Reflections of a surfer

Yesterday I showed a surfer returning from his morning surf, so today I am showing a surfer just heading out into the surf on Langosta Beach.  I like the reflected image in the water slowly receding on the gentle slope of the beach.

This week we have more photos of Julie's recent raft trip through the bottom of the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Surfer returning

A surfer has finished his morning surfing on Playa Langosta.  Directly behind him is the mouth of the Langosta Estuary flowing out to the sea, with waves rolling endlessly into the beach in the distance.

The long shadows to the west confirm that this was an early morning surfing outing.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.   This week we are showing photos of the colors of the Grand Canyon from Julie's recent raft trip through the bottom of the Canyon.

What's in the bag?

A glimpse back to the south revealed this person in the distance, carrying a bag.  There are two likely explanations.

He might be a fisherman returning home with a bag holding his catch.  He is holding the back out from his body, which suggests that he does not want the wet fish to bump up against him.

Another possible explanation is that there are a few vendors who sell Chorotega pottery on the beach.  It could be a sack of pottery.

This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Paddleboarder

Our walk along the beach revealed an early riser who went out for a morning paddle board outing.    Paddle boarders are rather new in Tamarindo.. We have seen more of them during the past 2 years or so.

This looks like good exercise.  The paddle boards are bigger and heavier than regular surf boards.  I guess if you are strong enough to paddle through the surf, you are likely able to carry the board to the beach.

This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Walking the dog on the beach

I mentioned a couple of days ago that  Langosta beach is not crowded.  One might expect to see someone walking by about once every 5 minutes or so.

What better place to walk a dog than along the beach?

There are volcanic rocks in the ocean at this location.  There is an area for swimming with a sandy beach about a block away.  This area is excellent for exploring tide pools.

As you can tell by the shadows, this was a morning walk, as the sun is in the East.

This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

The arrow says "this way home"

As we started our walk along the beach, we noticed this giant arrow a few steps down the beach.  Why would anyone do this?

Here is my guess.  There are beachfront mansions along the beach next to our condo, many of which are available for rent.  My guess is that a guest in one of the beachfront mansions drew this giant arrow so that they could find a little path in the trees to get back to the right house.

This is a like a beach version of Hansel & Gretel dropping bread crumbs to find their way home.  The results might be the same as Hansel & Gretel if the tide comes in before the people come back.

This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

A walk on Langosta Beach

Today I will begin a new series and show what you might expect to see on a typical walk on the beach.  For the next several weeks I will show some photos that I took on the same July day.

These photos will illustrate why my wife and I like to walk along Langosta beach and why we decided to buy a condo there.

One of the reasons is that it is not crowded, as today's photo shows.

This photo was taken at low tide.  At high tide, this entire area will be under water.

This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Pink flower ball

Yesterday's photo included a bit of a pink flower on the side.  Here is a complete view of one of the pink flower balls. I apologize that I do not know the names, but I admire the structure of these flowers.  They remind me of an M.C. Esher drawing.

This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Flowers

This places into context the flower shown yesterday.  Costa Rica is lush with tropical flowers, all year around, of course.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted  on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos of Costa Rica, which of course I show every day on this blog.

Flower

Here is a delicate flower element.  It almost looks like a delicate thorn.  I will show the remainder of the flower tomorrow.

It is convenient to have flowers all around our condo so I can get always get a few flower photos when I need some more photos to post.

This week we are showing photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Bamboo ceiling

After showing bamboo growing the last two days, I thought I would show this photo of a bamboo ceiling today.  Bamboo is a good, renewable wood product to use in construction because it grows so fast.

This week we are showing photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Looking down the bamboo shoots

This is a a view down the talk of the bamboo stalks that I showed yesterday.

I once bought a house in Arlington, Virginia in the winter.  I did not realize that when spring occurred, the neighbor's bamboo trees would send up shoots throughout my back yard.
I would spend all summer cutting bamboo shoots that emerged from the grass like spears.

This week we are showing photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Bamboo stalks

This group of bamboo shoots caught my eye.  These were on the grounds of the Cala Luna Resort, which has lush landscaping amidst its casitas that are its resort units.  It is about a block or so from our Langosta condo and we like to walk there for lunch in their restaurant by the pool.

This week we are showing photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Zip lines

Zip lines are a popular activity for visitors in Costa Rica.  Every zip line place I have visited uses a double cable system, with one cable suspended from a pulley and a second cable attached to the cable that is suspended between platforms.

It is a thrill to zip between the platforms.  It is not really an activity intended to view the forest canopy, as you are going too fast to focus much on the trees.

Once you start most zip line activities, there is no way down except to complete the series of platforms by zip lining the rest of the way.  Most platforms do not have stairs or ladders to climb up or down.  The only way down is to continue zip lining to the end.

This week we are showing photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Last rays of the sun on Tamarindo Beach

The last rays of the sun hit a fishing boat and the sand of Tamarindo Beach at high tide.  San Francisco point is in the distance.

This week we are showing photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Driftwood trees on Playa Langosta

The beaches and coast of Costa Rica are lined with large trees.  sometimes the salt air and ocean spray can claim trees as victims, which explains the presence of driftwood the size of trees on Langosta beach.
Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing some more photos of the temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia.  It is one of the world's great monuments, but is less visited to Westerners than places such as Rome, Greece or Egypt.  We highly recommend it.

Diria Resort pool

This is part of the swimming pool at the Tamarindo Diria Resort.  One of our two condos is just above this swimming pool.  The pool was walk-in sides like the beach, and little coves and islands, as you can see in this photo.  The shape of the pool allows people to have some space to themselves even when there are other people in the pool.

The pool is 10,000 sq. ft. (930 sq. m.), the largest in the area.  There is a swim up snack bar at the far end.  It is popular with guests staying in the condos and the resort.  The hotel also has several swimming pools next the beach.

This week we have more photos of Julie's raft trip through the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Hilltop homes and flowers

Here are some hilltop homes above Tamarindo.  They are nice houses, with a spectacular view of the ocean.  It looks like they have planted a lot of flowering bushes, which they will want to keep trimmed to maximize their view of the ocean.

This week we have more photos of Julie's raft trip through the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta Beachfront House and Garden

This is one more of the the Langosta beachfront houses.  Tropical plants grow so well in our climate that many houses and condos have lush and colorful plants and flowers.

This week we have more photos of Julie's raft trip through the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Theme Day: Numbers (of surfboards)

Today's worldwide Daily Photo theme is "numbers."  We don't have a lot of numbers in Tamarindo.  There are no street addresses or house numbers.  In small Costa Rica towns, everyone either knows where everyplace is, or they simply give directions by reference to where a place is near.

But, we do have a large number of surf boards.  There are a lot of surfing shops and surfing schools in Tamarindo, and many of them have surfboards stacked up inside and/or outside the shops.  For the Daily Photo theme of numbers, here are 24 surfboards stacked outside one of the surfing lesson shops.

This week we have more photos of Julie's raft trip through the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Here is a link to a website that shows other City Daily Photo bloggers' interpretation of the theme of "numbers."