Arenal Kayaks Tours on Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

If you've been watching the Lake Cam page lately, you've seen that we went through a wet spell there for several days. Most of this week in fact. The rain started on Monday and stayed pretty steady all week. This morning we woke up to sunny skies.

After a very dry "summer" season here it looks like "winter" has arrived. We have a different notion of summer and winter here in the tropics. Summer is that time when it's not raining, usually from February until June or thereabouts. Winter, then, is the rest of the year. Not that it rains the whole time. Here in Arenal we get a mixture of sun and rain and rarely go more than 3 or 4 days without some rain or sun. Even in the summer. This year summer was unusual in that regard, hardly any rain from early January until this week. And HOT! Temperatures into the mid to upper 80's just feels hot when the humidity is also in the upper 80's.

We've had some kayakers recently enjoying the nice weather. A couple from Philadelphia and another couple from Colorado, thanks guys. They all had nice conditions, not too windy and not raining. The Colorado couple were rained on as they pulled up to the take out location down at the city park but the lake was dead calm for their 2.5 hour tour.

Managed to pick up some pieces for the Great Auk while up north visiting. Haven't had a chance to install the new seat cushion or the foot pegs yet. Also picked up some shock cord for deck rigging. Need to craft some paddocks and cleats to rig the shock cord yet. Figured to make those from wood of course. Found spray skirt to fit the cockpit, now I can really take on the rough water or attempt rolling!

The lake level has been going down steadily for the past couple of months. Looks like we're still about 3.5m above the lowest level seen last year which was the lowest we've ever seen the lake. Locals say it hadn't been that low for 15 years. Hoping the recent rains and now moving into the rainy season stop the decline and begin refilling the lake. It is nice to have beach showing so we can search for 2,000 year old artifacts in various places. Cruising up rivers is somewhat limited but the fishing reports are good. Our friend Captain Ron says he's catching fish on every tour.

Well, that's the news from paradise. Hoping to see some more visitors stop by and enjoy a kayak tour on the lake!