Saturday, November 17, 2012

Waterfall Hike in Costa Rica

Here are a couple of blog entries from Mickey and J.P. We were anchored out in Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica for about a week and went totally off the grid.  They were subjected to some hiking, swimming, and gorgeous sunsets...poor kids. It should be noted that they were required to use an example of personification and a simile in this blog entry....again, poor kids!!!

Enjoy!


 
 
Mickey took this photograph after pulling into the anchorage at Bahia Santa Elena.
 
 
 
Easy One Mile Hike
By Mickey
 
Hello Readers!  Earlier this week we went on an "easy one mile hike." It was about 9:00 in the morning when my mom announced that we were going on a hike with our friends, Michael and Diana to a waterfall.  Supposedly the guide book said that it was an "easy one mile hike!".  We had to row a half a mile, but halfway there we caught a ride with our friends.  My family arrived at the beach in about 10 minutes instead of 30. When we got to the path, it wasn't quite a path. It was a river and we were pounding upstream!!  After a full hour, we finally go there. So much for an easy one mile hike!!
 
It was a beautiful waterfall and it looked like it was throwing buckets of water into the lake.  Also, we could drink the fresh water.  We swam next to the waterfall and had snacks of crackers, sandwiches, and cookies.  Then it was time to go back.
 
It was A LOT easier on the way back. We got to the road in only 15 minutes. Now THAT is an easy one mile hike! When we got to the dinghy, we caught a ride with Michael, but his engine broke down halfway there.  Thankfully, we saw Heather and Ron in their dinghy (they are the friends we got a ride from on the way there). Before they could get to our dinghy, I surprised everyone by jumping into the water! It felt soooooo good!! After I got up on the dinghy, they towed us back to our boat and I got in the water again. It was a great day!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Waterfall Hike
By J.P.

 
Hello Blog Readers! A couple of days ago me and my family went on a lovely hike. The Costa Rica guide book said it was a easy one mile trek.  It was really a difficult three mile hike.  When we got into the dinghy we couldn't start the engine (long story). My dad rowed us for a little bit then Sundancer's dinghy came in and towed us. Once we got there we waited fro Michael and Diana for about five minutes.
 
The first leg of the hike we looked for the service road. That didn't take us long. Then we found it and we saw HUGE animal prints!  Michael (our friend, who came with us) found me a cool walking stick. After that, we found the river. We walked upstream. There were really big spiders! Dad (Ben) said there was nothing to worry about, but those were big!! There was really slippery moss, so it was harder to walk.
 
Finally, we arrived at the waterfall. It was my first time at a real waterfall, so to me, it looked like a person puking blue something.  The rocks were like little freckles on human skin. The water was so clear I bet if the rocks were 20 miles deeper, you could still see the bottom.  We had  an awesome lunch there. About half of my favorite foods were there. After that, we took a dip in the waterfall. The water was SO clear. I can't say it was crystal clear because I've never seen a crystal before!  After that I started skipping rocks then got board. Two minutes later, we headed back.
 
Going back down the river was as hard as it was coming there. Once we got back to the beach Michael and Diana were nice enough to tow us.  But after a couple of minutes, their engine overheated. So we rowed a while then Sundancer, Heather and Ron, towed us with their ten horsepower engine (which is a lot for a dinghy engine). That was a really fun hike.
 
 
 
 
 
As we pulled into the anchorage, there was a beautiful rainbow. Welcome to Costa Rica!!
 
Above photo credits go to Mickey!!