Second week in Costa Rica – Volcanoes and Rainforest

2008.02.09 – Saturday evening – San Jose - We attended a farewell dinner at a nearby restaurant this evening. Most of the group will be returning home, however some of us are continuing on with the Volcanoes and Rainforest back-to-back tour.

2008-02-10 – Sunday – San Jose to the Sueño Azul Hotel. Diego is leading this second segment tour, and our volcano expert is Steven O'Meara, who gives us lots of information about volcanoes over the coming few days. We drive north out of San Jose through coffee plantations and proceed onward to Poas Volcano - our first stop. The weather is notoriously fickle on top of this volcano. Our group hikes from the visitor centre to the main viewpoint, and as we arrive the clouds part for about a minute, and then close again! We waited for perhaps a half hour for it to clear, and our patience was eventually rewarded - the clouds blew away for 10 minutes or so, giving everyone time to take photos and see this interesting volcano's main caldera.

After leaving Poas Volcano, our next stop was to see some spectacular falls along the road that follows the Sarapiqui River northward and then east over the mountains through the town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. The Sueño Azul Hotel will be our home base for the next couple of days. Everyone has to walk across the river on a foot bridge to get to the hotel grounds. After dark, we leave the hotel for the Tirimbina Rainforest Center located in nearby Sarapiqui. We are given a wonderful introduction to bats which are found in the surrounding forest. 2008-02-11 – Monday – Sueño Azul Hotel – We went to La Selva Preserve today, which is nearby. La Selva is a biological research station focused on the rainforest. Our guide was a bird nesting researcher, so he was very knowledgeable about the many birds we encountered on our walk, but also had interesting stories to tell about La Selva itself, as well as the flora and fauna in the preserve. Back at the hotel, it was wonderful to just sit on the deck outside my room overlooking the lagoon, watching and listening to the rain showers come down. The wildlife in the lagoon can be observed from the comfort of my easy chair. All I have to do is keep still and quiet.

2008-02-12 – Tuesday – Sueño Azul Hotel to the Tabacón Grand Spa and Thermal Resort near Arenal Volcano – After check-out, we drive to a drop off point and spend two hours river rafting on the Peñas Blancas River. This is a Class 1 segment of river, which means we encounter no white water, and no helmets or strap-ins are needed – just a gentle float down a calm river. It rained hard for the first few minutes as we loaded, but it soon cleared and we had perfect weather for the whole trip down the river. There were three or four sections where the water ran a bit faster, but nothing I would call rapids. I think everyone had fun. I certainly enjoyed myself, since we saw lots of wildlife up close, including Howler monkeys, a snake swimming across the river, some bats, and countless birds.

The Tabacón Grand Spa and Thermal Resort is the best grade hotel we've stayed at for the whole trip. We had the buffet at the Spa restaurant for dinner this evening- their theme was Chinese. The food was very good, but it was quite noisy due to the whole spa complex being very busy (they don't close until 10pm).

2008-02-13 – Wednesday – Arenal Volcano - Today started off with a hike to see a volcanic flow on Arenal Volcano. The terrain was sometimes rough and there was some rain at the start of our hike, but it was just overcast or clear the rest of the time. Unfortunately the mountain was shrouded in cloud, which is not unusual for Arenal. The last time I was here 10 years ago, Arenal was in cloud as well. We watched the volcano spit hot boulders for awhile and then returned to the bus.

The Arenal Volcano Observatory was our next stop…a sublime place which has a nice restaurant overlooking the volcano, a resort, and the observatory operated by the Smithsonian Institute. We had a leisurely lunch, observed the volcano from the deck, and had fun watching the tropical birds feeding on some fruit left out for them at a feeding station. From this vantage point I took better photos of Arenal volcano than from our hike earlier in the day. Steven O'Meara gave us a bit of history about Arenal, and then we got back on the bus and returned to Tabacón.

The rest of the afternoon was free, so I went up to the hot springs and spa and soaked in the hot pools. Some of them are very hot (41.5°C) and others are as cool as 25°C. I found a hot pool away from the crowds and alternated between hot and cool for about an hour. Our hotel room booking includes admission to the hot springs, so many of the group was also taking advantage of the facility. Normal admission is $60/person for a day pass. There is a free shuttle between the hotel and the hot springs, since they are located about a block apart.

We had a sumptuous dinner at Arenal Kioro Hotel, a resort located toward La Fortuna not far from Tabacón,. This two year old resort is situated on the mountain and has wonderful views of the area. The whole complex is quite spectacular. After dinner, we drive back to Arenal and park along an access road, trying to spot the hot lava rocks as they tumble down the mountain, but it is so cloudy we only spot a couple of rocks before giving up and return to Tabacón.

2008-02-14 – Thursday – La Fortuna to San Jose – We leave the Tabacón this morning, returning to San Jose. First stop is El Silencio de Los Angeles Cloud Forest. This is the first Cloud Forest I have visited up close - it is fascinating. We saw lots of fauna and flora, including several varieties of hummingbirds, orchids, army and leaf-cutter ants, and many varieties of philodendron. We had a very nice lunch at the adjoining Villa Blanca restaurant, and then back on the bus for the run back to San Jose. We ran into rush hour traffic as we approached San Jose, which made us late for our Farewell Dinner. I had to be the first to leave since my flight tomorrow morning leaves at 7:45am. My pickup for the airport is arranged for 5am.

First week in Costa Rica – Southern Sky Fiesta

2008-02-03 – Sunday – Today is the big day – travel to Costa Rica. I'm up at 5:15am, do some last minute packing, say goodbye to everybody at home, and I'm out the door at 6:20am. I drive to the Victoria airport and park in the long term parking, and I then check in at the Horizon counter. My checked bag is overweight by 5lbs, which costs me $25 extra – not a problem, since I can't lug anymore carry-on luggage. The security guy asked me about the Astrotrac, and we then got into the inevitable discussion about astronomy. My friend John and his wife Wendy arrive a few minutes after me. Our flight to SeaTac is delayed by about a half hour, but we still arrive in plenty of time to find our bags, clear customs, and find the gate for our Continental flight to George Bush airport in Houston. Along the way, the security makes us take off our shoes. What stupid security rules they have in the USA!

Our flight to Houston is a bit late taking off, however we have a smooth flight – seeing Mount Ranier along the way. Continental has a golf cart waiting for us at the gate to take us to our connecting flight to San Jose, since we have less than a half hour between flights, and the gate for the connecting flight is way across the terminal. The nice lady driving the cart gets us there with time to spare

It is a full flight, so things are pretty stuffy in the cabin. I manage to survive by plugging into my music stored on my PocketPC. The Shure 210 in-ear earphones I bought awhile ago to use on this trip are fantastic in aircraft. They very effectively shut out the cabin sounds, so when we disembark in San Jose my ears are not ringing as they normally do (for days). The San Jose airport is controlled chaos, but we clear Costa Rican customs in short order and find our transportation representative.

The Courtyard Marriott is pretty deluxe, with North American style rooms, Internet connections, telephones, TV, wet bar, coffee maker and hair dryer. I take advantage of the free Internet connection to contact a few folks to let them know we arrived safely and will be on our way to the lodge tomorrow. I understand that La Ensenada "Star" Lodge is more primitive, so it doesn't have Internet, and even the telephone is not always working. I'm assuming my cellphone won't work there, unlike here in San Jose where it picked up the network right away.

2008-02-04 – Monday – San Jose to La Ensenada "Star" Lodge - Our Tico Guide is Diego, and our Travelquest Host is Chuck. I met Chuck and Gary Seronick (our astronomy expert) at breakfast this morning. Gary is a contributing editor for Sky and Telescope and lives in my hometown of Victoria. Rick and Susan Feinberg are also along on the trip. Rick is the Editor-in-chief for S&T.

Everyone was on the bus and ready to go on-time, with the first stop being a large mall. We had a chance to shop in a local AM/PM and also exchange money for those who needed some. Then we drove through the Central Valley towards the Pacific Ocean, passing through Palmares, San Ramon and Esparza along the way. We arrived at La Ensenada "Star" Lodge in the mid-afternoon, after the bus took us over the rough and dusty road into the place. It reminded me of the road into Blancaneaux Lodge in Belize, except it wasn't as far. The cabanas are basic, but clean. All overlook the extensive grounds and they all have ocean views. 2008.02.05 – Tuesday – We go on a Tractor Ride this afternoon, which turned out to be a very nice event. The owners of La Ensenada are Italians, and their son Giancarlo guided the hour and a half Tractor Ride all over the property. Near the end, we wound up a narrow road to the top of a hill overlooking the property and the Gulf of Nicoya. Giancarlo's Mama serves us her superb antipasto, beer and soft drinks while we take in the view. What a nice touch!

2008.02.06 – Wednesday – We go on a boat ride to see the mangrove that is located just around the point from where we are staying. Several of the group that went yesterday were soaked on the way back from the oncoming swells in the late afternoon, but we did much better. Only one member of our group was hit by the wash. It was a fascinating trip, since we cruised right up close to several birds and even a baby alligator was sunning himself on a small log and stayed around long enough for us to get some photos.

2008.02.07 – Trip to Carera National Park - Our group is taken on an all-day trip to this National Park. First stop is to see some 33 big crocodiles under a bridge along the way. After we arrived at the start of our little hike, there was some rain from the tree canopy falling on us at the start. Along the trail we saw some Leaf-cutting ants, 2 Macaws in a tree (a thrilling sight), and a Slaty-tailed trogan (red sides). We had a very nice buffet lunch at Hotel Villa Lapas, which is located along a river. We returned through Miramar and stopped for a swim at the beach at Caldera, just south of Puntarenas. Diego and our driver served us watermelon and cold water – again, a nice touch.

I have been incredibly frustrated with my astrophotography efforts so far while staying at La Ensenada "Star" Lodge. The skies are nice and dark (around mag 6.0), but Polaris is very low in the northern sky. This makes polar alignment with the Astrotrac practically impossible, leaving drift alignment as the only possible alternative. The first night I tried to just take a north line across the field from where I was setup using a GPS, but that didn't get me close enough. I ended up frustrated that first night. The second night I borrowed a telescope from the Sky and Telescope folks, so at least I could visually observe, since I hadn't brought any binoculars with me (in hindsight, a bad idea). John showed me the basics of drift alignment, and that allowed me to align my Astrotrac much better the second night, so I could take some images. I tried to capture a time lapse of the Zodiacal Light, since this is the first time I've observed this phenomenon. As I write this on our third night, it has been quite cloudy – again very frustrating!

2008.02.08 – Friday – This is our last full day at La Ensenada "Star" Lodge. Tomorrow we return to San Jose. I signed up for a horseback ride this morning. We all had a good time; especially considering none of us appeared to have ridden a horse for many years. The last time I rode a horse was when I was a teenager, but the horses were very well trained and the ride was an interesting two hours all around the property of La Ensenada. We went to the top of a hill overlooking the coastline - very scenic. Our afternoon was free of activities, which was a nice change. After dinner, I had a shower and a nice sleep. When I woke up around 7:30pm there were clear skies! This is the opportunity I have been waiting all week for, so I setup the Astrotrac and take a time lapse of the southern horizon over a 3 hour period until midnight, which will show many of the southern objects in the sky as they rise. I then image the Eta Carina region after finding a spot where I can see Polaris and finally get a good polar alignment. Now I'm cooking! After Eta Carina I move to the Southern Cross and image the whole region: Crux, the Coalsack, and the large nebula to the east. While the camera is imaging the Southern Cross region, I process the Eta Carina images, since I can see they are quite good. Finally, an image I'm happy with! Both John and I are up until 4am imaging, since this is our last chance from La Ensenada "Star" Lodge.

2008.02.09 – Saturday – "Star" Lodge to San Jose - We spend our last morning at La Ensenada "Star" Lodge comparing observing notes from the night before. Several of the group pulled all-nighters (including John and I), since the sky was so wonderful. I think it was perhaps the all-time best observing evening I've ever experienced. It was warm, the magnitude 6 sky was steady and crystal clear, and of course the temperature was very comfortable at about 25 Celsius. The bonus was virtually no mosquitoes. I don't know where they went, but it was a welcome relief. I visually observed a dozen or more southern sky objects visible from this latitude of 10 degrees north. Observing from here has driven home the point that I must travel to the southern hemisphere (South Africa, New Zealand or Australia) sometime in the near future. Observing from those locations will reveal a whole new sky to me. After my trip to New Zealand and Fiji in 2004, I'm convinced that the southern hemisphere has more than its fair share of superb celestial objects, and I must add some of them into my observing log within the next few years.

Before we all climb aboard the bus, we have a group photo taken. Then we drive from La Ensenada "Star" Lodge for the last time (on this trip anyway). It is a long drive over the mountains back to San Jose. We stop for lunch at Sarchi, and of course the tourist trap stuff is there for us: t-shirts and caps, knickknacks, and the painted ox carts Sarchi artisans are famous for. Back at the Courtyard Marriott it's nice to have a hot shower and get the dust washed off, and also to connect to the Internet and catch up on the news and post my blog. Most of the group are returning home, however some of us will continue on with the Volcanoes and Rainforest back-to-back tour.

San Jose to La Enscenada "Star Lodge"

February 3, 2008 - Victoria to San Jose - Our flight down from Victoria to San Jose through SeaTac and Houston went without a hitch yesterday. It was a tight connection in Houston, but Continental Airlines was ready with a golf cart at the gate to hustle us across the airport to the gate for the San Jose flight. We arrived in San Jose about 10:30pm, and it was controlled chaos as we made our way through customs and found the Travelquest rep for the transportation to the hotel, the Courtyard Marriott.

The breakfast this morning was very nice - custom built omlets, juice and fruit, very good coffee, and of course the inevitable beans and rice (I passed on this). The tour bus leaves at 10:30am for La Enscenada "Star Lodge", which is just north of Puntarenes on the Gulf of Nicoya. I undertand the lodge is part of or next to a wildlife preserve, so there should be lots of wildlife to photograph during the day. At night, of course the stars will beckon from this dark site. We expect to stay up late into the wee hours of the morning, and sleep in. The cabanas look very nice in the photos. I've already met several of the group at breakfast this morning, so we're off to a good start.

I understand there will be no Internet access at the Lodge, so my next posting will likely be Feb 8th.