Monday, June 27, 2011

Day #4 - Kayaking & Snorkeling (Chandler)

Today, Friday, I got the chance to go kayaking and snorkeling for the first time! We started are day with an early wake up at 7:15 am and went down to the hotel’s restaurant for some breakfast. Once everyone was done, we ventured on in our tour bus to the kayak place just down the street.

When we arrived there, we all got to try on fins and a snorkeling mask, and we then picked out a kayak and a partner. After a brief tutorial on how to paddle a kayak, my partner, Sydney, and I were on our way out into the ocean! We had an easy trip out since we moved down the shore where the ocean was calmer. Others who didn’t got completely wiped out by the waves!

We kayaked for about 5-10 minutes out from the shore, then we kayaked another 30 minutes parallel to the shore, to our snorkeling destination, a coral reef. Once we arrived, we put on our snorkel gear and jumped into the ocean. It was hard to see because of all the sand floating around, but I was able to make out the reef and all of the fish swimming around just fine. All of the waves made the experience kind of annoying since they kept filling our snorkels with water!

After everyone was finished snorkeling, we got back into our kayaks and set off back to where we started originally. This was the most fun part of the day for me. We had to paddle our way back to shore, and since the ocean was pretty ruff, everyone was crashing! Sydney and I caught a huge wave that completely demolished us, practically turning our kayak inside out! It wasn’t over at this point, unfortunately, as another huge wave smashed into us, sending us crashing back to the shore along with our kayak.

The entire experience was amazing for me, as I have never kayaked before, or even gone out and sailed anywhere in the ocean. It’s something I’ll never forget! So far, this day has been my favorite!

*Please Note*
We have photos of snorkeling & kayaking, but not not my camera (which has been the source of many of these photos). I will post the photos when I get them off of the student camera M.H.

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Adventure Details

Duration 8 days
Destinations San Jose
Arenal Volcano
Caribbean Coast
Focus Ecology/Conservation
Biology
Geology/Volcanology