Arenal Kayaks Tours on Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

Hard to believe that we've not been paddling for 10 days. Had some rentals go out (unguided) but after our 4-day trip to the beach (the big lake) there's a lot of catching up to do. Amazing how being gone for 4 days can set you back a week.

Now today, the rain has returned after several days of pretty nice weather. Windy, the lake was rough with whitecaps but plenty of sunshine. Would've been fun to be out there playing in the surf.

Locals were talking about how we might have emerged from the rainy season early. Seems premature given today's weather. January is typically a very rainy month here and it can continue into February. Seems like we've had quite a few sunny days lately which gets people believing that summer has arrived. I just don't believe that we're out of the jungle yet...

The Great Auk is hanging from the roof in the shop, I can see it from here in my "office" which usually motivates me to get it down and put in somewhere. Not that rain is a show stopper. Tropical rain is not cold so if you're active there's no danger of hypothermia. My take is I'm either wet from sweating or wet from rain so it doesn't really make much difference. Just have too many other tasks on the plate so the kayak will have to wait. Maybe later today I'll be able to fit in a break to go out on the lake. Or just go insane, whichever occurs first.

Hate to miss opportunities to explore areas that are recently flooded by the rising lake level. There are many places that open up to kayaks during high water and it's fun to see what kind of wildlife is there. It's also a treat to be that much closer to the jungle and not have to worry about snakes. One of the benefits of kayaking over hiking in the jungle. Not to say that we avoid them totally. We've seen vine snakes swimming around on a couple of occasions. Kinda scary at first but they're not venomous so no worries. And, of course, jungle snakes like to hang out in trees so it pays to keep an eye on the branches overhead.

Geez, now the sun is back out! Must be time to get the boats out. Gotta go...