Our journey to Costa Rica was noteworthy for one or two reasons. As we passed through Charles de Gaulle airport Ilona was bouncing up and down with excitement, so the flippant and unworthy thought did occur to me a few weeks later that we might have inadvertently been the cause of the recent tragic collapse. Joking in bad taste aside, it was a little sobering to think that we'd sat in the very same building only six weeks earlier. Assumptions about the safety and design of modern construction techniques are suddenly thrown into question, though on the other hand, only two weeks ago I was standing in a modern building which, not for the first time, was literally bouncing up and down. I refer of course to the North Bank stand at Highbury on the historic occasion of the completion of Arsenal's unbeaten league season.
Just to get the obligatory references to the other love of my life out of the way, my mood that day contrasted sharply with how I felt just before we left for Costa Rica, having just witnessed Arsenal's exit from both the FA cup & the Champions League. I resolved in fact to completely forget football during the 3 weeks we were away, which I would have managed had our tour guide not been equally mad about the game and found out one or two of the results for me. Nonetheless it was still a fantastic surprise to get back and find that the league title was already done & dusted.
But I digress, back to the journey. Our transit time in Miami was about 2 hours, which became a little tight when the flight from Paris was half an hour late. It soon became clear that it was more than a little tight when we reached passport control to find huge crowds & painfully slow queues. For some reason we'd been given an escort by the airline for the onward flight to guide us through immigration & customs, but he was able to do nothing to speed our progress through passport control. Once we did get through (at about the time our flight was due to leave) he did save us a few seconds by showing us where to check in, but his main effect was to bemuse greatly the immigration officer who finally stamped our passports.
For our part we were rather bemused by the fact that our luggage was checked all the way through but we weren't (due to the fact that Air France and American Airlines aren't partners). Conversely, on the way back we flew Delta (who are Air France partners) from San Jose to Atlanta, so we were checked through, but this time we had to transfer our luggage ourselves. Anyway, to cut a long story short (at least, shorter), the flight to San Jose was listed as being half an hour late so we were allowed to check in and, following a long and knackering dash through Miami airport, we were relieved to find the plane was still at the departure gate, and happy to meet up with Mel, Jamie & Dave when we were eventually allowed onto the place. Five hours later the plane was still there, grounded by a technical fault, and we were at a different departure gate waiting for the replacement plane to arrive.
So we eventually arrived at our hotel just outside San Jose at about midnight, some six hours late, though amazingly our pre-arranged taxi was still faithfully waiting. The next morning, after an exhausted, though jet-lag disturbed sleep on pillows made in heaven we finally met up with Jane, who had experienced a somewhat smoother journey, at breakfast. It was Good Friday, and in Costa Rica nothing is open on Good Friday, bar a few restaurants. This suited us just fine and we ventured out only briefly, to find lunch and dinner. The rest of the day was spent lazing & recovering in the comfortable & pleasant confines of the hotel (more of a guesthouse or B&B really) with views across the valley towards San Jose.
Coffee, Cascades, Caves and Lava
The next five days were taken up by a touring trip around parts of the north west of Costa Rica. It was something of a sea change for us to go on a holiday where we weren't diving the whole time, but if all non-diving holidays were as easy and painless it might catch on. Of course it's much more pleasant when somebody else (Mel) efficiently organises everything, but even so, the fact that we had our own minibus, driver & guide at our disposal for the whole five days, and at relatively low cost, made it all even easier.
We were picked up early on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day was taken up by the drive via a scenic route to Arenal volcano national park. On the way we took in the Intel factory in San Jose, a coffee plantation, a couple of impressive waterfalls, a tree full of iguanas, and many small villages, defined by our guide Diego as consisting of the bar, the church, the school and the 'holy field', ie football pitch. After a mid-afternoon check-in at our hotel at the foot of the volcano, Diego & Carlos the driver took us on a trail through the local rainforest, finishing at dusk at a small lake. On the way we saw 3 different types of monkey, several toucans, green parrots, a small snake, and a number of spaced out hippies communing with Mother Earth.
During the walk we occasionally heard the quietly active volcano rumbling in the distance. During our two days there we frequently saw lava, etc spilling down the mountainside, though as is apparently normally the case, the top was continually wreathed in a blanket of cloud. During the day the lava flows just looked like small, ash coloured landslides, but the first night we briefly witnessed red trails glowing in the dark. However, after almost getting a clear view of the top during the next day, the cloud inexorably lowered again until it covered most of the mountain.
Our second day there was taken up mostly with a visit to some nearby caves for most of us, and by a trip north for a boat ride along a river near the Nicaraguan border for Jane. The caves were wet, muddy and great fun, and we saw 3 different types of bat, subterranean tarantulas and scorpions, and an American tourist on her own who asked us the way out!
We spent that evening relaxing at some hot springs, which not surprisingly are common in the area. Something rather satisfying about lying immersed in running hot water outdoors while the sun goes down. Not that we could see the sunset because there were trees all around, and the mosquitos were a bit of a nuisance, but it felt decadent nonetheless.
Quetzals, Canopies and Zip Wires
After a second night on brick-like pillows at the Arenal Paradise hotel, the next morning we were off on the journey to our next stop, Monteverde. A pleasant and interesting trip it was too. Diego & Carlos suggested that the first part be a boat ride from the near side of the Arenal lake to the far side, the idea being that Carlos drive round and meet us the other side to save us what would have been 3 hour drive on 'bad' roads. As that meant a 7am start for him but an extra couple of hours in bed for us there was ready agreement to the suggestion, and after a very agreeable trip across the lake we found out what they meant by bad roads. From San Jose to Arenal, the roads had all been tarmac and perfectly serviceable, but between Arenal and Monteverde they were little more than loose gravel tracks. Rough, slippery roads that led inexorably upwards, from the plains on Caribbean side up into the highlands that run down the middle of the country.
A journey of little more than 30km thus took well over three hours, lengthened somewhat by an unscheduled stop half way, when the little front-wheel drive minibus got stuck half way up a steep hill. Wheels spinning furiously in the loose gravel, we made little headway so eventually everybody got out and waited while Carlos tried on his own in the empty vehicle. A passing caballero got off his horse and for a while tried to get the poor beast to tow the minibus up the hill, but this proved unsuccessful as well, and Carlos was finally forced to give up and disappeared back down the hill. Some time later the sound of a revving engine somewhere inside a cloud of dust made its way slowly back up the hill and this time he managed to reach the top.
We eventually arrived in Monteverde, a cloud forest reserve high in the mountains, midway through the afternoon. A visit to the serpentarium was notable for the sight of one cage containing a snake which had its next dinner, a little white mouse, running obliviously round in the same cage. Someone also discovered a bowl containing numerous numbered keys, which appeared to open the locks on all the cages. Hmm, well I suppose not many people would want to steal a venomous reptile or friendly tarantula...
The next day, after another night with brick hard pillows (you may have spotted a theme), we spent in the cloud forest. The morning was taken up with a 'sky walk' - a trail through the extraordinarily green and beautiful forest interspersed with walkways supspended high across the valleys, from some of which there were views across the top of the forest canopy as far as the Pacific coast. Well, would have been had the visibility been good enough. The main interest during the walk was spotting the famous quetzals, which Carlos was adept at and his twitchers telescope offered us a good look at some of these beautiful and elusive birds.
In the afternoon it was our turn to do the 'canopy tour'. Great fun but not much time to look at the scenery as we spent two hours rushing through the treetops on zip wires, about 15 in total, some over 100m long. More of an adrenaline buzz than a nature trip. As we returned to the hotel the minibus got stuck again, but this time the driver in the vehicle behind us told Carlos the trick, an obvious one really, was to get everybody as far forward as possible, to put the weight over the front wheels.
Cocos here we come
The next morning it was time to pack up and head for the coast. Another bumpy ride down to the Pan-American Highway highlighted the contrast between the lush greenery on the Caribbean side of the mountains and the more arid Pacific plain. We arrived at Costa Rica's only port, Puntarenas, at lunchtime, and after a quick snack at a beachside restaurant made the short trip to the docks to meet up with the boat. Actually it wasn't there because the tide was too low for it to get in, but after meeting David & Lesley, Canadian friends of Mel & Jamie, the remaining six divers and the crew, we were driven out in a skiff to where the boat was anchored offshore.
The Undersea Hunter is a lovely, comfortable and well laid out dive boat with a superb and attentive crew. After the welcome aboard and getting settled into our air-conditioned (very important) cabins, it wasn't long before the crew were weighing anchor and setting a course for Cocos Island. The 36 hour crossing passed very quickly, and was reasonably calm. The day between the 2 nights at sea was taken up, for some of us, by doing a nitrox course. An aside for the non-divers who've managed to get this far, nitrox is air enriched with extra oxygen, which allows you to stay underwater longer. On the other hand it limits your depth, so an extra course and qualification are deemed necessary before you are allowed to dive with it.
In the early hours of our second night, a high pitched whining (caused, we were later told, by the vibration of the prop shafts at low revs) and later the rattling of the anchor chain and the racket of the derrick lowering the skiffs into the water, woke most of us up and heralded our arrival at Cocos. It was thus an excited group of divers that gathered at breakfast that morning.
A little natural & social history lesson first. La isla del Coco is 300 miles off the south west coast of Costa Rica, a small island about 5 miles by 2, completely covered in lush vegetation, with numerous species of birds, insects & reptiles, some of them endemic. It has one of the highest annual rainfalls in the world (though it was mostly dry and sunny the week we were there), and as a result the steep cliffs that comprise most of the coastline are liberally sprinkled with spectacular waterfalls. If it looks familiar, that's because it was used during the filming of Jurassic Park.
It also has an interesting history, being used as a base by sundry pirates & buccaneers from the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries. It's widely accepted that RL Stevenson used it as inspiration for Treasure Island, and tales of buried treasure abound. Most is still unaccounted for despite the numerous expeditions that have been mounted over the course of the last couple of centuries to search for it.
Sharks and Pinnacles, Batfish and Devil Rays
However, it is now the marine life that Cocos is famous for, in particular the sharks and other pelagic beasts that are drawn to it. It was the chance to see one of Cocos' most well-known sights, the schooling hammerheads, that was one of the prime attractions for us. For some reason, the hammerheads often appear in huge numbers, literally hundreds at a time, but alas the elusive schools proved to be the only real disappointment of the trip. While we did see a few hammerheads, on occasion up to 3 at a time, they never appeared in numbers for us (though gallingly I note from the Undersea Hunter web site that the trip the following week did get them!). The blame was put on a minor El Niņo event which meant the thermocline was lower than normal. The water was 29-30C on every dive, which was lovely for us, but the big marine creatures prefer the cooler water of the currents lower down which bring up all the nutrients from the ocean depths.
Nonetheless it was still a fantastic and extraordinary week's diving. The diving was all from the two skiffs, and the full complement of 14 divers split naturally into two groups, the 8 of us always diving together off the larger skiff. The dive master Ofer, and skipper Nelson alternated as guides between the two skiffs, though occasionally our driver Moņo also took us in. Most of us did 4 dives a day, 2 between breakfast & lunch, one in the afternoon and the last dive of the day was always a night dive. The 32% nitrox mix limited us to 40m, which we generally got close to on the first two dives, but even so most dives approached an hour in length. With balmy water and visibility consistently approaching 30m, there wasn't any reason to surface early apart from the few occasions when there was a serious current.
There's not much coral at Cocos, but the marine topology more than makes up for the relative lack of colour. Most dives were off one of the many small rocky islands or submerged pinnacles which are a short way offshore, where the bottom plunges steeply down to between 30 and 50 metres before sloping more slowly away into the ocean depths. One rock, Dos Amigos Grande, has an arch going right through it from one side to the other at 30 metres, a spectacular dive in itself without the huge shoals of fish which swarm beneath and around the arch.
In some ways my most abiding memory of the diving at Cocos was the sheer number of white tip reef sharks. I don't think there can be anywhere else in the world where there is such a concentrated population, we saw literally dozens on every dive. One of the highlights of the week was the shark feeding frenzies during a couple of the night dives. In the bay of Manuelita island the white tips have apparently learned to take advantage of the torch light from divers. It was quite a breathtaking experience to get into the water at dusk and watch a horde of sharks slowly get bigger and bigger until there were fifty or more all swimming purposefully around together, often following a large trevally - a predatory fish which was also in hunting mode. Dazzled by the torches, their prey the smaller reef fish had little chance and suddenly the sharks would swoop in, dozens at a time, thrashing and twisting to get at their prey vainly trying to seek shelter in the coral. We were warned to stay a couple of metres above the reef to avoid the reef fish taking shelter behind us, as the blood-crazed sharks would have been unlikely to stop & ask us to get out of the way...
Their night time behaviour contrasted sharply with the day, when most of the white tips would be lazing on the sand, though we did once witness similar hunting behaviour on an afternoon dive. The only other time we saw real signs of excitment was when a gaggle of males swooped past all chasing one female. Slightly busier were the almost equally numerous marble rays, which were also often in mating mode when you would often see the huge female being followed by several much smaller males.
Other sharks seen included galapagos, silkies, and silvertips. We encountered several turtles, including two doing the mating thing, and eagle rays, including a group of four gliding around the reef in formation (probably also boys chasing a girl, must have been the season for love). The other group saw a sailfish and we also saw quite a few devil rays but only one of their bigger cousins, the giant Pacific manta. The last dive we did was at a site known for one of the most peculiar fish I've ever seen, the Cocos batfish. It barely resembles a fish as it sits on the sand with a unicorn and pectoral fins looking more like arms and elbows, but the most striking feature is its bright red lips and white moustache!
I will hopefully eventually get round to scanning some of my modest underwater photos from the trip. In the meantime, and bearing in mind that I didn't get a shot of the batfish (every time I got close enough someone else scared it away!), those interested can a rather more impressive selection of photos including the batfish in the gallery on the Undersea Hunter web site.
Alas, after seven days of stunning diving, all too soon it was time to turn round and head for the mainland. We had time on the last day for a brief trip onto the island (which has a permanent ranger station, and thus a rotating population of about 10), which gave us a chance to look at the graffiti engraved into the rocks on the beach at Chatham Bay, some of it carved by the aforementioned pirates.
The return crossing was even calmer, so much so that we were able to spot a couple of passing turtles, including one which was giving a ride to a lazy bird! After an early morning arrival in Puntarenas and then a 3 hour drive, once more with Carlos as chauffeur, we were back in San Jose by lunchtime & being dropped at our hotels ready for the flights home the next day. Ilona & I had a much more hassle free trip home, apart from the first flight being overbooked which meant we weren't actually sure we could board until just before the flight was called. Despite a shorter tranfer time than on the way out, we sailed through the new and efficient Atlanta airport and strolled virtually straight from one plane onto the next. And we shared the flight back to Lyon with Didier Drogba (final obligatory football reference).
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