Tamarindo and the Estuary

We had heard so much about the estuary tour, so we decided to go check it out before our visit to Tamarindo. The estuary is on the river between Playa Grande and Tamarindo. Both are very popular surf beaches.

It was very pretty, but hard to see because we have a couple of big tall people sitting in front of us in the boat. I could only see right to the side.

We stopped at one point to take a little walk and see the howler monkeys.

There were a few little babies and one monkey decided to pee on Cole more then once. The first time a little go on him and the second time Cole got out of the way.

This area is a natural habitat for crocodiles. Apparently there are a ton, we saw 2. One was a tiny baby on a tree and the other was this giant 9 foot croc who lives at the mouth of the river.

About 4 or 5 days before there was a surfer that was crossing the river from Playa Grande to Tamarindo. This is not something that many do and it is not safe since it is the mouth of a river that is natural crocodile habitat. There is even a boat that sits there to take people across. Well, this guy took his chances and go a chunk taken out of his leg by this guy right here.

They will not be doing anything to the crocodile. It is his home and the people should respect that. They will leave him rightfully so in his home.

We got to Tamarindo for lunch just in time for a beautiful thunderstorm.

After lunch it stopped raining and Dr. C rented a surf board for the kids to surf a little with.

Little C did great and he is hooked!

L did great also, but she could take it or leave it.

I think little C could stay in the water forever! He is part fish. After the beach we stopped at a beach club pool and then headed back to the hotel. By the time we got back to the car, it was pouring really hard and more thunder. We spent the afternoon at our condo relaxing with the rain. The power went out from the storm. We loved it!

Next is Playa Grande.

Kristen

Exploring Avellana Beach

We took a long drive on dirt roads to find this little surf beach. Dr. C wanted to eat dinner at Lola's and watch the sun set.

These trees were scattered all along the road. This was one of the smaller ones.

We got to the beach around noon (we had a late big breakfast), this gave us a lot of time to play in the water and on the beach before dinner. The tide was way out so there was lot of mud to dig in.

We made all kinds of little rivers going to our little lake.

Little C dug his own hole so deep that water was shooting into it. Then they both had to bury their legs into it.

The Matrix!

After playing in the water and digging in the sand for a few hours we decided to take a walk and explore the beach while killing another hour. The sun didn't set till about 6, so we though if we got to the restaurant at 5, it would be perfect to eat for that last hour and watch the sun go down.

There were interesting shells on the beach.

Lola's was so cute! I loved the tables and chairs and they were all out on the sand.

It was the perfect setting for a sunset dinner.

Too bad, I don't have a sun set picture. That's because we sat down at the tables at about 5:02 and used for a menu only to be told that they close at 5:00. No sunset dinner, a couple of very hungry kids and a long slow dirt road to find some food. At least the beach was nice!

Sunset Sailing

The thing I wanted to do most while we were at the beach was to take go on a catamaran and snorkel. Being on a sail boat is one of the most relaxing things and taking a snorkel cruise has always been one of our favorite things. We also hadn't done it since our honeymoon 15 years ago.

So, on this day we got up with a mission, to find a cruise we could take. We knew it would probably be the best day for it. We found a cruise, relaxed on the beach then went back to the condo for lunch and rest up for our cruise. I have to force Dr. C to not be so busy and just relax. 

Of course we found our way to the front for our favorite spot on the trampoline.

Little C said that he might like snorkeling better then zip lining. He absolutely loved diving down deep! He said it was relaxing. Funny thing is the snorkeling was terrible. We saw some fish, but nothing special or unusual. He did get to swim through a school of fish and thought that was really cool.

L had to hold my hand the whole time we swam and every like 30 seconds, she had to adjust her mask or her mouth piece. Maybe that's why I thought the snorkeling wasn't that good.

If you look really, really close, you can see two tiny people. That's Dr. C and little C paddle boarding. They saw a sea turtle.

This kid knows how to relax!

This one took about 15 minutes just to get her towels situated just right.

We even saw dolphins playing in the water and jumping all the way out of the water.

We met some nice people on the boat. A family from Switzerland, some honeymooners, a family that goes every year to Costa Rica and a group looking for the right beach to move to in Costa Rica.

L and I did a little dancing on the boat.

Finally, the sunset...

It is so neat to see everybody walking off the boat so relaxed and every single one of them smiling saying how amazing it was. It's almost like they are different people then when they got on the boat. There are no words to describe the peace and tranquility out on a sailboat and what it does to relax you body. I think this was one of my favorite days of the trip.

Kristen