Friday is FUN Day!

WOW. Fun day was Friday.  We got up early, and were on the bus by 5 a.m. We drove for about 2 hours, stopped for breakfast on the way. It was a Costa Rician buffet, with your rice, beans, fruit, and piece of bread. Neat thing was the area around the restaurant. While everyone else scoped out more souveniers, I went outside and explored with my camera. I found some beautiful flowers, and landscaping as you can see from the pictures.  Behind the restaurant, one could go hang out with a toucan, and step into a green room with a butterfly. Being a butterfly enthusiast, I was excited but disappointed as it was small and we only found one butterfly, but did find several cocoons.
The roads to Tortuga Island were curvy and wound down the mountain - not for the faint of stomach. We were rewarded with some beautiful views, and the excitement grew as we saw water. The sailboats, and fishing boats were everywhere. We parked the bus and took a beautiful hour and 20 minute ride in a party boat out to the island. On the boat, we were treated to all the fruit juice, water, and soda we could drink. The staff also walked around the boat with platters full of pineapple, papya, and watermelon. It was wonderful! The water had various shades of blue depending where you looked. The landscape was dotted with little islands, each with a personality of its own.

Soon we could see brown beaches, tall palm trees, hammocks, and little boats on the island. YAY! Let the fun begin! We were then escorted off the boat and ushered over to some shade covered tables to get the schedule. For the wonderful price of FREE: we could ride the bananna boat, and snorkel! We also had the option to ride horses for $10 each. Wonderful!

We signed up to do all of the above. While waiting in the 90 + weather, our captain informed us of a sizeable earthquake in Japan and a Sunami warning for our area. We were all amazed as we hadn't seen TV, or heard the news all week. Saying a prayer, we each scouted off to do our thing! The boys and I headed for the water, while Sweetie checked out the island.

Our first activity was the bananna boat. With Jason & Chad in front of and behind me strattling this yellow rubber boat, I was confident! The boat pulling us started off, and wow did we bounce on the waves! It was like riding horseback in the surf! As we bounced across the waters, we slowed down only to go faster, which is when Jason informed me this was where we would go fast then jerked over to the side! I laughed, but it was too late! Into the water we went. We eventually climbed back on and bounced back across the water to the beach. I was thrilled, another activity I wanted to do off my bucket list.

Are you ready for this? The captain blew a conch shell to get us to come to dinner. It was neat! Our appetizer was chopped tilapia cooked in lime juices, with some red peppers and onions. It was wonderful. Sweetie and the boys passed it up, can you imagine? Salad was served next with some cooked noodles, and carrots, and some cucumbers with some sort of sauce on it. It was good. Again, the boys and Sweetie ignored the food.  The main meal was rice, (go figure) with grilled chicken coated in coconut. This they ate. I did get another treat though.. I got to drink out of a coconut! I was disappointed, I thought the milk would be thicker. Oh well, another thing to check off my list! We had an amazing day..