It wasn’t all work and no play. We had plenty of fun during the blogging workshop. One day we went for a cruise on a nice big catamaran called the Marlin del Rey out of Tamarindo.
waiting for the launch
We spent the day sailing, fishing, swimming and snorkeling. It was a ton of fun. There were other people on the cruise too, not just our group. There was a couple on their honeymoon from Texas. There was a group of cute young Italian guys. A couple of pretty young German girls (who got along great with the Italians). A couple of local ladies and a few more.
We took a small launch out to the catamaran and got underway (after the safety briefing). We motored out of the anchorage and then set sail. It was a great day for sailing, good breeze but not rough. We saw whales, and dolphins came up to the boat for a while. We had a couple of trolling lines out, just in case we went through some fish.
checking out the dolphins
We arrived at the snorkeling spot and the crew passed out life jackets and noodles for anyone who wanted them. We all dived in. The water was crystal clear and just a little bit cool when you jumped in, but warm enough once you got wet. 🙂
enjoying a nice swim
We spent a couple of hours enjoying the ocean. I saw a spotted eagle ray and followed it around for a while. I tried out my new waterproof camera and even got a movie of it. I took a few pictures of the fish there, but was a little disappointed. There really was no coral. Or at least I didn’t find it. There were some rocks, and algae growing on them which attracted a few fish, but nothing like a real coral reef.
The swim was nice anyway and when we got back onboard they had a nice lunch spread out for us. Chicken, rice, beans, potato chips, doritos, Cheetos, and even chocolate chip cookies. Of course, the drinks were free and flowing all day. Excellent pina coladas!
We set sail again just as the sun was setting and watched as it turned the sky brilliant colors of orange and red. We even managed to catch a fish on the way in!
When we got back to the anchorage, it was a subdued group that loaded back into the launch for the ride back to the beach. Yeah, I would definitely do it again! 🙂
Beautiful pictures! What a great vacation!
thank you Charlene! yeah, it’s been great so far, and I still have more to go. I know I haven’t been very good with posting since I’ve been so busy down here. Also, I had my blog ‘moved’ and now it needs a lot of work to fix it back up. I’ll try to post more pictures. Last night with the turtles was AMAZING, but it was too dark for any decent pictures.
I used to really enjoy snorkeling in in the Philippines, Hawaii and the Bahamas during my younger days in the Navy. Funny, but now I long for the lakes, rivers and mountains of western North Carolina. I’m glad you enjoyed your time.
Thanks!
I bet the snorkeling must have been great in all of those places. I used to love it in FL too when I was growing up, even tho there wasn’t really much to see. Not til I got down to the Keys later on anyway.
N Carolina is beautiful too. I spent a couple of summers in a tennis camp up near Asheville. I loved it.
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