Barb's Journal

November 26, 2005

This morning the group gathered for breakfast. We visited and later walked through the city. We all met later for our first session, where Ana, Jay, and Georgienne delivered a short welcome and introduction to the Imaging Foundation and the expedition. The group then gathered up and headed out walking to a nearby local restaurant for dinner. We had a great meal, including a beer, for $8.00! Conversations were lively and entertaining among the various members of the group. The evening passed quickly. We came back to the hotel and sat around and visited with my new friends. We are leaving at 8:00 tomorrow morning for the port town of Puntarenas. We all are hoping for calm seas for our 34 hour ocean crossing. The boat, Undersea Hunter is 115 foot.

November 27, 2005

The final members of the group arrived late last evening. The last round of introductions were made as we gathered for breakfast. At 8 our transportation arrived and we began hauling all of the luggage out to be loaded into the gear truck. The transfer crew has this system down pat and quickly stowed all of our gear. Now to gather up the troops! We loaded up the bus and hit the road by 8:30.
Our tour guide, Rudy, delivered an informative narrative about Costa Rica en route to our coastal destination. I did not know that the national population is estimated at six million, with the mean Costa Rican monthly income at approximately $200.00. The principle income stream is tourism, followed by coffee production, and sugar cane. Coffee is still picked by hand when the beans are red. Whole families work as coffee pickers. A picker gets approximately $1.00 per basket. A good day's work for a picker is 20 baskets.
The countryside is simply beautiful, so green and lush. Our transfer took about three hours, which included a pit stop. At the stop they had caged (humanely) critters-snakes, roosters, Chinese pheasants, a small butterfly area, and beautiful gardens. I took pictures of a baby hummingbird in its tiny nest.

We got to the Sea Hunter around 11:30. Toby, the Sea Hunter manager, provided us with a detailed orientation of the boat and rules of the craft. Crew introductions

followed. We dispersed to locate our cabins, our home for the next 10 days - unpacked the few things we would need for the trip and then saw to unpacking and stowing our dive gear in the lockers provided on the dive deck. The lunch bell soon rang and we sat down to the first of the many delicious meals served to us by Luis, our chef for the trip, and Javier, our all around caretaker.
Shortly thereafter, we met officially for the first time and were all assigned our tasks for the foundation. The group was broken up into smaller teams concentrating on web design, public relations/funding, and databasing. I am on the Public Relations/funding ideas team. At first I did not think I would be much help, but all my years of club membership, working, etc. gave me the tools I needed to contribute.
John and Linda developed a short presentation tonight to honor Jay Ireland and Georgienne Bradley. One of the main accomplishments of the day was honing our current IF mission:
Why IF?
Because we create educational material about our natural world by:
Leading expeditions
Providing Photographs and video imaging
Creating global classrooms
Developing educational websites
It is about 9:30pm and I am beat. The ocean is fairly calm, some rollers but nothing extremely un-nerving. The weather was great today, high 70's, and it feels good to be in the sun and warm weather.

November 28th, 2005

We were at sea all day, did not even see ships in the distance. The team worked all day - we were all so industrious. We hope to accomplish a large chunk of our goals on the crossing. We are currently databasing, sorting, and enhancing thousands of photographs for categorization, and holding focus groups about IF website improvement.

Before dinner, Georgienne presented a short film sheproduced. It was really awesome. We will be getting up fairly early to have some breakfast AND THEN our first dive at Cocos Island! Captain Nelson said it will be a shallow dive - this will enable all of us to make any kind of equipment adjustments that are needed. Toby, one of our dive masters, will present an extensive dive briefing in the morning.

November 29th, 2005

The diving here is spectacular! Our first dive was an orientation dive at Coral Gardens of Manuelita. This dive allowed us to "get our feet wet" and work out any equipment or buoyancy problems before we headed out to more challenging sites. The next two dives were drift dives done in Manuelita Channel and Manuelita Outside. On my first day's dives I saw Hammerheads, White Tip Reef Sharks, Manta Rays, Moray Eels, Dolphin, Tuna, and lots of Trumpetfish, and that is but the tip of the iceberg. I also saw: Moorish Idols, Surgeonfish, Barracuda, Barberfish, Grunts, Jacks, Snake Eels, and many Garden Eels. I was so very tired at the end of the day, I went to bed at 7:30.

November 30th, 2005

Cocos Island is gorgeous! Lots of birds (lots of boobies here) and thick with Jungle. The walls are extremely steep (sheer rock walls) with vegetation growing everywhere. I chose not to go on the first dive, but all the divers who went out to Dirty Rock, say it is the best dive at Cocos. I dove twice today. They were both superb. I hope my photos turn out! John Monk has been so gracious in helping me learn about my camera. There is so much to learn.

Today, for the Imaging Foundation, I am in charge of collecting team biographies for the website. I will start working on that when the divers get back.
I completed my website tasks! This was a really fun and interesting task. I got to know everyone a bit better by doing this project. Now I will learn to categorize pictures (10,500) and do photo enhancements. This is definitely a working trip. Everyone does their part for the Imaging Foundation, which makes the tasks that much easier and a lot more fun.
Another early night for me - I turned in at 8:00

December 1st, 2005

It sure does not feel like the Christmas season here in the humid tropics! The day is warm and sunny. I hope it stays that way! Again I missed the morning dive because I did not feel well.
Later, I went on two dives and they were both sweet! Unbelievable schools of fish and sharks galore! Getting to know all my dive buddies quite well. We have two big pangas that take us out each day. We have the blue team and the gold team. I am on the gold team boat. Jay Ireland was with us today. He and Georgienne switch boats daily so they can dive with both teams.

The focus of the work for IF has changed. One of the assigned tasks was databasing thousands of photographs. This proved to be a challenging, but not insurmountable, task. Most of the group split into two new groups - enhancement and categorization. One group learned to enhance photos using Photoshop - shadows/highlights, brightness/contrast, and sharpening. The other group used a software program to caption the photographs as well as add keywords to facilitate the photo search engine. This work was divided up according to a schedule so no one would get burned out. The work will take us several days to complete because, of course, we still have to fit our dives in. The good thing about this work is that we can stop and start again or pass the task onto the next person without losing our place.

December 2nd, 2005

Got up early today. Watched the sunrise as I enjoyed coffee and visited with a few other early risers. Some of the group was already at the laptops working on their enhancements or databasing. There's definitely two types of workers here - the night owls and the early birds!
We prepared our camera gear for our first dive. While en route to the dive site, our divemaster spotted a manta at the surface. The panga drivers say "Never pass up an opportunity to snorkel with a manta!" Of course they were right and the rewards were awesome. We grabbed our snorkeling gear and slipped into the water. It was beautiful! So big and graceful.

After that encounter we went diving. Came back and did our surface interval and headed back out around 11:00. I dove deep and long. I did a decompression stop at 20 feet for 10 minutes. Had to burn off some nitrogen. Not a good thing, so as a safety precaution, I did not go diving the rest of the day.

After lunch one of the crew members (Pepe) took some of us out on a boat tour to inspect Cocos’ surrounding islets. We went by 'Pepe's Hotel' (joke) but it was a tiny inlet with three palm trees growing. I guess the birds dropped seeds and palm trees grew! Then we went by one of the houses the rangers live in. I took pictures. Not a house I would want to live in, but I guess they have satellite TV there, so it couldn’t be that bad. The tour was really nice.

I worked on enhancing pictures most of the late afternoon. After dinner, I was on the top deck, just watching the stars, and noticed movement in the water. I saw silky sharks and lots of other type of fish at the back of the boat. They were attracted to the light. I went in and got the group and we all watched the “shark and fish show” for quite some time. Time for bed for me! Good day for both diving and sightseeing.

December 3rd, 2005

Another beautiful day. I keep hoping the weather continues to be like this. Again the diving was great. We saw hammerhead sharks, white tip sharks, a big turtle, rays, and even saw dolphins while diving! The fish schools are so great in numbers one just can’t imagine. Cocos Island is a "no fishing" zone, protected for 12 miles out from the island. Returning from one of our dives, the divemaster pointed out white tailed deer feeding and a wild pig. These animals were brought in by the pirates hundreds of years ago. Pirates came with pigs and goats and set them free to multiply. Then when they came back they would always have fresh meat to hunt and eat. Now the island is infested with feral pigs and they are causing damage. Lots of waterfalls that flow down the steep sheer walls of the jungle terrain.

Tonight was Javier's birthday. He is our waiter, cabin attendant and all around sweet guy. I gave him my Atomic Ducks Dive Hat for a Birthday gift, and Linda purchased a T-shirt that we all signed! Our cook baked him a cake, and we all sang Happy Birthday. He was so thrilled, even emotional, he mentioned in the five years he worked on the ship, no one has ever wished him a Happy Birthday. We all made it special.
Seems the work for the Foundation is getting done. It feels good.
We may go to the island tomorrow for a hike, which would be awesome. You can not go to shore without special permission from the Costa Rican Government. There are Park Rangers that live here and do their best to see that none of the regulations are broken. Judging from the number of fish we saw, they are doing a great job!

December 4th, 2005

The first dive of my day I saw three types of rays: Eagles, Mantas, and Marbles! After the dive we devoured lunch and jumped on a skiff to a large waterfall. We all had to jump out and swim in to this remote pristine oasis. The hike was absolutely gorgeous - through a rain forest filled with ferns and other lush, exotic plants. It was steep and slippery. I have never been under a waterfall, or swam in its crystal pools before. The island is so heavenly beautiful. BIG waterfall. We all had such a great time on this hike.

Back to the boat for a night dive. The group was looking for the dramatic hunting activity that takes place just after dusk. We suited up and jumped into Coral Gardens on Manuelita just as it grew dusk. As our eyes adjusted to the dim light, we realized that the scores of docile reef white tip sharks that rested on the ocean floor during the day had become quite active. As we hovered several feet off the bottom, we watched as rivers of white tips swarmed and hunted. It was amazing! And surreal to watch!
The crew prepared a barbeque and dance outside on the upper deck tonight. A great time was had by all. I have made so many new friends. Everyone was laughing, dancing, and having a wonderful time. The Costa Rican men sure do know how to dance. The entire crew, including Captain Nelson, was dancing and made sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

December 5th, & 6th, 2005

Our last days at Coco Island. This will be a difficult place to leave.. We will be crossing Pacific waters as we return to Costa Rica this evening. We are all hoping that the return crossing will be as smooth as the arrival. Today I learned that only about 1,000 people get to come to Cocos Island a year. There are only three dive boats authorized to come. So, knowing that, it makes this trip even more special.

This evening we shared a tasty roast beef dinner and Georgienne thanked everyone for all the help they gave to the foundation. The gigantic task of enhancing and databasing over 10,000 images was completed easily and with time to spare - an amazing feat by an industrious, energetic group. I must say, it was a true experience. I guess I just did not realize what all needed to be done. I truly was lucky to be a part of the first Imaging Foundation expedition!

The ocean was calm on the way back. The sunsets were spectacular the last couple of nights. We will be arriving in mainland Costa Rica around 10:00 pm tonight and have a restful night’s sleep before our morning departure.

December 7th, 2005

We docked around 7:00 am. Pepe’s young daughter and son met him to say hello before going to school. Pepe was grinning from ear to ear. His son looked just like him. We had breakfast and our bags were transferred to the tour bus.
We arrived back in San Jose around 11:00 am, freshened up, had lunch, and set out to explore the city for the day. The entire group went to town to shop at the Central Market. We bought a few gifts, including locally grown coffee called Volio. We returned to our hotel and shared drinks with our new friends.

Our group had a great dinner party. The entertainment was a slide show from the images we had all submitted. Don, Pat, Bradley and John aka (Atomic Duck Group) sang a song. Lyrics by John Monk, the song was a take-off from the Doobie Brothers' "Listen to the Music", written about Cocos Island. John named his song “Listen to the Boobies”. Georgienne went around the table to say a personal "Thanks" to each and every person. After dinner we played cards until 11:00 and went to bed. Tomorrow we are doing a sight seeing tour of the rainforest.

December 8th, 2005

The hotel lobby was our early morning point of departure. Many of us had cameras packed as we boarded the mini which would take us high into the Braulio Carillo rainforest. We stopped at many points along the way, including Rio Sucio - “Dirty River” - where the shutterbugs were able to capture many images.. I nicknamed the river the orange juice river. Two rivers flowed together, one clear, the second, an ochre color, after they join, an entirely new color river flowed from the combination. While there we took pictures of the Golden Orb spider, a delicate white snail perched conveniently on tiny white mushrooms, a tiny grasshopper and a massive orange mushroom. It was amazing how much life we spotted by the roadside.

 

 

After lunch we stopped at a frog garden where we had a better chance of getting good shots of captive frogs. They are illusive creatures. I was able to photograph the poison arrow frog and the blue Morphis Butterfly. We eventually moved on to the Selva Verde Lodge. This 500 acre natural reserve has a network of varied hiking trails. The resident Howler Monkeys made quite a racket! We never saw one, but strong calls resounded through the forest - sounded almost like a Harley Davidson roaring on an open road.

 

 

 

December 9th, 2005

Another 6:30 am call and we are off to go white water rafting. We get up early, because most animal activity occurs early in the morning or in the evening. We went with a group called Rio Tropicales. Jorge, our leader, was great .We took a bus to the river head where we were briefed on river rafting 101, learning all of the commands we needed to know - left back, right back, forward, etc. We were fitted with helmets and life jackets, and off we went for a 20 mile trek down river. We had a blast and really felt the adrenalin pump as we went through the rapids. Tomorrow we will be on Class 3 and 4 rapids so we must learn quickly. We stopped to see waterfalls. Jorge pointed out: Jesus Christ Lizards (walks on water), a Soapaleta Snake, a Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Tiger Heron, Vine Snake, Black Vulture, Cattle Egrets, Cane Toads, Blue Jean Frog, Leaf cutter ants, and so much more.

We stayed in beautiful bungalows in the jungle that were furnished with the essentials, the beauty was the surrounding rainforest and the roar of the nearby Pacuare River. It was just awesome to go to bed and listen to the sounds of the crashing river below and the sounds of the jungle. This place was so rustic and relaxing. It felt as if we all were one and the laughter and friendships were warm and sincere.. It is hard to explain the beauty of this place, it is just breathtaking, and I’m not sure it can ever be beat.

 

December 10th, 2005

Jorge wanted all of us up and ready to go at 6:30 AM. We were a bit late, but after a coffee, we were hiking up the mountain and nervously hooking harnesses to ziplines strung far above the forest floor. We were hooked to a cable, stepped off and zipped to the next platform high above the jungle canopy. I was flat nervous, shaking in my shoes scared. Jorge had to push me to start. It was a long way down, close to a hundred feet above the ground.
This was a truly adventurous experience. I would do it again. After our zip line experience, we had a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, fruit, and juice. Then off on the river we went. The rafting was wild and so exciting. A few times we all had to “get down” into the raft to keep from flying out! I was sad when it was over, I wanted to keep going !

December 11th, 2005

The day before we go home and I cannot believe I have to leave Costa Rica. Today the group planned to go to see Poas Volcano National Park, but because of rain we decided to go shopping in Sarchii. The day cleared up, the sun came out and Linda decided she would like to try bungee jumping! I could not believe her courage. The jumpers were leaping from a currently used train bridge which spanned a deep gorge. At the bottom of the canyon was a thin ribbon of a stream and a vibrant rainforest covered the ground. Linda jumped onto the platform, donned the harness, and was raring to go. What a woman! What a great way to finish up the trip.