It was another pre-5am morning for me. I had been bit by the sunrise bug, and jumped out of bed excited to experiment with my new camera.

One thing I've learned through all of this, is that if your camera can shoot in RAW format, as apposed to JPG, do it. There is so much more image information in a RAW file that you can tweak it far beyond what is capable with JPG.

I really enjoy taking photos of flowers with my new toy. My favorite is when the focal length gets really short, so that your target is in focus but the background goes blurry.

This flower was tiny, about two inches wide if I remember correctly. Yet, in the picture, there is no reference point so you'd never know that.

On the other hand, this flower was large and in charge. It makes me wish I new the names of these, they're so pretty. I had never noticed them before, but we actually have these back in Coco... who knew...

Dad & I headed down to meet the boat after breakfast. It was supposed to be all three of us, but Mom decided to take a day off, and relax around the cabin. Good for her, we are on vacation after all.

We were headed to Caño Island, a small protected national park used by researchers to study coral death and recolonization. Lucky we weren't going to work, we were going to play. Snorkeling specifically.

The cruise was a straight shot out into the open water, which may sound a little boring at first. However, this area is known for whale sightings, and we were not disappointed.

This is the best shot I could get, since they were so far away. It was a mother and her calf, swimming along peacefully.

Since this is a protected area, the whales have learned to raise their offspring here over the years. There is no fishing allowed anywhere near Caño Island or Corcovado. In fact, an astounding 25% of all Costa Rica is nationally protected land.

This was a lucky shot. We knew there were dolphins in the area, and I had my camera set to rapid fire mode. As soon as someone pointed, I just held down the trigger and turned.

Again this was far away, so this is digitally zoomed in quite a bit, but no matter, this is one of my favorite shots of the whole trip. That dolphin looks like its a good two feet out of the water.

We had made some friends the night before at dinner, Nick & Jessica, who are both biologist, and who both were on the tour to Caño Island with us. Jessica, as it turns out, used to train dolphins for a living. This is a Pacific Spotted Dolphin, one of her all time favorites. I absolutely had to send them a copy of this picture, and was happy to do it.

The captain drove around the backside of the island, and it was time to go snorkeling. We got dropped off in the water, and the boat left to drop off the scuba divers.

The water was warm, no wetsuits necessary. Since this is a protect area, local law required us to wear life preservers, even while snorkeling. A small price to pay, so we all obliged.

One of our first finds was this nurse shark, resting comfortably in its crevice below a small overhang. Nurse sharks tend to return to the same location each morning, after spending their nights actively hunting their prey.

This shark was in about 20 feet of water, not uncommon for this species. I dove down to get as close as I felt necessary, and snapped a quick shot, then just as quickly returned to the surface.

My Dad spent much of his youth snorkeling in Catalina Island off the coast of California, and he's very good at it. He gave me a great pointer during our time in the water, and that is to get below the water's surface before you start kicking your fins.

After that, I was able to have much more bottom time, before shooting back to the surface for air. We had a really great time palling around, even though the water was a little choppy & it was raining, again.

There were plenty of fish around, everything from large schools of fish to the odd man out. Caño Island fish species typically include: king angel, moorish idol, puffers, surgeon fish, snapper, barracuda, barber fish, parrot fish, damsel fish and a variety of eels usually found around the rocks... just to name a few.

Snorkeling was split into two tours, which gave us a chance to move around a bit, as well as dry off for a minute and regroup. Our second location had a little rougher water, but we found much prettier fish.

Like this dogface puffer fish. These tend to be one of the more playful fish to dive with, since they are not overly frightened by humans. In fact, in captivity, they are more often than not their owners favorite fish due to their personality.

These pictures are a little blurry, I know. I had ran out of the house to catch a plain to meet my parents, and forgot to pack my new underwater camera. Thankfully I had given my old one to my parents, and they brought it, so at least we could get a few underwater pictures.

This fish is not nearly as fun, but certainly just as pretty. I've asked around and nobody can identify it. If you have any idea of what it might be, please leave a note in the comments. I'd say it was no more than a foot long, and swimming alone 10 feet below the waterline.

Update: Its a Pompano. Thanks Scott!
A quick shot of me & my Dad... too bad the bubbles are in my face, but oh well. I still think its a great picture of the two of us.

Its a great example of the goofy life jackets they made us wear. I'm not sure what the point of those were. If you're drowning, you don't have the air in your lungs to inflate the vest anyways... That's what the buddy system is for, right?
Eventually it was time to head into the ranger station. The harbor we pulled into was spectacular, and by then the sun was shining and all was well with the world. The water was that perfectly clear turquoise blue that we all know water should be at a paradise island.

We were served lunch of what seemed like home cooked food. Great beans, bread, fruit, deli-style meats, and even fresh cookies for desert. Everyone got to take a shower and wash the salt off (yes, of course one at a time), and that was pretty much it for the day.

In the evening we lounged around at our hotel, very relaxing. I read a book and took a nap in the hammock. We had a nice breeze all night, and were even treated to a short tin symphony again.


While I can't tell you exactly how my Mom's day was, I can say that she seemed very happy, relaxed, and had a big smile on her face when Dad & I returned that afternoon. She had spent part of her day walking around & taking pictures, and I'd like to share some of my favorites: