Last day in Cahuita

I woke up in the morning, looked outside and I was thrilled to see not a cloud in the sky; after having breakfast at Sol y Mar, I went straight to the beach, where I parked myself for the remainer of the day. I managed to read an entire book that day, and in between did some swimming and suntanning (not that those activites cannot be combined). I took a break to head to the entrace to the park to have some fresh fruit from the stand, and got to see monkeys for one last time before leaving the Caribbean side. Later in the afternoon, I spent some time watching the crabs hurry across the sand in search of food, ocasionally bumping into me since they happened to walk sideways. I took a really nice video of a crab running away from the incoming waves and then returning in a futile attempt to relocate his hole, which was already closed up and filled with water. In the evening, I satisfied my craving for chinese food one last time, and returned to Riverside where I made new friends. The people staying in the cabina next to mine were a couple from Montreal, both high school teachers, and we spent the entire evening together, laughing and talking. I even got to practice (to a VERY limited extent) my french listening skills, and I gave them as much advice as possible about where to go in Costa Rica, especially since they had rented a car and had more freedom than the public buses allow. They were still jetlagged so they turned in early, while I stayed up a little bit longer listening to my iPod and reading my book. A really sketchy and most likely strung out guy showed up out of nowhere and asked me for money - I said I didn't have any though he did already eye the bag of change that I had sitting on the table, right next to the iPod and the speakers. I got away with giving him a cigarette and cracking a few jokes before he walked off, so I wisely decided to retire inside of the room. It wasn't even ten minutes later that he returned, obviously wanting more than just a smoke. I ingored his comments since I was locked in and behind bars (which in this case is a good thing!), so I continued reading my book before going to sleep, since I had a full day of travel ahead of me in the morning.

I finally had to peel myself away from the beach, the national park and the monkeys, packed my bags and said goodbye to Big Boy yet again. I headed to the bus terminal, only to find out that I may not have a seat on the way to San Jose; I spent ten minutes nervously chewing on my nails while the guy at the ticket booth radioed the bus to find out the number of people already on it. I ended up with the last possible seat, my favourite, right in the middle of the back bench on the bus, reminiscent of my first trip towards the Caribbean. Yet again the bus stopped at a police checkpoint and for the third time in two days I had to show my passport to prove I was in the country legally, making me question the priorities of the police in Costa Rica. The rest stop in Puerto Limon was extended by a good half an hour while the bus driver and a mechanic attempted to fix a transmission problem that threatened the entire ride back to the central valley. They did patch up the problem, and their solution seemed to last at least long enough to get to our destination, though almost an hour behind schedule. I quickly made my way across San Jose and grabbed a TUASA bus for Alajuela, where I spent the next few days getting ready for the arrival of Josh and Marisa, while also working to update the blog and take care of administrative things (such as receiving a new credit card since apparently my number was 'compromised' though they wouldn't tell me where or how). Soon enough, after my friends' arrival, I knew that I was about to head into Nicaragua and then further up to Honduras, for some fun in the sun and many more dives ahead.

Returning to Costa Rica

I managed to get up early in the morning to finish packing my backpack; I said goodbye to Katherine and her dogs, left her Marciel's snorkels and then started the sad walk on the main street towards the boats. This time around I was able to get tickets for Changuinola since I really wanted to see the canal again, and it looked like the water level was not a problem, at least not in the morning. While I was waiting for the boat, I met a group of three travelers (one dutch, one french and one belgian) and we spent some time talking and sharing travel stories and giving eachother recommendations for places to stay. We all got on the same boat and started the hour long trip back to the main land. As we left the dock, I took a few more pictures and then said goodbye to Bocas, knowing that I will be returning in just a few months' time. We passed by the Wreck dive site and continued to follow the shores of the island until we reached the end, where I got one last glimpse at playa Boca del Drago. Then we left the ocean and proceeded along the canal, which runs parallel to the beach but more so inland; along the way we passed by people's houses, with the requisite canoes 'parked' in front. Everytime we went past one of those, the boat did slow down as to not create too much of a wake, and the same thing happened when we came across a log drifting through the canal; we could feel the bottom of the boat hitting in everytime we passed over it.

We arrived at Changuinola safe and sound, got off the boat and right away we were wisked into a waiting cab (more like a minibus) to take us to Guabito, the border crossing on the Panamanian side. After passing through the numerous banana plantations and paying $10 for the ride, I arrived at the border where I left Panama without a problem, since I actually had a tourist card this time, unlike my first return from the country a few months before. I was a bit worried about re-entering Costa Rica, since you have to show proof that you have a plane ticket booked; I do have one, but my return date is way beyond the 90 day tourist visa that everyone receives. I prepared my story (in spanish of course), but luckily that wasn't necessary as I received my entry stamped and I was asked to move aside so that they can get through the line up. There were considerably more people at the border than any other time I had been there, so I credit the crowd for the quick 'escape'. As soon as I had received my stamp, a guy came up to me to ask me where I was going and pointed me in the direction of the 'bus driver' to Cahuita. I was a bit skeptical right away, since the MEPE drivers don't sit at the border to solicit customers, and I was proven right: the 'bus' driver really drove a private van, and he would have been more than happy to take me to my destination for an increased price. Knowing the schedule of the public buses, I wisely declined, walked down a few steps and sat by the MEPE station, waiting for about 30 minutes before the real driver showed up. This time I didn't even need to put my bag underneath the bus (bonus) and I settled in for the hour and a half drive back to Cahuita, which would have been even longer should the bus had taken the detour through Puerto Viejo.

The cops jumped on the bus not once but twice in that period of time, checking everyone's id cards or passports; of course they were looking for people who illegally entered the country or those who have overstayed their 90 day visa. I understand performing that check once, but twice seemed a bit excessive and a waste of public resources...after all there are many other crimes that they should focus their energy and resources on, but who am I to judge? The important thing is that I made it back to Cahuita, walked down from the bus terminal and then proceeded to look for Big Boy since there was only one cabina left vacant at Riverside. I couldn't find him after asking around town, and eventually the guy who looks after the garden at the place offered to go to big Boy's house to see if he was there; he did find him and I was very thankful for that. I met again with the group of three Europeans who I traveled with from Bocas, and they invited me to stay with them, but I couldn't really do it since I had already promised Big Boy I would return, and that would not have looked good on me at all. It is important to maintain contacts in the various places I am traveling to!

After leaving my bags in the room, I wanted to make the most of the rest of the day, so I headed straight back to the beach in the national park. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the beach, swimming and watching the howler monkeys. I even got to see a sloth sitting in a tree after someone pointed it out for me, so I was overall really happy to spend a few more days at the beach before returning to the central valley. I didn't return to Riverside until it got dark, and even Big Boy and Peck started to get worried since I normally didn't come back that late, but it didn't rain that day so I wanted to make the most of it. I went for dinner at Cha Cha Cha's again, feeding the resident cats as part of my ritual, then returned back to the cabinas, grabbed a few beers and went to join the three Europeans who were living in the house next door. We spent a few hours chatting about our travel experiences before they decided to turn in, since they wanted to travel all the way from the bottom of the Caribbean coast through San Jose, aiming to arrive in La Fortuna by night fall.

Last days in Bocas

Since I said ´weather permitting´, of course mother nature played a cruel joke the following morning...I woke up to a cloudy day, and though I headed to Starfleet to see if they would be running a trip that day (I wanted to get two more dives as well), I soon learned this was not going to be that day. As I stood on the deck at Starfleet, I could see the curtain of rain slowly making its way closer to the island, and I realized that noone was going anywhere that morning. I even saw the boats from the other companies, which had already left on their tours, turning around and returning to their docks, so I knew this would be a total write off day. I left Starfleet with the promise to come back the next morning, and spent the rest of the day just relaxing at La Veranda, reading and chatting with other travelers. That´s when I met Desiree, one of the group of seven Dutch tourists who were traveling along with their tour guide through Costa Rica and Panama. We spent some time talking together before she left with her group to go out for dinner. I went out soon after and returned to La Veranda just in time, as the power went out. Soon after Jodie and Amanda returned from the town as well, and they told everyone that a generator blew up on the main street, right as they were walking past it!

As Marciel soon after told us, this could have meant that the power would be out for the remainder of the evening, until the morning ferry could bring in the necessary replacement parts. He brought all of us candles and we spent a ´romantic´evening sitting and chatting, sharing travel stories and getting to know eachother better. Good thing I asked Amanda about the Bay islands, since she told me about a dive shop that I should definitely avoid, for reasons that will remain unmentioned here. Eventually the power did come back on that evening, but it was too late to consider going out to one of the parties at the bars by the waterfront, so I spent the rest of the evening at La Veranda.

The following morning I was still feeling the effects of the flu that I got a few days before, so even though it was a beautiful, sunny day, I couldn´t get myself motivated to go out until late in the afternoon. I spent the morning doing admin tasks, taking care of my laundry, reading for a bit, but most of all catching up on sleep so that my body could recover. Eventually I made my way to Playa Ismito, the beach closest to town and also on Isla Colon, which didn´t require any boat ride, simply a half hour walk to get to a nice spot. I spent a few hours on that beach, reading and watching little kids play in the water and on the basketball court. One of the kids fell sleep in a chair, and his friends had a blast tickling him with a straw and watching his startled reaction.

For my last day in Bocas, I wanted to make my way to the Red Frog beach; as opposed to taking a $10 water taxi plus paying the $2 entrance fee (since this is a private beach that is being developed for a resort), I decided to take the poor man´s choice and head to Playa Wizard and then walk the rest of the way along the shore line. So I got on a boat to Bastimentos, and it had to be one of the shakiest rides I have ever taken; there was a storm looming over the ocean, and the waves, even in between the islands, were among the biggest I have ever been on. The boat was jumping up and down each wave so much that a few times I thought we were going to topple over. As we approached Bastimentos and got into the bay, the water was a bit calmer, though I have to say I almost kissed the ground as I got off the boat and away from the dock. As I was walking across the island to get to Playa Wizard, I started hearing thunder and I was wondering if I even made the right decision to come there that day. I did continue on however, and reached the beach, happy to see that I was not the only person there; because of the looming storm I decided to stay there for a while, since at least there were a few huts where I could seek shelter should the rain come down.

I watched a few surfers brave the high waves, took some pictures and even caught a nap between reading my book; I wanted to finish it so that I could trade it in for a new one before leaving the island the next morning. As it started to get dark, I wisely walked back together with the last group of people (again power in numbers is always a good idea) and returned to Bastimentos. I got a chance to take a few more pictures of the island as the sun was setting before sitting on the dock to wait for a water taxi. As I got dropped off on Isla Colon, I passed by Starfleet one last time, both to collect my signed divelog and also to say goodbye to all the friends I made there for the last two weeks. After that I returned to La Veranda, where I started the process of packing up all my stuff, getting ready for the trip and the border crossing back to Costa Rica the following morning.

Boca del Drago

Woke up to a beautiful day, and I didn´t want to waste a second of it; my plan for the day was to head to Boca del Drago, on the other side of Isla Colon. I never got a chance to see this place the first time around in Bocas, and I had heard that it has a beach that is littered with starfish, from one end to the other. By the time I arrived in the Central Park I had already missed the bus and had to wait close to two hours for the next one, so I stopped by Starfleet to say hello to what I now consider to be ´old friends´and talked to them for a while. I returned to the park with plenty of time to spare since I didn´t want to miss the next bus, so I sat on a bench and talked to a really nice lady who kept me company for the hour. She told me all about her life in Bocas, how she quit smoking (I had to step away from her to have a cigarette) and even encouraged me to buy a lottery ticket so that maybe, just maybe, I would win the $4,000 jackpot; ironically the ticket I got was in the ´gemini´series, since it was a horroscope draw, but as I found out later it just wans´t my lucky day. She wisely advised me to get on the bus right as it was dropping people off, though it still had to make the roundabout in the city, since otherwise I would have had to stand for the entire one hour ride across the island.

At times the road was almost washed away because of the recent rains, and with each trip the ticket guy would get off the bus and move a few more rocks out of the way. At times the road took us through some really thick jungle, and I got a much better idea of how big Isla Colon really is! I eventually reached Boca del Drago, and right away I saw Amanda and Jodie (two girls who were staying at La Veranda) waiting for the bus to return to the main city. They told me that to see the most number of starfish i would have to walk for about half an hour further on the beach, and pointed me in the right direction; they also said that they came across a TV shoot, and sent me on an errand to find out what the show was. As I walked away from the bus stop, I came across yet another familiar face: Renato had set up shop on the main path, selling his hand made bracelets and necklaces. We talked for a few minutes and took a few pictures, and then I continued on my search for the starfish. After walking for about twenty minutes along the shore, I came across this girl, a production assistant, who asked me to walk through the jungle so that I won´t distrub the show. Of course I complied, but only after asking a few questions and learning that MTV was shooting a TV show entitled ´The Island´, which is a cross between "The Real World" and "Survivor", based on how she described it.

It was interesting to see a reality show being filmed, and to get an accurate idea of how large of a support crew is necessary to bring the final product to the small screen; when you watch any of those shows back home, you never get to see the cameras, or the crew walking around, the catering tables (not for the contestants, obviously) and all the lighting tricks necessary to get those beautiful shots that we see in the final product. After taking a few pictures, I continued my walk and eventually settled on a spot on the relatively small beach; what was small above water as more than made up under water. Though the shallow water gave way to much deeper one very quickly, there were so many starfish around that I didn´t know where to look first. Luckily I still had Marciel´s snorkel, so I spent a lot of time swimming back and forth parallel to the beach, watching and even gathering some starfish along the way, though careful not to keep them above water after the warning that Eddie gave me. I spent a good few hours on the beach, though I did return to Drago much earlier than the arrival time of the bus, since it was the last one for the day and I didn´t want to be stuck taking a cab all the way across the island.

I stopped at the only restaurant in town and had a beer, confident that there were enough seats for all the people left there and that I didn´t have to stand for the entire ride back. I returned to Bocas with enough time to shower and change before going out for dinner with Eddie and Sasha. I wanted to take them out to thank them for their hospitality and everything they had done for me during my time on the island. We headed to Rum Runners, an indonesian restaurant that they had yet to try, and we enjoyed a really nice dinner together. We talked at length about the differences in lifestyles between Central and North America, and continued to make plans for the future. I already told them that I will be returning to Bocas in the next few months, and hopefully by then their two apartments in their home would be ready so that I will be able to stay with them. As the evening came to an end, we parted ways, said goodbye and they headed home while I returned to La Veranda. I was planning on going on the boat tour of the Dolphin Bay, Cayo Coral and Red Frog beach the next morning, weather permitting of course!

Advanced open water Pt. 2

The next morning I resumed the dive course, showing up at Starfleet early in the morning. The first dive was the navigation one, and for that I was joined by a few other people who were just completing their open water certification. We returned to the wreck (Eddie even laughed that we were there just over 12 hours before), and I already felt an increased sense of responsibility towards the others in the group. My diving buddy was doin the navigation for the first course, which involves going in a straight line for 20 kicks, then turning 180 degrees and returning to the instructor (with the aid of a compass of course), whereas I had to perform not only that task, but also navigating in a square and a triangle pattern. The whole idea of the exercise was to learn how to use and to rely on the compass; I did fine with the triangle and the straight line, but I lost track of the number of kicks since I was too busy concentrating on the compass, so my square was a little warped. Luckily the visibility was good enough that we were able to find our way back. Once the homework was out of the way, we were free to explore the wreck and the corals around the site; I got to see the symmetrical brain coral, the wire coral and the devil’s whip, and since I had the camera, got to take a number of great pictures along the way. After about 50 minutes, Eddie gave us the thumbs up sign and we started surfacing towards the boat; after returning to Starfleet, I helped out the guys at the shop to clear out the boat and put the equipment away. I was a bit fazed that some of the divers didn’t even bother to put their own stuff away let alone help out with the rest, but for me it was good practice should I become a divemaster later on. We took a break for lunch before returning for the second dive.

In the afternoon, it was just Eddie and I for the buoyancy dive, which was the item I had most problems with, ever since the open water course. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I knew it had to be done; first up, once we were underwater, I had to maintain my position and adjust the depth simply using the air inside of my lungs. It took a good few minutes to get that down, then the next test was to hover in a lotus position (similar to yoga) without tipping over side to side or going up or down. After a few tries, I got that down too, and we continued to the last buoyancy test, which I found very similar to a circus performance. I had to swim through this wire square, controlling my level simply with my lungs again, without putting any more air into my BCD (the vest you wear underwater). Once all the chores were out of the way, we were free to enjoy the rest of the dive, swimming above the corals and taking lots of pictures. There weren´t that many fish around, but I got so many pictures of many different types of corals that I filled the memory card; that´s the great thing about digital, I just emptied the card and it was ready for the next morning. After the dives, I went for dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Bocas, and unfortunately my craving for really good chinese food went unfulfilled...the noodles were really soft and moist, not fried and crunchy as I was expecting, so I probably would not recommend the restaurant to anyone else, nor will I return there.

Because of all my efforts in helping out at the dive shop (or maybe simply because I am a nice guy), Eddie offered me a free dive after completing my course, so I had two more to do in my last day. For the first one, we headed to a site called The Log, and as soon as we started submerging, we saw a stingray circling around us. It was the first time that I had seen one outside of an aquarium, and it was a great sight, though it was too far away for us to take any pictures. We also saw an eyed flounder, scale worms, lots of parrot fish and a cushion sea star. I also took some pictures of the other divers who went with us, and I offered to share the pictures with them if they wanted to send me an email, so the ball is in their court. As our time came to an end, Manuel, my divemaster, gave us all the thumbs up sign and we started surfacing towards the boat. We returned to Starfleet for a change of tanks, and we were joined by four other people for my last dive. We went back to the Hospital Point, where, for the first time, Angel was my dive master (I thought he only drove the boat, but I was obviously wrong). We dove down the coral reef wall, and with my newly learned buoyancy skills, I was able to hover just above the reef so I can take a closer look at the corals and the underwater life living within it. Unfortunately I couldn´t take the camera on the last dive as there was something wrong with the flash and it was possibly leaking some water inside of the case.

I did see a lot of life there though, including the flat needle fish, trumpet fish and a whole school of parrot fish. Also saw lots of lobsters hiding in the crevaces and one huge (obviously) giant hermit crab; Angel also pointed out a spotted drum fish, though it took me a while to understand the signal for it and I almost missed it. As I was about to finish my last dive for the time being, I learned one last important lesson: when surfacing always hold one hand above your head while releasing the air from the BCD. I was wondering why I couldn´t see the boat anywhere, and then I realised, as my hand touched something, that the boat was literally right over my head. If I wouldn´t have done that, I could have bumped my head right against the hull. Luckily, I pushed myself over just in time, and got to the boat safely. With that (unfortunately) my advanced course came to an end, though I already knew that I didn´t have long to wait before resuming diving in the Bay islands, a place that rivals none except for the Great Barrier reef in its beauty, from what I heard. I will fill you in on the details once I get there; in the meanwhile, I returned to Starfleet, put away all my gear and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Caribbean burger place before heading to bed since I was so tired from all the day´s activities.

Advanced open water Pt. 1

I had put off the course for long enough, and it was time to get started. Eddie told me that I could show up later in the morning, so I had some time to get my readings done before arriving at Starfleet. First on the list was the deep dive, and I was really looking forward to being 30 meters below sea level; after getting all my gear together, Eddie and I went through the ‘briefing’. To illustrate the point that your skills get affected by the extra pressure, he had me perform some math problems (addition, subtraction and multiplication) at the surface, the same problems that he would have me perform under water. My time on the surface was 2:28, and in theory that should take me longer underwater; with that out of the way, we got in the boat (driven by Manuel this time) and drove to our site, Manuel’s wall (no relation). This was another coral reef wall that went actually deeper than 30 meters, but it would not be safe to go beyond that. We slowly descended, in order to give ourselves time to equalize; the first thing I realized is how little light gets through at that depth. Eddie showed me his dive computer as it flashed ‘DEEP’ to indicate we arrived at 30 meters, he had me kneel down on the sand and gave me the same math problems.

It really felt as if I was doing everything is slow motion, and I thought I took over 5 minutes to solve the equations. After that, Eddie wrote on the table that I should put down my address backwards; I promptly ignored the last word and I was really happy with how quickly I wrote it down. However he looked at my answer, puzzled, and the underlined the word ‘backwards’ so I had to do it again. Once that was out of the way, we started ascending to a safer depth, searching for the safety stop; since we were performing a deep dive, the oxygen gets depleted much faster and a 5 minute safety stop is mandatory. To facilitate the process, an extra air tank and regulators are suspended from the boat at the recommended 5 meter depth, and even before we started the dive I asked Eddie to use the emergency air for practice purposes. Because of poor visibility, it took some time to locate the safety stop, and at one point, Eddie turned to me and offered his secondary regulator. I didn’t understand why at the time, but later he explained that he wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough air to make it all the way to the surface. Good thing that I can follow instructions and ask questions later: I took his secondary regulator, and soon after we found the safety stop, where I switched to the spare regulator. After waiting the required 5 minutes, we surfaced and hopped onto the boat; it wasn’t until we returned to Starfleet that I got both the good and the bad news. The good news was that (surprisingly) I performed better at the math test under water than above: 2 minutes vs. 2:28, which really goes against the theory. The not so good news was that I couldn’t write my address backwards: I wrote Picking for the city, not Pickering; so we had a good laugh over that one!

I was feeling really tired after the deep dive, so I got the afternoon off, and I promptly went back to La Veranda and had a nap for a few hours, to recharge my batteries for the night dive. I originally wanted to do a night dive after I got my open water certification, but it kept on getting cancelled and I had to leave Bocas, but this time around it was part of my curriculum. I arrived back at Starfleet by the time it got dark, in order to watch the instructional video before getting ready. We then loaded the boat and headed for the wreck, a dive site that I had explored before during the day, but at night everything was different. Angel was driving the boat, and I went diving with Eddie (obviously since he was my instructor), Kevin and Manuel (a different Manuel than before – I know this can get confusing). I got into the water, and it took me a minute to find my bearings, considering that it feels much different diving at night; good thing I am not claustrophobic. Not only that, but I was holding so much more equipment: 2 flashlights and I insisted on bringing an underwater camera, since I wanted to take pictures. After getting my bearings straight it was time to get to work; my homework was to perform a night navigation, purely relying on the compass to find my way back to Eddie. I managed to do just fine, though for a while I was worried what if I wouldn’t be able to find him, but at the end I looked up and I saw Kevin and Manuel above me, making sure that I wouldn’t get lost. After the navigation portion was out of the way, we were free to swim around and explore the nightlife; I guess I had a slightly different expectation about the night dive. From what I have heard from other people, I built a mental image similar to Disney’s ‘Little Mermaid’ – an ‘under the sea’ paradise. While it was still a great dive, it wasn’t anything like that, though I did get to see more lobsters, crabs and even a large eye toadfish. I did manage to take some pictures before it was time to return to the surface.

Back in the boat, my first impression was that there was a power outage on Isla Colon – there wasn’t a single light in sight. We had to use our diving flashlights to illuminate the way back to the dive shop, and at one point Eddie took control of the boat from Angel to navigate through the coral reefs. We made our way back to Starfleet, and while unloading the equipment and putting everything away, we also spent time chatting and having a few beers. One by one, all the employees headed home, and just as Eddie was about to leave, I noticed Ann and Ricardo walking down the street. I had met them a few days before while they were staying at La Veranda, and I invited them to join us as well. Eddie went home with his box of new tiles for his pool, and I spent the next hour and a half chatting with the very nice couple. Anne was from Montreal and Ricardo from Tegulcigalpa, Honduras, and they had met while she was doing volunteer work in the country. I told Ricardo that I would be visiting his country in a few weeks, and we exchanged email addressed so that we would keep in touch; in fact he was nice enough to offer to come pick me up from the bus terminal, since apparently the Honduran capital is not safe after dark. While I was chatting with them, a pair of cops approached me to remind me that I was not allowed to drink on the street, though the beer I was having was on the steps of Starfleet. Either way, no sense in arguing with them, so I dumped the rest of it and then started walking with Anne and Ricardo back towards the hotel. Along the way we saw someone getting arrested in front of Mondo Taitu, so the police was really cracking down that evening. I said goodbye to them after promising to stay in touch, then I headed back to La Veranda for some much needed sleep so that I could get some rest before resuming the dives the next morning.

Fun dives in Bocas

So I started my most recent diving adventure with the two fun dives, to get reacquainted with the equipment and the underwater world. I was joined on these by Manuel, a tourist from Germany who just got his open water certification, and his wife Ina, who came along to snorkel while we went diving. Along for the ride were Eddie, who acted as the boat captain for the day, and another Manuel (easy to keep track of names), one of the dive masters from Starfleet, who I later found out was Rohman’s cousin – Bocas is a small world after all. After getting our equipment, we headed to Hospital Point, right off Isla Solarte, aptly named as this island used to house the old hospital in Bocas around the turn of the last century, when communicable diseases made it practical to set up the operation away from the more populated islands. I had to take a moment to adjust my weights before finally submerging, but soon after we found ourselves diving along a huge coral reef wall that was about 15 meters high submerged in the water. Had a great time observing all different kinds of corals, and we were lucky enough to see a few lobsters and crabs as well as trumpet fish. After about 45 minutes under, we did a 5 minute stop and then surfaced and got back on the boat. Because of the high price of gas, Eddie was very smart in already packing the extra air tanks in the boat so that we didn’t have to return to Starfleet before our second dive.

Instead we drove around Hospital point and onto a dock where we tied the boat, or at least attempted to; right away an old guy came running out of his house, the same guy I saw at the Iguana who nailed the hook game on the first try. Turns out that he owns quite a large property on Isla Solarte, and he started freaking out that we should be tying the boat to the dock, since apparently someone did that before and toppled the dock over, causing damage in excess of $5,000. We didn’t want to get into a confrontation so we simply anchored the boat in the bay without tying it down. We walked on the island to visit some of Eddie’s friends, who were really nice and welcoming and offered us coffee and water (which was really welcomed after the amount of salt water I took in while diving). We spent the surface time taking pictures, talking to our hosts and playing with their dog Ajax; right as we were about to leave and head back to the boat, Manuel showed us a seashell that had a lizard inside protecting its eggs – too bad the pictures didn’t turn out, but at least we got to see it.

For the second dive, we went to site called the Bowline, where we got to see more lobsters, blue striped lizard fish, and starfish. At one point Manuel (the dive master) told me to stay put, while taking Manuel (the diver) further away; I was a bit confused thinking that the buddy system was being abandoned, and I couldn’t understand why. It turns out that he saw a school of about 30 caribbean reef squid, and we all approached them from different sides so that we can observe them before they got scared at scattered about. Later in the dive, we saw an eal, a bridled burrfish (the ones that puff up when they feel threatened) and even a spotted moray – too bad I didn’t have an underwater camera for these dives. When we surfaced again, Eddie invited all of us to his house for a barbeque, so we headed to our respective hotels to change and get ready for the party in the evening. But before that, as we returned to Starfleet to pack up our gear, Ina saw a number of starfish in the water, so we all jumped back in and played around with them, taking pictures and clowning around before Eddie warned us not to keep the starfish for so long out of the water. I felt a bit guilty since the last thing that I wanted to do is to harm the marine life in the area.

I stopped by the store to get a bottle of wine for our hosts, and a few beers, then went home to shower, change and get ready. Since Manuel and Ina did not know where Eddie’s house was, I told them to meet me in the central park so that we can go there together. I was running a bit behind schedule, so I went to meet with them, took them to Eddie’s place then returned to La Veranda to finish getting ready. I spent some time talking to Stan and Marcel, two guys who were also staying at the same hotel. We exchanged emails since they were leaving the following morning, and then went back to Eddie’s house. By the time I got there the party was in full swing, and I got to see even more familiar faces, including Manuel and Kevin (dive masters from Starfleet), as well as meeting new people, including the now retired vice president of Morgan Stanley, who also had taken up scuba diving as a retirement hobby. He lived in Costa Rica with his current wife, but often came to Bocas to train the police forces in underwater search and recovery. The plan was changed a bit, as apparently Sasha lent their barbeque to another family, so instead we had some delicious rice and shrimp and salad – it was so good in fact that we were savoring every bite, leading Sasha to believe that we didn’t like it, which could not have been any further from the truth. We took lots of pictures of our time together, and watched a soccer game where unfortunately Panama lost, though I cannot remember who they played against. Also learned during that evening that Sasha and Eddie were born on the same day, on the same year, at the same hospital, so they had been together since the first minutes of their lives… it cannot get any more romantic than that! I had such a good time in fact that I was the last one to leave despite repeated requests for them to let me know if I was overstaying my welcome.

Though I was supposed to start my course the next day, it was raining pretty heavily, so I walked over to Starfleet and asked Eddie if I can postpone it by another day. On the way back from the dive shop, I ran into Ina and Manuel again, who also decided to extend their stay in Bocas by another day. I sat with them talking at the Golden Grill for a while, and I convinced Manuel to trade books with the one I had just finished. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing at the hotel, since it rained throughout, and in the evening I went to a pizzeria on the main street, where I ran into them one last time. I gave Manuel my book and he left his at Starfleet, and with that we said out goodbyes and I wished them luck on their journey back to Germany.