Costa Rica Day 7: Isla Tortuga
Up around 7:00. The itinerary for the day was to take a boat trip out to Isla Tortuga for snorkeling swimming and sight seeing. Had some coffee at the hotel, then headed down the hill for some breakfast. I had a delicious meal of fried eggs with an aromatic tomato sauce, cheese, and a freshly made facasha.
We purchased a tour from Montezuma Expeditions. They would take us on a fast boat to Isla Tortuga, take us snorkeling, feed us lunch, give us some time to hang out on the beach, then take us back to Montezuma. Everyone getting on the boat for the tour met at the office in town around 9:15. Then we all walked down to the beach, got on the boat, and were off by 9:30. It was a moderately windy day, so there was a lot of chop on the 1 hour trip out to the island, but it was not unpleasant. The boat dropped the lunch cooks off on Isla Tortuga beach, and took the rest of us to a reef close by to go snorkeling.
I did not have much success with the snorkel but, the flippers were great. Water kept getting into the nose seal and air tube, plus it was my first time snorkeling so it was a little claustrophobic. I ditched the goggles and snorkel on the boat and went back out for a swim with the flippers. After that, I got back on the boat and took some photographs of the scenery while everyone was in the water and there was room to move around.
After snorkeling, the boat took the group back to the island for lunch. The beach on Isal Tortuga was perfect; whit coral sands, turquoise waters, nested in a grove of palm trees. Lunch was good; fish, red sauce, grilled potatoes and beer (cerveza). After lunch we had a couple hours to explore the beach and do some swimming. I took a lot of photographs, then went swimming, and then swimming again. The crew called us back to the boat when it was time to go and everyone got back on for the trip back to Montezuma. The wind had died down by late afternoon when we headed back so the ride back only took about 45 minutes.
After arriving back in Montezuma and getting off the boat we went to the market for some water, beer, and food. Then, back to the hotel for some rest and re-hydration. A half dozen or so White Faced Capuchin Monkeys were hanging around the hotel grounds. The stuck around for about an hour and I got some good photographs; they were not afraid to get within 10 feet of us.
We prepared and consumed a really nice dinner at the hotel. Cheese, bread, olives, fruit. We passed plates around the table and shared bottles of wine. There were a lot of guests in the common area that night, so we stayed up socializing with them before going to bed.
