Arenal Kayaks Tours on Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

It's pretty rare that we don't see some of the local wildlife when out paddling. Mostly there are birds, herons, kingfishers, vultures, and lots of smaller birds diving for bugs on the surface of the lake. Once in a while we'll come across a tribe of howler monkeys and twice we've seen whiteface monkeys.

This particular trip we were treated to something we don't see that often, a snake. Just happened to be looking over a ways and saw what looked like a ripple moving along the surface of the water. Seemed unusual as the lake was quite calm after a brief rain shower. After watching for a few seconds I decided that it was something swimming and went over to investigate. Sure enough, I saw him slither out of the water onto the shore.

By this time I'd gotten the attention of the other kayakers and they all headed over to take a look. We were all trying to identify him to make sure we didn't get too close if it turned out to be a viper or coral or any of the other poisonous varieties. He had black and yellow coloring which lead me to believe that he was a mica, a non-poisonous snake. So as we're floating a few meters offshore this mica climbs up into a dead bush on the shore and is checking us out! We managed to get a shot of him there. Although he'll not be easy to spot in the photo he's there, right in the middle of it.

Yeah, that was exciting.

This same outing was also a first experience for us to see how the fishing is from a kayak. Not being a fisherman myself I've not bothered to gear up for the effort. But our friend Capitan Ron came along on this trip and brought his gear.

Seems he couldn't cast without getting a hit on his lure. Could have been partly due to the conditions, overcast, rainy, warm, etc. or it might have something to do with the stealth approach of the kayak or the combination worked out just right. Several of the fish could've been keepers but The Capitan is a catch & release sporting fisherman. At least on this trip. We have enjoyed a few fish dinners after successful fishing tours and the guapote are good eating.