Costa Rica

This was the destination for the annual diving trip in 2004.

We arrived via Houston after the usual hassles exacerbated by fingerprint and photo requirements - is there really any reason why the US authorities cannot implement a transit system as the rest of the world manages to do?

Our hotel was a small, family run one just off the beach in Playa Des Cocos, a nice place with plenty of eating out opportunities. And a Post Office that seemed to share its premises with the Police Station!

The diving, with Resort Divers, was superb.  They were very well run (we didn't touch our kit after we got there - it magically disappeared to be rinsed and dried every evening!) and very friendly.  But, was the sea cold!  Okay, so this was the Pacific, and I'd bought a new 5mm wetsuit specially for the trip, but I didn't expect it to be so cold.  Luckily, other members of our group were a bit better prepared, ad I ended up borrowing a hood, quite happily ignoring the calls of "wimp" (which I couldn't hear anyway).

Because of the temperature, there are not too  many  many corals, but there were plenty of morays, bull sharks and loads of other fish.  And some great sea horses and anemones.

And then, it happened.  Instant celebrity status for us - I had to take my camera everywhere (thank goodness for digital!) so people could see the whale shark.  We were incredibly lucky - one hadn't been seen here for ages, and we spent over 20 minutes with her, watching and taking photos.  It was one of those truly amazing wildlife experiences.  Of our group, only a couple of us (including me, see Egypt for my Red Sea descriptions) had seen one before.

Looking at our dive profiles, we think the whale shark probably kept a constant depth - but we certainly didn't!  Excitement is a terrible thing!

When we're on holiday diving, we're a pretty committed lot, and tend to dive as much as we can.  Costa Rica, though, was to be the exception, as we decided we just had to go and see the volcano at Arenal.  A full day's tour was booked, to include dinner looking at the bright orange lava flows, some time enjoying the hot waters in a spa, a visit to the big cat sanctuary, and a walk in the rain forest.

Now, rain forests are aptly named - and it did, lots! An umbrella seemed the best thing to me which was fine but there should be a volcano in the background.  We could see some steam, hear and fee the rumblings, but it remained stubbornly hidden in the cloud. A bit disappointing, really.  But, the spa was great fun, with hot water, waterfalls and some nice lighting - if only I'd taken the underwater housing for my camera, I could have got some photos!

The other "must-do" in Costa Rica is a Canopy Tour.  There are quite a few of these, of various lengths, but they all involve the same thing - a trip through the tree-top canopy on platforms, walkways and zip wires.  It's great fun, especially if you take the plunge and try some upside down tricks, and we even get to see some howler monkeys.