OOOH LA LA TORTUGA

view of the volcano from the lagoon and from the mainland waiting for the ferry

11-25-06

Despite the smoldering volcano on the island Ometepe was a very relaxing and tranquil place. I brought my bike over with me on the ferry so I was able to explore the very remote island. Hikes up the volcanoes and kayak trips through the lagoons took up my days on the island, lots of howler and spider monkeys in the trees along with a wide assortment of tropical birds. A few days later on the ferry ride back I meet a very interesting lady named Stephanie on the boat. She is French lawyers who is in Nicaragua to oberserve and monitor the recent elections for the U.N. We soon docked on mainland said farewell and I set out for San Juan Del Sur








my bike on the ferry going to Ometepe









Later that day as I walked down the beach at San Juan Del Sur to my surprise and delight I saw Stephanie sitting at a table at a beachside bar looking very sad. I joined her at her table and asked if everything was okay. She told me she had come here to see the turtles come ashore to lay there eggs but the road out to the beach was to rough for a taxi and she had no way of getting there. I professed my love of turtles and told her I had come all the way down here to see the turtles as well and there was no way I was going to miss them and she was welcome to ride with me on my bike. So we made plans to meet and go together. As soon as I left her I went to find out what the hell this turtle business was all about. After asking around I learned that sea turtles from all over come to one particular beach about 15 miles south of town at playa La Flor to lay their eggs. The turtles arrive with the high tide which happens to be at 2 a.m. I than set out to find the beach. I was able to input the coordinates into my G.P.S and it eventually led me to the beach, I figured it best to go by myself during daylight to see what the road was like. It was a pretty rough dirt road with a small creek crossing and a medium sized river crossing that was about maximum depth for my bike. It would be a little challenging riding two up at night but was defiantly manageable. I met Stephanie at her hotel around 1 a.m. and we set off. The ride out there was very nice she got a little nervous crossing the larger of the two rivers but due to the darkness she didn’t see it coming until we were in the water and starting to cross, the more nervous she got the tighter she would hold on to me, so I made sure not to always take the most gentle route through the rough road. On the way back during daylight when she could see the river coming she choose to get off and wade across. I told her she was better of riding with me than taking her chances with the big crocodiles on the other shore, she chose the crocs but made it safely to the other side and so did I.













We arrived at the beach around 2 a.m. and it was absolutely amazing. It is a very desolate and pristine beach about a mile in length, two guys from the turtle conservation group were there but other than that we had the beach to ourselves. Hundreds and hundreds of huge turtles were crawling out of the surf. They would crawl the fifty or so feet to the soft sand above water line and with their flippers dig a hole. Once they had the hole about 12 inches deep they would lay their eggs in clutches of around 15 eggs. After they were done they would cover the eggs with sand and pack it down. All around the beach through the darkness you could hear the rhythmic gentle pounding of the sand along with the grunting the turtles pushing out the eggs it is a ritual that has been going on for millions of years and I felt blessed to be able to witness it. Exhausted from the events the turtles than would return to the sea and swim off. This went on all night long, the last of the turtles arriving about 5 a.m. The sunrise soon followed with the last of the few turtles. It was a memorable site to see the turtles returning to the sea in the early morning dawn after perpetuating their cycle of life. We spent the rest of the days exploring the remote beaches in the area before returning to town that afternoon.












grunting out some huevos






































After enjoying the wonderful surf for the next few days in San Juan Del Sur I said goodbye to my new friend Stephanie who was on her way to monitor the recent elections in Caracas Venezuela and I headed south to Costa Rica where I am at now. Tamarindo is a small surf town on the Nicoya Peninsula.

I was out surfing yesterday when I met some guys from California, turned out I had paddled with one of the on the south fork of the American River years ago (Harvey if your reading he was the guy who helped pull you out of the river) The rest of the guys were paddlers as well and it turned out we had a few mutual friends in the kayak world. They were all excellent surfers, they gave me quite a few pointers on surfing and I am now surfing pretty well or at least I don’t suck as bad as I did last week. So that’s where I am at now, I plan on surfing here for the next few days than south to near Jaco for some more surfing before heading into the mountains to kayak. Stay warm and don’t work to hard, take care until next post

11-30-06
Finally got the blog to take pictures, i was just kidding about the nude photos of me on the beach, you will have to go to my paysite for those. I am currently in San Jose, Costa Rica, dropped my bike of at the BMW dealership for service. Pick it up in the morning than off to Panama.