Friday, July 5, 2019

Playa Penca, CR

It has been an eventful day, full of wildlife.

First, we hit up Playa Penca bright and early, well, after making a smoothie at home. It was definitely a locals beach. There was only one good shade tree, but we claimed a spot before too many people rolled in. We decided it’s possibly the best sand we’ve been on; it was actually sandy. There were relatively big waves, too. One took Ryan by surprise while we were floating, and it flipped him over. Apparently, my expression as it approached was enough of a warning for him to take a breath and prepare.



So, the big waves were quite fun. Then, as Ryan let another one roll over him, a bit further down, maybe a wingspan away.. the wave was clear as could be just before it crested.. I saw FOUR stingray!  They were beautiful, like something straight out of National Geographic. I wish I could have taken a picture, but it was such a brief moment. Even if I had a camera in hand and ready, I still wouldn’t have captured it.

So, after a brief moment of shock and awe, I panicked and forced Ryan to protect me (not sure what I expected there) as I booked it to the shore. After sharing the experience with Ryan, I tried for a long time to spot them in the waves again, but it never happened. So, we went to lay in the shade for a while. I was adamantly not getting back in, but alone in that opinion. Until...

There was a family that had laid their towels behind us and went down to play in the water in roughly the same area we were swimming. Also note, there were a handful of people swimming a bit further down either direction. Anyway, they’re riding around in the waves, same as we were, nbd. Then, dad yelped! He passed his kid to wife and immediately took off toward shore. As soon as he was able, he looked at his foot. It seemed to be giving him a great deal of pain. We’re quite sure he got stung by one of the stingray! It was crazy. Ryan was no longer interested in returning to the water after seeing this guy hobble around.

Of course, we did some research later.. it seems that stingrays typically don’t bother people, even if disturbed they just swim away. On most occasions, the only time they sting is if someone steps on them. We figure that is exactly what happened to this guy since he kept checking the bottom of his foot. It was QUITE the experience. After all that excitement, we just laid around in the shade until it was time for lunch.

 

We ended up back in Tamarindo to check out a brewery and grab lunch. 
It’s still not our favorite spot. The brewery was decent though and we met a lady from Nevada. 

Wildlife Adventure #2 occurred when we got back home after lunch. We knew there was a tiny house gecko hanging out inside, but we weren’t too worried about it. They’re actually a sign of good luck in Asian culture, and they don’t bother anything. We’ve seem a bunch on the porch; they eat the bugs for us. So, as we were just laying around cooling off, friendly house gecko showed himself on the ceiling. After a bit of chaos and scrambling, we managed to capture him in a basket, and return him to his home outside. 

 






No comments:

Post a Comment