We cruised out towards Manuel Antonio park. We had a choice of searching for dolphins or going for a swim. Feeling the water, the choice of swimming was unaminous. We cruised around the islands in the park and made it close to shore. We had a quick swim. Now when I say quick, I had barely jumped into the water and Tan hadn’t even taken her shorts off and the captain was “Get back in, the other boat has found the dolphins!” Spewing as the water was beautiful, almost silky to swim in. 
The catamaran powered towards the other boats and here striped dolphins were playing in a dispersed pod. We cruised around for 10 minutes or so and we were off. We thought the captain was on speed or something as everything was rushed.
Lying back on the netting on the deck as we traveled to the snorkeling spot was really relaxing.
On arrival to the snorkeling spot, a small rocky outcrop 100m from the shore, I had had my bombie contest with Erick the tour leader. His effort was pretty poor, as mine produced quite a splash.
Snorkelling around the rock was really good, not Belize good, but still good enough. We took a pack of corn crackers each which we crushed up and opened. The fish, yellow and silver ones went crazy in a feeding frenzy only centimentres from our eyes. There was one fish, a drummer, who was a little bigger which also joined the party.On the other side of the rock where it was a bit deeper, some larger fish were hanging out especially under some of the ledges. With a deep dive I scared them out and started chasing them. Here I deep dived and emptied the contents of my cracker pack to watch different fish species feed away.
We had white marlin on skewers for lunch on the boat. The captain set sail and we cruised on the open water sipping beers. I stayed away from the rum punch after my Belize experience.
The Pacific side has a more regular swell than the Carribean and this means there are waves and some great beach breaks so we decided to learn how to surf. Our guide, Jonathon, picked us up in a busted mini van and drove us to our exclusive surf spot. We drove to the town of Manuel Antonio, and drove past the public beach. Our exclusive surf spot was the public beach jam packed with tourists. At this stage Tan and the other girls were thinking great, we have an audience.
Paul didn’t want to surf but instead come as our team photographer. First up we were given our team surf shirts, white rash vests.
We all looked the part especially when we were told we had to do warm ups first. These exercises involved running up and down the beach, Baywatch style, followed by some stretching. To learn to surf you need to know how to stand up so we all lay stomach flat in the sand followed by a snap to standing position. 
After we had all mastered the four steps to getting up we were kitted out with our boards and ready to hit the waves. Tan was laughing with her 10’ long board that she could barely lift. 
Just to set the scene, I’ve skated for 19 years now, spent a few years on a boogie board and have surfed once at Tidal River, Victoria, Australia on 30cm waves. I got out there and bang.. I rode the first wave of the day standing up all the way until the fins hit the sand. This surfing caper is easy! Now, for everyone else it wasn’t as easy.
After much frustration of getting out the back and being pounded by waves, Tan finally rode a wave in poorly, well, sort of her knees / stomach. With much perseverance Tan eventually got up and caught a wave in. I was pleased that she gave it a shot and succeeded. Everyone gave up and I continued to catch waves like a pro and Tan kept on trying.
After a small break we grabbed the boogie boards and had a bit of fun in the surf too.
Everyone was finished but Tan and I still got out there later that afternoon to catch more. It was lots of fun. Tan was battered and bruised with all the hits she took from the board and sand. We were both tired and a bit sore too.We all caught the van back and had to pay. The office was in a state of construction (apparently) but it looked more like a derelict building. Not something you would expect from a professional outfit.
Back at Mono Azul, the trees were alive with monkeys and the sunset was a ripper. Too bad as we went on the day cruise instead! I found out if you shake the base of the trees with monkeys in them they become very vocal and pee everywhere. 
Our morning was spent walking around the hotel grounds and wishing that the cloud would disappear from Volcano Arenal’s summit.
Tan opened her present, chocolate coated macadamia nuts on the balcony. In a way this whole trip has been a present for both of us!
After lunch we left the hotel where they were resurfacing the road with pile of soft volcanic ash and gravel. As we can down the hill the truck had just started tipping his load and he wasn’t going to stop for us. The tractor graded out a patch in 30cm deep gravel. The mini van with twelve on board sunk and we got bogged. The driver tried to reverse out of the gravel with us all in the van and we sunk down to the mud guards. Every one got out and watched! I immediately got to work with the rake and then on my hands and knees clearing the soft dirt way from the obscured front wheel. Once it was clear myself and two other Ticos pushed the van out of the bog and we were clear to continue on with the journey. It’s funny, I didn’t even think twice about what we had to do. We just had to do it! 
We caught a boat the other side of Lake Arenal. The cloud and rain continued to follow us and still after three days the volcano did not come out of the cloud to show its lava display, but such is life! 
On the other side of the lake, we transferred into another van to begin the journey to Monteverde. Not a long journey in terms of the number of kilometres travelled, but when you have unsealed roads that are poorly maintained with tonnes of potholes is makes for an interesting journey. 
However, luckily the views out the window were spectacular with green rolling hills with the road, at times, hugging the very edge of the hills making for a hairy ride. We stopped for a coffee along the way, saw some great rainbows and finally glimpses of the Pacific Ocean. 
We finally made it to the hotel in Monteverde to see a beautiful sunset complete with lots of wind and cloud above us on the mountain tops. A nice way to end a travel day. 
Later that evening we headed off to “The Treehouse” restaurant, literally an upstairs restaurant with a massive tree in the middle! We kicked off the evening celebrating Tan’s birthday with a bottle of Chilean Champagne (fantastic says Tan) and a delicious meal. We had a guy playing acoustic guitar all evening who was great too. Good food and company and a birthday cake to boot!!
Wilson the volleyball cake made a guest appearance for Tan's birthday too.
Tan found out what was behind the delicate wall hanging – wires dangling out the wall!
After climbing into the tree for some photo’s we headed to a local club to witness some great Salsa. Dan demonstrated the Australian version, commonly referred to “The Kangaroo”. Priceless.
After an hour of zip lining we met our local guide who showed us around the ruins of Tikal. Our guide was locally known as “The Bird Man”. He was an A1 twitcher which made our experience so much more worth while. He could spot a bird or a monkey from miles away and know exactly what they were (alarmingly he did carry a bird identification book too). He also was able to call to the monkies – much better than Dan’s dodgy effort of a Howler Monkey!!
The ruins are located in thick jungle and only 20% of the buildings are uncovered. Towering piles of rock completely covered in undergrowth and large trees dot the site.
If you didn’t know you would mistake these buildings for just another hill. Tikal is also a UNESCO site (tick another one off the list).
In the grand plaza we climbed Temple Two which overlooked a grassy flat and Temple One in the background. After sucking in the views and listening to this really cool bird that sounded like a robot we strolled to Temple Four.
Temple Five is 58 metres high and has only been recently restored. Due to the steepness of the Temple stairs, you are required to climb an almost vertical ladder that appears to be rather unsafe. Now this was steep!! We made it to the top, with a narrow ledge and no guards to stop us toppling to the ground. The views of the jungle canopy were fantastic and we could see monkeys swinging in the nearby trees. We sat and enjoyed it for a while and then made the slow climb back down. 
Another walk through the jungle stopping to see Toucans led us to Temple Four which we climbed the stairs to sit and watch the sun set in the distance. 
With the jungle alive with the sounds of the animals it was breathtaking (chaperoned with a man with a big gun). Sunset was fantastic, and our third and final visit to ruins on this trip had been our favourite. 
We walked back through the jungle in the dark via torchlight. Our birdman spotting all sorts of animals and even a Tarantula on the side of the path. Eww. Dan got a little too close for comfort for this shot.
