Once again, sunrise was about 5:30, and breakfast at 7 am. What a beautful day. No rain, a few clouds and sun! Yay! Nancy and I walked down to the beach to catch the dive boat, and to see the monkeys on the way. She saw one way high up, and I eyeballed a big, black spot where she was pointing. Hm...we'll believe her. :) Just as we got to the bottom of the hill, the transport boat was there to take us to the dive boat.

Our first dive was back at Key Largo, with Bobby Jo, who also owns the dive shop with Earl. The boys were sad that Sylvia couldn't make it on our last day, but they survived. This is also the first pictures of Chris in his santa hat at the front of the boat (think Titanic), and someone (there's debate on whose idea it actually was) had the brilliant idea of him vomiting with his santa hat. Warren also took one underwater, and that one turned out pretty cool.

Key Largo has a shipwreck that we were unable to find on our first day. Bobby Jo told us on the ride out that this was the whale migration season, and a lot of times if you don't see them, you can hear them. We were not lucky on either count. The shipwreck wans't very interesting and I was glad when we made our way to the big rock, where the seahorse was, and this time there were two. I'm not sure if this is coincidence or not, but when I found them they were straight up, and when I swam over them, they both laid down. I could have stayed and watched them, but I got out of the way so the photographers could get some pictures (any of which I never received *pout*). Our dive master was having such a good time with us, that James and had tell her that we were over our time and should surface. I, of course, still had lots of air left...

On the interval when the empty tanks were being unloaded, they took us to a beach for some snorkeling. I was able to use up some of my film from the underwater camera I bought for Puerto Rico the previous year. I saw some pretty fish, several sting rays and I think I got stung by a jelly fish. Something got me anyway. Ouch! Got back to the beach, and there were some monkeys hanging out just up a little hill, so I went and checked that out, swam back to the boat, and we were off again to the next dive.

Our last dive in Costa Rica was at Los Estudiantes (The Students). More of the same, but still great. A dive trip I would recommend to those interested. We got back a little late, after 1 for sure. Keri, Warren, Penne, Nancy, James and I decided to just stay on the beach and have lunch. We went to the (?) tequila bar, and 4 of us had a cheeseburger, James had lobster tails (?), and Keri had the pasta and chicken. All was very tasty. I was up for trying something different and fruity, so I also ordered a Dracula, but it never came. James, Nancy and Penne went to check on a possible night dive, and Warren, Keri and I made our way back to Hotel Velero to decide what to do on our last afternoon on the Playa Hermosa. We thought of snagging the hammocks, but they were already taken, by none other than Lance and Chris. We stayed and chatted, drank agua and watched the ants taking leaves off the tree we were under and marching them somewhere. We found out later they chew them up and use them for a nest or something. The dive shop group made their way back, and the night dive was on for departure at 5:30.

Warren, Keri, James and I decided that a short kayak trip was in order, so we left all our stuff with the boys (payment was a round or two of cervezas for all; fair enough). So down to Aqua Sports we went and rented two doubles. We thought with the wind that the best route to take was to the right looking out to the pacific, and that's what we did. We stopped at one beach, and I picked up some shells (!!undeclared!!). We did some more exploring and made our way to another beach, but it was getting late and we thought maybe we should head back as the wind had changed directions and we were going to be fighting it the entire way in. There was a rock about the middle of the cove so we kayaked to and around it and headed for shore. That was some hard work! I took a break and was looking around, apparently for a while, because I heard behind me "I'm sure not getting anywhere paddling by myself". :) Doh! So I did until I started getting sloppy, and I rested just a little. As we were pulling into shore, Deb & Kathy were down the beach to do some shopping and Ken & Sandy were walking along right about where we pulled up. The guys were nice and carried the kayaks back up, Keri carried the oars and I just followed. :) That was pretty fun.

We made our way back to the boys and the hammocks, and waited there until it was time for the night dive (they were already out of Imperial and on to Pilsen by then). Nancy and Penne made their way down for a short visit before they got on the boat, and Keri got to go along for the ride (with cervezas, of course). I stayed with the boys, and watched the sunset. Not the best of the 4 days, but still a "10". I couldn't stand the salt anymore, so I took a walk back to the hotel (with cerveza number 2), put the cerveza in the fridge for cooling off, took a shower and changed, grabbed my cool cerveza and walked back to the boys and the hammocks. The boys had just bought a round, so I went and got myself another one, and they were out of Pilsen! So it was on to cerveza flavor #3 (which I can't remember what it was). This time I took them up on their offer of actually enjoying the hammock, the stars and Jimmy Buffett on Chris' cd, and let them know of their new success of drinking the bar out of two kinds of beer! They were even kind enough to swing my hammock for me. What could be better than this? Eventually, the dive group came back and James offered a fan and some grapes, but alas, he had none. It was time for food, so we paid the bill while part of the group (Keri, Nancy, Penne and James) went to the Aqua Sports restaurant, and we (Warren, Chris, Lance and I) followed soon after (okay, there was the whole conversion issue...good thing I was there to calculate for them). We got there and they had already ordered. ??? I tried the steak stuffed with mushrooms and mashed potatoes. I also *had* to have a sundae, so a caramel one I did have. Nancy, Penne and James were falling asleep on their plate, so they left cash and boogeyed. Keri was falling asleep, too, so she and Warren left while I was enjoying my caramel sundae with an extra of Costa Rican coffee liqueur. I let Lance and Chris try it, and they decided it was soooo good, they had to have one, too. It was after 10, which is when the hotel shuttle stops, and we made our way grudgingly back up the hill. This was one time when I was willing to partake of the shuttle. So slowly we went (Chris and Lance were even ahead of me), and just as we got to the rotten, steep part, the shuttle was coming around the corner. What a glorious sight! I wasn't even paying attention, just looking ahead, and Lance stepped in the middle of the road and flagged him down. On we got and up the hill we went.

We found out later that when the first group left (about 9:30), no shuttle came and they had to walk. When they got to the hotel, both shuttles were there, parked in the lot.

Another fine day in Costa Rica, and tomorrow we were to start the land adventure part (the "green" tour).