Tamarindo, Costa Rica –
“You’re welcome to swim to the beach, but don’t go past the tree line. The Saudi Billionaire who owns the house there doesn’t like it.”
Not that I was planning on swimming all the way to the beach, it’s at least fifty meters, and I’m not that strong a swimmer.
Plus the ocean has a very strong current today.
Not a good combination.
But there are others that make the attempt.
Several are successful.
Including a Father and very young daughter.
And she’s not willing to try to swim back.
I don’t blame her, she can’t be more than six or seven, if even that.
Already, two of the passengers have gotten into trouble in the strong currents.
One grandmother, here with her spouse, children, and grandchildren, exhausted herself near the reef.
Luckily, she was wearing a life-vest.
One of the boat crew saw that she was in trouble, and quickly pulled off his shirt and sunglasses, dove in, and swam out to pull her back to the boat.
One member of our group wore herself out to the point where she felt sick.
You know how, if you are out of shape and you have a very strenuous workout, you feel so drained of energy that you not only feel weak, but also sick to your stomach?
That was her.
Probably the grandmother as well.
It’s just that it looks so fun, until you are in the water, and find yourself exhausted from trying to fight the current.
That’s when you realize that your exercise regimen hasn’t kept you in anything close to the shape that you wish it had.
We’re on one of the sunset cruises out of Tamarindo, where you are ferried out to a catamaran from the beach, and then sail to a secluded bay for an hour or so of fun in the water while the crew sets out a picnic lunch. Then, once the appropriate amount of time has passed, we set sail back to town, tacking back and forth as the sun sets lower and lower, until it’s finally gone and we arrive back where the boat is moored when not in use and then ferried close to shore where we jump off to wade up to the beach.
That’s it in a nutshell.
A few hours on and in the water, eat some snacks, drink some bebidas, and watch the sunset.
As we were boarding the boat, we were told to surrender our shoes, sandals, or whatever we might have been wearing on our feet while on shore.
Then, as we set sail, we’re all herded out to the front of the catamaran where William, an ex-pat from North Carolina playing the role of Master of Ceremonies, gives us the rundown on what’s going to happen.
Afterward, I head in by the bar to get out of the sun momentarily.
And that’s where I got cornered by Z, one of our group members.
It seems she’s deathly afraid of water, and will not venture out of the boat interior for the remainder of the trip.
And she wants to talk.
About Paris.
Apparently, she’s considering moving to Paris, and Dore had mentioned to her that we had visited.
That was enough.
She had her topic, and someone to ply with questions.
And then they turned the music on.
Loud.
With a couple of speakers aimed right at my ears from either side.
I can’t blame the crew for cranking it so loud. Most of their customers were out topside, enjoying the sun and the breeze.
The music needed to be able to reach them.
Unfortunately, it made it very difficult to hold a conversation where I was standing.
And Z wasn’t moving from this spot.
She wasn’t going to risk getting any closer to the water.
It’s not that I didn’t want to talk about Paris with her, I just didn’t want to talk about it standing in that spot, at that time.
I like my ears, and I want to keep them in reasonably good shape.
Not to mention the fact that we had to yell to be heard over the music.
Eventually, I begged off, wanting to find where Dore was.
I didn’t see her anywhere.
So, I started looking around.
Eventually I found her, with most of the other ladies in our group, all gathered around William, the cruise MC.
It figures.
After all, William was young, blond, tan, and very good-looking.
Just what was needed to bring out the cougar in all of these women.
Fresh meat!
Satisfied that Dore hadn’t fallen overboard, I occupied my time with looking at the shoreline as it passed, taking photos of any feature I found interesting.
And of the other boats taking their passengers on a similar cruise.
One of which was decked out as a pirate ship.
I didn’t see them making anyone walk the plank, so I assumed it was all for show.
Eventually, we made it to the bay where the Saudi billionaire lives, and the crew broke out the life vests, swimming noodles, flippers, and paddleboards while William made the announcement about not going further than the beach.
Soon enough, just about everyone was in the water, with one of the crew on a paddleboard supervising.
Until he broke his paddle and sliced his hand.
Then he hurried back to the boat and another crew member took his place while someone else wrapped and bandaged his hand to stop the bleeding.
He admitted to us that once they were done and back on shore, he’d be visiting the local emergency room to get his hand stitched up, and he’d be off the boat for a number of days.
In the meantime, he still had work to do.
Like helping unfurl the sails on the way back, so we could sail completely on wind power.
And then bringing them back down when the time came.
And then waiting until all the passengers had been ferried back to shore.
In the dark.
For more photos of our sunset cruise, click here.
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