Hey all,
I just returned home from a quick winter-blues escape to a friends place in Costa Rica. I had a great trip and spent lots of time in the water, but very little under. Here's why:
I made the decision to go rather quickly and so didn't have a lot of the anticipation that usually precedes a vacation. Even so I had a number of dark thoughts cross my mind about hunting on this trip. Writing them off as nervousness etc., I tried to put as little energy as possible towards them but I still couldn't shake them off completely.
Since I was equally as stoked to surf I spent the first few of days enjoying the 80 degree water and plentiful beach breaks from Domical, south to Playa Tortuga. In the meantime I asked around the tiny village of Ojochal where I was based but there was no one into spearfishing and the local dive-tour operators wouldn't have anything to do with it as they only went to protected reserves.
Heeding recent (strong) advise from a new acquaintance not to dive alone [thanks Patricia] I limited myself to exploring the sandy beach bottoms close to shore where my friends could keep an eye on me but the tides were moving too much sand to see much of anything.
We had made friends with four young lifeguard-surfers from NJ and NC that had rented the house next to us for the month. Out drinking beers with them on Sat. night I met a local Tico (Costa Rican) named Johan who offered to take me out in his panga for $15. He was quite excited about the prospect of watching me fish and his anxiousness put me off a little. I told him I'd let him know tomorrow for the following day.
Sunday came and went. Feeling uneasy about the panga I blew off Johan and spent the day at the beach. Later that evening I found the boys gathered around a pot of beans talking with a woman named MaryJoe who had arranged a snorkling/fishing expedition for the next day at $35 a head. I immediately got a sense of foreboding as MaryJoe went over the following days itinerary and declined the opportunity to join them in what she described as a 17 foot boat that could take all of us and more if we wanted.
At 6:00AM I heard the boys leaving their cabina for their days excursion. At 9:00 AM they were back, with this story and without most of the gear they left with...
The eight foot panga launched from just inside the river mouth. On board were the four surfers; Steve, Sean, Carson and Jess, as well as MaryJoe and Johan the boats captain. Scattered about the boat were various loose fishing lures, line, the snorkeling gear they had brought with as well as a cooler and surfboards. There were no lifejackets or PFD's of any kind.
Instead of following the channel created by the rivermouth, the captain swung the boat directly towards the swells rolling in from the open ocean. The first one to hit the boat sent the cooler flying into the air as the boat overturned dumping all of its contents into the water.
After removing two hooks from body parts, Jess and Carson scrambled to save whatever gear they could salvage, swam 200 yards to shore, dumped their cargo and returned to the boat. Meanwhile MaryJoe and the captain, both whom could not swim, were making things difficult. MaryJoe refused to give up her heavy hiking boots and the captain insisted on trying to save the gas tank. In his attempt to do so he was pulling on fishing line which had wrapped itself around one of Steve's fingers. His finger black from loss of circulation Steve screamed at the captain to let go of the line. Finally Jess and Carson coaxed the captain and MaryJoe onto surfboards and began to push them to shore. Steve untangled himself and took turns paddling the remaining surfboard with Sean who throughout the whole ordeal somehow managed to keep his camera bag out of the water the entire time.
After some minor finger repair (I always keep a tube of crazy glue in my first aid kit) and a long debriefing everyone settled down enough to surf that afternoon and enjoy a hearty dinner at a local Tico restaurant.
The boys are absolutely convinced that at least one of MaryJoe or the captain if not both would have drowned if not for the surfboards.
In retrospect I think the messages not to go diving on this trip were pretty clear however until the time of that disaster they were more impulses than feelings. Needless to say that feeling solidified immediately after the boys returned from their adventure.
As a result I decided to not dive for the remainder of the trip and enjoyed fun playful waves and beautiful deserted beaches until my departure yesterday.
--
Some thoughts I'd like to share.
There are those that believe negative situations are created by dwelling on negative thoughts and impulses, and for the most part I would agree. In this case however I see the awe-some potential of learning to listen to and feel the energy around oneself or a particular situation.
Not trying to get preachy with you all- I think we all exercise this to a degree, especially those of us who love to participate in high risk activities like driving cars and spearfishing.
I'm sure many of you have stories to prove this the case.
Perry Gladstone
Surfed out and back home in Toronto, Canada