Monday ~ Tamarindo

What a fun day!!! On the itinerary it said: free day at Tamarindo ... Here's how we spent it! We took kayaks from shore to this little island. The water was pretty rough and it was windy ~ it was a little intimidating knowing there are crazy currents and rocks to crash into. One option was to go around the island on the kayak but its open ocean with waves and rocks ... Didn't wanna risk it. So we parked our kayaks on the island and went to explore. It was basically a giant tide pool!! It was gorgeous and it was fun just climbing on the rocks and enjoying the view. One side of the island was covered with these white shells, looked like a shell graveyard. Awesome!!

The way back was tricky because the wind was picking up and it was kinda rough!!! I had to kayak through two breaking waves ... I was so worried they were gonna tip me over!! 

Back at shore, you also have to surf the waves ~ and I made the first but got dumped on the second! Hahaha. 

Best thing: I swear we were out for like 2 hours and they only charged us $20!

We had just enough time for lunch, and then we went on an ATV tour to a pretty beach and to watch the sunset from some place called Pirata rock! 

We decided to share an ATV instead of each getting our own and when we started going up a couple steep things, I gunned it too fast and almost lost Christina ~ so we decided it might be a better idea for her to ride with the guide instead of with throttle-happy me!! It was a good call cause on the next uphill, Christina said my front wheels left the ground for a little bit. Eeek!! And, I'm sure the guide was NOT bummed to have Christina behind him, hee hee!

Riding the ATV's was fun!! At one point we heard this loud growl. I thought, was that a bear!?! So we stop and its some howler monkeys. SO COOL!!! Later we found a tree with a whole FAMILY of howler monkeys!!!! Sooooooo coooooool. 

We rode for like an hour. And got to this gorgeous beach. We had some time to swim and enjoy it. The sun was almost setting while we were there. It was further north than where the catamaran took us. 

Then we took off for Pirata Rock and that sun was setting FAST. He had to take us somewhere a little closer so we wouldn't miss it, and guess what?! We missed it. We missed one of our four Tamarindo Sunsets .... Nooooooooo!! But we only missed it by a couple of minutes and it was still gorgeous and breath taking!!! 

I got so full of dirt from riding behind the guide ... It made for some hilarious pictures! HA!! 

Then we ended our day with some Sushi and guess what?!? The owner and server were some of our party people on the party boat! We chatted like old friends ;) Costa Rica is the friendliest. Pete (the owner) was cracking up cause we told him he looked good with clothes on!! (He was rocking a speedo and a bow tie on the boat!!) 

The restaurant had a disco going on so we checked that out for a minute too. 

A++ day at Tamarindo! Tomorrow it's white water rafting ....


The island we kayaked to!