Christmas

After arriving in Costa Rica on Christmas Eve we could not officially check into the country due to the holidays. Avoiding officials, we hid out in an isolated cove about 6 miles North of Jaco beach. My father, his beautiful wife Maureen, and my little brother Tyler flew down and joined us for Christmas. Christmas Day was perfect. We had a great breakfast before heading out to catch dinner. The boys dove unsuccessfully off a nearby point with poor visibility while my father, the seasoned angler, caught a decent Sierra. Sierra are great for sushi and so it was. About 2pm we saw a large vessel cruise by towing a small boat. Further scrutiny yielded their identity,


The Costa Rican Coast Guard.

All our faces turned sheet white. We calculated our international criminal acts as the Coast Guard pulled past us in our dive boat and anchored 50 yards from the Broken Compass. Half a mile away, we darted to a sheltered cove to hide our rods and spearguns. They launched a patrol boat and cruised toward us. Amid the Chaos, Maureen saw a couple of monkeys and almost fell off the boat with excitement. Our plan: we are not criminals, we are now tourists. We threw on our masks and pretended to snorkel and Maureen snapped pictures of the monkeys. The patrol boat cruised right past us to a nearby beach and completed their patrol. We were never boarded or questioned on Christmas day, however we did attract a horn of approval following our Christmas light display up the main mast that evening. The coast guard stayed anchored with us all night and continued up the coast the following morning.