Arenal Kayaks Tours on Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

Yes, an unusual title and we're likely not the first kayakers who have taken their mascot along for the ride. But, this is a first for us here on Lake Arenal for sure.

Our friend Leann decided to meet us at the lake on Sunday morning. We'd talked about getting out for an "early" paddle the day before when we were visiting her and husband Ron. My wife mentioned that she'd been wanting to get out early sometime. I think she was actually talking about being on the water at dawn, around 0530 here, which would be fun. Watch the wildlife wake up around the lake. But, the consensus was to touch base sometime between 7-8 and see what the weather looked like. Well, the weather was awesome (Sunday's LakeCam photo included) so we were headed down to the lake by 8.

We get to the lake and Leann is there with Pilsen, her tico dog. Pilsen is also the name of one of the local beers in case you've not been here to partake. Anyways, Leann has decided to bring Pilsen on the kayak. I'm thinking, well, why not? Pilsen isn't a large dog, maybe 12-15kilos. We'll see what happens.

We unload the gear and get in the kayaks. Pilsen cooperates with Leann and off we go. A little cramped on the single kayak, if we'd known we could have brought the double, but Leann is up for the adventure. With Pilsen mostly in her lap, paddling was a little difficult. Once he settled down for the ride it was a little easier I think.

We ended up staying on the lake for more than 2 hours with a brief swim stop at a little piece of beach. The only spot we could find along the shore that wasn't either deep grass or thorny bushes allowed us all to get in for a cool dip. Pilsen refused to leave shore amid much coaxing but was willing to get back onto the kayak when we started to head back.

We let the wind and waves carry us out into the lake a bit to see if the volcano was going to grace us with its presence. But no, too cloudy down that way even though the skies were mostly clear overhead. The volcano seems to generate its own weather and is quite often clouded over when there are clear skies all around. But, we have found that it's best to just relax and watch for a while because more than likely the cloud layer shrouding the volcano will open up.

So that's the dogs and kayaking story. Not sure I'd recommend bringing a dog along but it worked out fine.