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Our marine tour of the National Park was a lot of fun. We headed out at 8am from the Park station.

The kids were very excited. Neither had ever been in a boat on the ocean before.

Almost immediately after shoving off, we got to swim and snorkel in the very clear water near the Whale’s Tail rocks. Amy and Sarah saw a few varieties of tropical fish, lots of coral, and lots of rocks. Between jumps in from the boat, Samuel says he saw a big whale down there. He may be making it up.

After an hour of swimming, the captain fired up the boat, and we rode all around Whale Bay (Bahia Ballena). We didn’t see any dolphins or whales on our tour, but there were two giant tortoises (tortolas).

We rode out for over an hour, with the crew trying to find us some sea mammals, but due to the full moon/ high tides, there was a lot of flotsam in the water, which apparently discourages whales and dolphins from surfacing. We enjoyed the boat ride anyway, although Sarah got a little seasick.

On the way back in, we rode by Whale Rock. It's the island we can see from our patio, but today we got to see the other side of it, and up close.

There is a cave that goes all the way through the island.



Then we rode closer to shore, and saw the sea view of the Ventana Beach caves we’ve been in, and some other more spectacular ones near them.

Then we rode up the coast, and got good views of many of the houses and businesses south of Uvita on the coast.



The rain held off until we got to shore. We ate lunch in a little mom n pop soda by the beach, and bought a few things at a souvenir stand.



We had hoped to go back out to the beach after lunch, but the rain would not let up. We drove in to town and found Donne, whom we had promised some ice cream today.

Then we went to the Soccer Complex and the kids ran off some energy. They ended up in front of Walter’s TV at the coffee shop, watching Dora the Explorer in Spanish. Samuel thinks its hilarious!

We dropped Donne off at his family's soda.

Tonight Sarah learned how to play Rummy. Don't play her for money!

Tomorrow we are off again in search of more and better waterfalls. We also want to visit a town a little farther south that we haven’t seen yet. It will probably be our last trip down that way, so we want to do all we can.



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