“What Not to do with a Camera“
Summer of 2018, my oldest daughter went to Costa Rica on an internship for her Zoology degree and she came back with all these stories regarding its beauty. So, the following March, 2019, I took my son and two daughters to Costa Rica for a week-long Spring Break trip. But at this point you are probably saying, “what does the title ‘What not to do with a camera’ have to do with a Spring Break trip to Costa Rica”; well I’ll get to that in a little bit.
We only had five total days including travel so we were selective with where we wanted to go and what we were going to do. Costa Rica is a tiny country but filled with a wide array of things do from beaches to volcanoes, zip lines to scuba diving, reefs to fauna, and wildlife to nightlife. So, we planned to see the beaches, go scuba, see a volcano, and explore around to take pics of wildlife. We started out this trip all planned out but upon arrival, nothing went as planned.
Anyhow, we took off from Dallas and eventually landed in San Jose, Costa Rica in the early hours, got a rental car, and navigated to our hotel down town with no problems. But, when got to our hotel to check in, the room had been canceled and no one had informed us; so, we got a less than desirable room at a nearby motel. Having had only three hours of sleep we got up, got a quick breakfast and hit the road.
On our journey, to the west coast of Costa Rica, we came across a bridge and wouldn’t you know it, Crocodile Bridge. Needless to say we weren’t interested in swimming in these waters. After stopping and taking pictures, along with other tourists, we continued.
We drove out to Jaco, which is located on the Pacific coast, drove down the coastline to what would be our lodging for the next few days. The Jaco Laguna Resort and Beach Club is a small, but charming four-star motel with all the amenities of the larger resorts in the area. Its located right on a quiet, non-crowded beach with awesome views. The food was tasty and the staff was very accommodating and friendly. Once we checked in, we ate, showered and enjoyed a relaxing evening at the poolside bar.
The next day we had an appointment with our scuba instructors for training and orientation. The staff Jaco Guides Dive Shop were very patient with myself and by daughters because we only had experience snorkeling; my son, however, is a long-time certified rescue diver so he was actually pretty instructional himself. Anyway, we did the orientation in a pool and then we arranged an appointment for the next morning’s dive.
Afterwards, we spent the remainder of the day driving around exploring every dirt road we could find. We found our way down the coast to Quepos and took in a wildlife park; or at least that was the plan. We got there and it was enormously crowded so we moved on to other scenery.
All over Costa Rica the colorful fauna and wildlife beaconed me as a photographer and we stopped every few minutes.
We drove down the coast to and though coconut and banana groves. We followed one rough dirt road across a sandy river bed and up a mountain to the little rent-a-car could go any further. On the way back down, we stopped and helped someone else who got stuck in the sand and then we went onward. We worked our way back to the coast and eventually to our lodging for the evening. We went swimming, go showered, ate, and had casual drinks beside the pool.
Next day we got up, ate, went to the scuba place, geared up, and off to the Herradura Bay. Herradura Bay is a nice quiet cove with a sandy beach, lots of shade, and a beautiful reef out in the bay. Next, we loaded up in the boat we headed out to the reef for our first of two dives. As you know nature is unpredictable and the water was choppy and the water was a little stirred up and visibility was limited. Upon getting to our location, my son, oldest daughter, and I got into the water while my youngest stayed on the boat.
We saw awesome reef formations and a wide variety of tropical saltwater fish. Completing our first dive, we moved to an even better location. and the water started clearing up. Finishing our second dive we went back to shore, loaded up and went exploring some more. We got back to our motel as the sun was going down, so we ate, showered, and packed to leave for San Jose the next morn.
The next day, our plan was to go to see a volcano. We decided to go online and map out the day. We discovered with the limited time remaining we would need to go to the one nearest to San Jose. Poas Volcano National Park is located a short drive just to the north of the capital city.
We drove back to San Jose, turned north through the coffee bean plantations, owned by Starbucks, and up the curvy road to the volcano park. Next, we got there, parked and started the long, steep hike up to the rim at 8900 feet above sea level. We got there and the clouds had gathered close. We look over the edge to see the crater LAKE below; NO LAVA!!!.
The last time it erupted was in September, 2019 and since then it has settled back down and formed a lake within the crater. The viewing platform just recently opened back up as of this article. The view was spectacular but the gusts of wind was often sniff. At one point it was so stiff it slapped down another tourist’s drone like it was paper; I was humored.
After a few hours we returned to the car and scoped out a B&B for one last night. The Villa Calas was nearby and highly recommended on Google. On the way we passed by a restaurant and stopped to eat; the El Volcan. Often you get the best food at small out of the way cafes and El Volcan did not disappoint.
After dinner we arrived at our lodging, a small quant villa with A-frame bungalows with bedrooms on two levels. The Villa is located on the side of luscious mountains which overlooked San Jose 5000 feet below. The cottages were very nice, clean and the villa served a complete breakfast menu in the restaurant.
Our last day in Costa Rica met us with an unseasonable March chill at 8000″. Of course we weren’t equipped for, what felt like, freezing temperature. Anyhow, we ate, packed, and headed down the mountain with one more visit to make; a waterfall. Keep in mind we used Google maps as our navigation tool and we followed its instructions. It led us not to a waterfall but to an area which probably was unsafe for outsider tourist, such as us. We found our way out with no troubles and explored some more.
Just so you know, I was created to drive in third world country cities. Next, we went downtown to an open-air market to do some touristy shopping at the San Jose Central Market. Traffic signals and signs are merely suggestions. By devoutly following them you would create a traffic jam and get nowhere. Not to mention ticking all the other drivers off. As a driver, you have to be bold, pushy, and car horn usage is a required skill. After visiting the market time was running out so we navigated back to the airport to return home.
It was a short whirlwind trip, which I took hundreds of pics. Though things did not go as planned we had a lot of fun and made great memories. Now for the reason of the title of this page, “What not to do with a camera”.
I was standing out on a reef taking pics of the shore and of a fisherman. We were watching the waves crash over the reef and I was trying to be careful to keep my Nikon D300 dry. Well, not paying much attention to the water, the crashing waves kept getting bigger and bigger. The one wave built up so much that when they crashed over the reef, I got drenched; me and the camera with salt water and sand.
Getting out of the water and I did a quick triage on the camera and lens. Yes, I did get it functional but it was now limited in its ability. However, the salt water caused the internal parts to corrode and eventually the electronics failed. The lens faired even worse. Lesson!!!! “Don’t take a camera out in the water”. Of course, I knew better, but hey I got THE pic.