provided by the restaurant next door, Taco Taco. It consisted of a tortilla filled with eggs, cheese, potatoes and salsa and fresh fruit (Picture 6). The next most important thing in the morning is tea and our hostel had a small kitchen where guests could cook and store food (Picture 7). We decided that before our afternoon hike on the hanging bridges in the cloud forest we should explore the town. Little did we realize that walking around town is a hike itself! It is hard to tell but our hostel is located on a pretty steep hill and on a main street (Picture 8) and there is no flat land to be found (Picture 9)! We walked all the way to this sign (Picture 10) before turning around to make it back to catch our bus. On the way back we ate second breakfast (second most important meal of the day!) at a small restaurant called Orchid. We had a smoothie, yogurt, granola and fresh fruit. This ended up being our favorite restaurant in town.

Picture 1. Deluxe Room 15

Picture 2. Flower Bed

Picture 3. Bananas!

Picture 4. Courtyard

Picture 5. Trelis

Picture 6. Breakfast

Picture 7. Tea Station

Picture 8. Jeanna in front of awesome porch

Picture 9. Santa Elana

Picture 10. Roadsign

We caught our bus that was going to take us to Selvatura which is a tour company that has a park outside of Reserva Santa Elena with hanging bridges and a zip line course through the canopy. Jeanna and I decided to walk the hanging bridges to get a better look at the plants which were very dense (Picture 11). The hanging bridges were very fun because they moved around when you walked on them (Picture 12, 13, 14), they provided spectacular views of the mountain side (Picture 15, 16), plants below (Picture 17 and 18) and the tree canopy including epiphytes (Pictures 19) and orchids (Picture 20) and the insects living there (Picture 21). Truly a great ecosystem to visit (Pictures 22 and 23)!

Picture 11. Dense cloud forest

Picture 12. Jeanna on a hanging bridge

Picture 13. Underside of a hanging bridge

Picture 14. Hanging bridge specifications

Picture 15. Mountainside with long zip line

Picture 16. Dense cloud forest

Picture 17. Tree fern (Family Cyatheaceae)

Picture 18. Mountain stream

Picture 19. Epiphytes on a tree branch

Picture 20. Small white orchid in the canopy

Picture 21. Moth

Picture 22. Me and Jeanna in the forest

Picture 23. Looooong hanging bridge

After our hike we caught a bus ride back to Pension and grabbed a burrito from Taco Taco and explored town a little more. One of the things that Jeanna and I enjoy doing on vacations is finding ice cream so we asked around and found a little place that sells ice cream that is made in a local cheese factory. So we had some ice cream for dessert which was pretty good. Better ice cream to come later in the trip. We rested for the afternoon until the sun started to go down and then we left for a night hike at the Children’s Eternal Rainforest which is the largest private nature reserve in Costa Rica (22,500 ha or 54,000 acres). We met our guide and got our flashlights and hiked with a small group on the Bajo del Tigre trails which are located in transitional forests at 1,020 m to 1,380 m above sea level. The first animal spotted was an olinga (Family Procyonidae (includes raccoons), genus Bassaricyon). It moved quickly through the trees collecting fruits. We also saw a scorpion (Picture 24), inch worms, two orange knee tarantulas, a blue morpho butterfly and a pygmy frog. We saw several sleeping birds including an emerald toucanet the smallest toucan (I think this is it – Picture 25). We finished our busy day of hikes at Pizzeria de Johnny with a local cold Imperial beer and pizza (Picture 26)!

Picture 24. Scorpion

Picture 25. I think this is the Emerald toucanet

Picture 26. Cold Imperial!

Day 1 – 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation – Travel

The bags are packed, the pets are being watched and we are ready to leave the cold weather behind! We left from Richmond International Airport early in the morning and on the way to the airport we saw the first wildlife on our trip. Either a red or gray fox crossed the road as we were driving before the sun came up. Our first flight to Orlando was great and we got to watch the sunrise (Picture 1). We had time in the Orlando Airport so we ate breakfast and found quiet seats overlooking a small tropical garden (Near the Au Bon Pain) where we saw lizards climbing palm trees. We had a nice flight to San Jose Costa Rica and started getting excited about our upcoming adventure (Picture 2)! The view from the plane on the way in was amazing and we were able to see how mountainous the region is (Picture 3). Once we landed we got our checked bags, sailed through customs and went outside to find our ride to Santa Elena which is near Monteverde. We had arranged transport prior to arrive and expected to see a friendly face waiting with our names on a sign. However we were greeted with a long line of people holding signs without our names. We looked around for a bit and a nice gentleman offered to call our hostel for us since our cell phones were not able to make calls. He was able to locate our driver who was stuck in traffic and he waited to make sure he found us. We met our driver who only spoke a little English and we were on our way! It was 5pm so there was good amount of traffic around the airport but once we hit the main highway we were able to speed up and start to see the country. Along our drive we saw small coffee, banana and sugar cane plantations (Picture 4) along with industrial and manufacturing buildings near the city. After dark we stopped to get dinner at a roadside café and we had beans, rice, chicken, beef, plantains and potatoes (Picture 5). It was very delicious and we were very hungry. We continued along Highway 1 which had many large trucks until we turned toward Santa Elena. Not long after we turned the pavement ended and our bumpy dark ride began. Luckily the roads are not too treacherous but after 45 minutes were happy to see the town of Santa Elena. Our driver dropped us off at our hostel (Pension Santa Elena) and we were happy to turn in early and excited about seeing the area in the daytime.

Picture 1. Flight path to Orlando

Picture 2. Here we go!

Picture 3. Topography before landing

Picture 4. Sugar cane field

Picture 5. Dinner

2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation

My wife (Jeanna) and I had always talked about traveling somewhere warm during the winter months and fantasized about avoiding Christmas music (something of which we are both not fond of!). Earlier in the year we decided that this would be the best time for us both to get away from school and work. We had difficulty choosing a location and tossed around Thailand, Greece and Turkey but eventually settled on Costa Rica. After talking to our friends, many of which had traveled or lived in Costa Rica, we knew that we had made the right decision. So we started planning, booking flights, reserving hotel rooms and planning our getaway for December 20, 2013 through December 30, 2013. Following this post I will post our day-by-day account of our wonderful 2013 Costa Rica Christmas Vacation. Hope you enjoy!

Journal Club – Ecology and Evolution

Several of my friends and I get together periodically to discuss new and exciting literature across a variety of fields. We are attempting to write up some of our thoughts online to encourage additional discussions. Check out our first post at my friends Jon’s Blog – sample(Ecology) – Titled On the inclusive theory of evolution.

Weekend Fishing Reel Maintenance

One of my favorite recreational activities is fishing especially when combined with canoeing or kayaking. The majority of fish have not returned to the York River but the abundance of water fowl indicate that they may be here soon. To prepare for the upcoming season I decided to clean up my gear and get organized. This weekend I helped some friends move out and in the process they gifted me some fishing equipment which was exactly what I had plans to buy. One of the reels that gave me (Okuma Atrion At-30) was in need of some maintenance so I decided to disassemble the reel to clean and lubricate the moving parts.

Disassembled reel

Well, I learned a great deal from this process about how all of the components of spinning reels work. I did eventually reassemble the reel and get it into working condition but not without frustration and substantial time investment. The important things I learned were that complete dis-assembly is unnecessary for most routine maintenance and that the small little rods for the braking mechanism are very difficult to get back into place. Most of the parts that need lubrication can be accessed by removing the spool assembly, handle assembly and maybe the rotor. I also learned that WD-40 may not be the best product for lubricating reels because it will degrease the gears. There are products that are designed for greasing, lubricating and protecting reels specifically. Currently I am trying two products for greasing and lubrication both made by Ardent, Reel Butter Grease and Reel Butter Oil. I am also searching for an aerosol protectant to spray after salt water use. Please let me know if you have suggestions and I will let you know what fish I catch this year!

Reassembled reel

Long story short, don’t take your reel completely apart unless something breaks and you have a couple hours to spare!