Thursday we had school as usual. The only thing out of the ordinary that we did was to walk on the beach after we went for sushi. At the end of the beach some locals were fishing which inspired Dad and me to try it there. We have yet to do so but hopefully I can convince him to go!
On Friday we did not go to the Spanish school. Dad and I did our pool work for scuba. The plan is to become certified while we are in Dominical. This required all day in a pool practicing different skills and safety things. Regrettably, we started at 12:30 PM and ended at 5:30 PM. However, it was awesome! My only complaint was that the deepest part of the pool was 5' 6" so my head was above the water when standing.
Dad woke me up at 7:30 AM on Saturday so we could be at the scuba shop by 8:30 AM. We had our first open water dive planned! The boat ride to the dive spot, which was right off an island called Caño, was an hour long. The ocean was very calm and we were lucky enough to see dolphins! The boat was quite full. There were two captains, two dive masters, a snorkeling guide, three other divers, two snorkelers and all the gear in a twenty foot boat.
Unfortunately when we got in the water, I discovered that I could not go past 15 feet because my ears would not equalize. In scuba diving you have to clear or "equalize" your sinuses every couple of feet as you go down because the pressure can mess up your ears. I think my allergies are the cause. Next time we go I will take a Sutafed before the dive.
After realizing that there was no way to fix the problem easily, I decided to join with the snorkelers. It turns out that I made the right choice because the other scuba divers said that the water was extra cold and the visibility was very bad where they went. Where we snorkeled the water was warm, the visibility was good, and we got to see a sea turtle up close! Our snorkeling guide even said that he heard a whale while he was going under to point stuff out for us!
When we arrived back at the house it was already close to dinner time. The hotel right down the road from our house has a restaurant so we decided to walk over to make reservations. On our way to the restaurant we found a group of over twenty white-faced monkeys that were jumping from tree to tree. If there was a monkey jumping contest these guys would win! The farthest recorded jump a white-faced monkey has ever done is twenty two feet. We threw a couple of bananas up to them and they became instant friends with us. They never came all the way to the ground but they did come down to the lower trees and followed us. When we got to the hotel we found a group of fifteen howler monkeys that were right next to the pool. The friendly monkey (that Kylie mentioned) was there and even came down to the guests which made their day!
Everything except the main courses of the dinner was amazing. Kylie ordered a mushroom soup that Dad thinks is the best he has ever had. We all ordered our steaks medium rare which was a mistake because here that means raw. The dessert redeemed the dinner because each one we ordered tasted amazing and Dad's came with a fire show. We are definitely going back to that restaurant!
On Friday we did not go to the Spanish school. Dad and I did our pool work for scuba. The plan is to become certified while we are in Dominical. This required all day in a pool practicing different skills and safety things. Regrettably, we started at 12:30 PM and ended at 5:30 PM. However, it was awesome! My only complaint was that the deepest part of the pool was 5' 6" so my head was above the water when standing.
Dad woke me up at 7:30 AM on Saturday so we could be at the scuba shop by 8:30 AM. We had our first open water dive planned! The boat ride to the dive spot, which was right off an island called Caño, was an hour long. The ocean was very calm and we were lucky enough to see dolphins! The boat was quite full. There were two captains, two dive masters, a snorkeling guide, three other divers, two snorkelers and all the gear in a twenty foot boat.
Unfortunately when we got in the water, I discovered that I could not go past 15 feet because my ears would not equalize. In scuba diving you have to clear or "equalize" your sinuses every couple of feet as you go down because the pressure can mess up your ears. I think my allergies are the cause. Next time we go I will take a Sutafed before the dive.
After realizing that there was no way to fix the problem easily, I decided to join with the snorkelers. It turns out that I made the right choice because the other scuba divers said that the water was extra cold and the visibility was very bad where they went. Where we snorkeled the water was warm, the visibility was good, and we got to see a sea turtle up close! Our snorkeling guide even said that he heard a whale while he was going under to point stuff out for us!
When we arrived back at the house it was already close to dinner time. The hotel right down the road from our house has a restaurant so we decided to walk over to make reservations. On our way to the restaurant we found a group of over twenty white-faced monkeys that were jumping from tree to tree. If there was a monkey jumping contest these guys would win! The farthest recorded jump a white-faced monkey has ever done is twenty two feet. We threw a couple of bananas up to them and they became instant friends with us. They never came all the way to the ground but they did come down to the lower trees and followed us. When we got to the hotel we found a group of fifteen howler monkeys that were right next to the pool. The friendly monkey (that Kylie mentioned) was there and even came down to the guests which made their day!
Everything except the main courses of the dinner was amazing. Kylie ordered a mushroom soup that Dad thinks is the best he has ever had. We all ordered our steaks medium rare which was a mistake because here that means raw. The dessert redeemed the dinner because each one we ordered tasted amazing and Dad's came with a fire show. We are definitely going back to that restaurant!
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