Michael's Weblog

Hitched

I finally got around to ordering a hitch for my Jeep this week.

]]> After watching a few videos on etrailers.com I felt confident installing it myself. It took most of the day to complete the installation because I had to wait for FedEx to deliver my torque wrench. I then had to go to the hardware store for a new socket set because I ordered the wrong wrench. The project was capped off with the purchase of the Clemson hitch cover this evening.

No, I don't plan on pulling anything anytime soon, but it is nice to know I can. Next purchase will likely be a cargo carrier.

More Info & Pictures

Blue Angels (2)

The Blue Angels were in town this weekend..

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...SNOW?!?

Taken moments ago...

1,000 and counting

I hit 1,000 hours at the South Carolina Aquarium today, just shy of my 6 year anniversary as a volunteer.

National Pi Day

Happy [first official] Pi Day

3.
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Broken Metatarsals

There is no conclusive evidence as to how this happened, but Hershey gets to wear bandages for a few weeks while her two fractured metatarsals heal. Other than hobbling on three feet, it has not seemed to phase her much. If only she could have gotten an orange bandage...

(1)

Today was the last day of planned adventures. With another early pickup by Hightide, we were taken to their shop for some ATV driving lessons. After we passed our driving tests we began our two hour 'mountain tour' through the trails of Tamarindo. Being the rainy season we were blessed with lots of mud on the trails (sometimes so much that it was quite easy to get stuck in big puddles). On the tour was the only time I saw, high in the trees, monkeys on the trip. The trails led us, with a short drive on some [dirt] roads, to the same place we took the canopy tour. We basically turned around there and took the same trails back..which seemed completely different with the change in direction.

]]> After the tour we had lunch at the Taco Stop..which I don't recommend. We had a long wait, partly because they weren't used to having as many patrons at one time. Nobody was very pleased with their meal. I had something that I thought would be similar to a burrito you'd get at Moe's, but I was sorely disappointed. It almost looked the same on the outside, minus the foil, but nothing good was to be found on the inside.

After lunch we went downtown to check out the shops and then headed back to the house where we hung out the rest of the day.

(2)

On the menu for today was breakfast at Grinds, located at another restaurant called Kahiki's. It is apparently where the locals go for breakfast..not that I noticed too many choices. It was typical breakfast food..and it was good.

Today's activity was surfing...the reason many people go to Costa Rica. Not having much experience (maybe 30 minutes about 17 years ago) I took a lesson. We learned the basics in about ten minutes before getting into the water. We then spent nearly two hours surfing. I was able to stand up on the second or third wave I caught..and many more afterwards. Unfortunately the waves were breaking fairly close to the shore so you couldn't ride for too long..and when you went down, you were likely hitting the ground. The teacher was relentless. It was probably the best workout I've had in ages. As soon as you'd get back out to where the waves were breaking, he'd have you turn around and catch the next wave. At the end of the lesson I was glad that he had pushed us that hard because we got some good practice. During the lesson, however, I would have really liked to have been able to breathe. My arms weren't too happy at the end of the two hours either..

Dinner was pizza at Pizzeria Las Baulas, next to Dragon Fly. Again, nothing out of the ordinary (well nothing like Papa Johns and Pizza Hut)..thin crust pizza with some odd topping choices.

Pura Vida - Día Cautro

The fourth day in Costa Rica is a day I had been looking forward to for quite some time. It had been 12 years, 1 month, and 2 days since my last [SCUBA] dive. Very early in the morning we were picked up outside the villa and taken about an hour north to la Playa Flamingo where we were stripped of our shoes and boarded a boat to take us to a boat (no docks) headed to the Catalina Islands.

]]> Once on the dive boat we were divided into groups of about six people and given the game plan for our first dive and a quick refresher course on hand signals that would be used while under water. The trip out to the islands took about 30 minutes, most of which was filled with our bilingual dive plan. Not long after our talk we saw the only 2 turtles we'd see for the day floating at the surface.

Our first dive consisted of following the northern flowing current on the west side of the Catalina Islands between 40 and 60 feet under the surface. Not long after our descent we went into a small area that could be called a 'shark wash'..sharks go in here and the smaller fish clean them. I was quite excited about this because I had never seen a shark while diving. I was not disappointed. Here we saw several white tip sharks just lounging on the ocean floor mere feet away. Apparently we scared them all away because it sounded like we were the only group to see more than one shark. We saw 5-6 throughout the dive. After leaving the house of the sharks we went further north where we saw two schools of spotted eagle rays off in the distance. After a three minute safety stop at 15 feet we ascended to the surface and were promptly picked up by the boat. Total dive time: 55 minutes

After a bit of rest and refreshments, our second dive took took us close the the island pictured above. This dive was a bit of a let down after the first..though no dive is a bad dive. There didn't seem to be much in the way of life..besides a few small fish and a bit of coral. The only creature worth noting was an octopus. This dive was supposed to be around 40 feet, although we did briefly hit 60 foot. Total dive time: 46 minutes.

I was very happy with the crew of the dive boat. Everything was taken care of for us..they even took our flippers off in the water. For anyone else with the misfortune of seeing Open Water, I was pleased with the safety measures taken to insure everyone made it back to Flamingo. Not only were we in small groups with a dive master, while on the boat everyone had to sign a paper before diving and once again after we finished diving. The final test was making sure we had no leftover shoes when we returned to the beach.

For dinner we ate at Taboo in Langosta, just down the street from the villa. I wasn't thrilled with the menu here because it was mostly seafood and a bit on the expensive side. The restaurant itself was very nice however.

Pura Vida - Día Tres

On the third day, the adventures began. Just after lunch we were picked up at our villa by the Canopy tour crew. We drove about 20 minutes outside of Tamarindo, signed our lives away, and began to zip between the trees. I think there were eight lines on the tour which was not enough. It went by way too fast. At the highest point we were roughly 60-70 feet in the air. One of our guides took my camera and snapped one of the few shots you'll see of me in Costa Rica:

]]> He also took a video of me going upside down on one of the lines..maybe I'll figure out a way to post that one day. The zip line tour was very fun and it is something that you must do when you go to Costa Rica.

The rest of the day was a normal vacation at the beach day. We didn't do anything until dinner. For dinner we ate at the Dragon Fly, which was probably one of the best restaurants we ate at during the week..so much so we almost went back. While we enjoyed our dinner, the sky fell..we had a great view (because, again, we were outside) of the thunderstorm and pouring, pouring rain. The rain helped to bring down the temperature a wee bit so we didn't mind. We were joined at this meal by an Alaskan Malamute/Siberian Husky (I can't tell the difference between the two, but I know I want one) which was also in the restaurant avoiding the rain. I wasn't shocked to see a dog in the restaurant because they were everywhere, but I was surprised to see a husky due to the ill-suited weather.