by Wesley Harris
02/27/2009, Savegre River, Costa Rica

Our guest and crew, Bill, has been appointed tour director and with some ideas from Dad, they decided on a few, and landed on a white water rafting tour. We signed up and the next day, we showed up and hopped into the company van. All five of us sat into the back, and no sooner did we pick up two more tourists we were off to the river, the wonderful river of Oz (actually, the Savegre river). On the way the guides asked us what we wanted for lunch after our tour. The menu was chicken, beef, or, pork. It all sounded so good it was hard to choose from. We then all decided, and placed our orders.

After another thirty-minute drive, we reached the river. While the guides blew up the rafts (three single rafts, and two group rafts) we were given a small safety lecture. We received our gear and went into groups, then off on the river. Two of the guides got the single rafts, while Dad got the other one. The other guides were with the two groups. We went down the river paddling, turning, zipping around rocks, and having water wars with other rafts.

For a halfway stop, we pulled up our rafts, and proceeded to a waterfall, for a snack and a rest. The guides cut up two pineapples and laid out some cookies. All around, there were frogs everywhere, at least a hundred in our area. Everyone had their snack, and then a guide painted our faces with wet stones. What a look!

After the break, we went back to the rafts and one of the guides asked me if Ryan or I wanted to try out a single raft. I answered first and said that I wanted to. Dad gave up his raft and I put it in the water and got the basics down. I went down a white water set, and did exceptionally well. I really impressed the guides, and I really impressed myself to. Then after a few more sets, I handed it over to Ryan. He did really well too, and after a few more sets, Mom gave a try at it. She used it all the way to the end of our tour, and then we pulled over to deflate the rafts and put them in the van. We also put our gear away, and went in to the car to wait for the ride to the boat.

We had a very exciting time white water rafting, now its time to go surfing! Check out Ryan's story....

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by Wesley Harris
02/21/2009, Isla del Rey, Las Perlas

If you have read from the Captains log, you would know about Chuy and Susan, who gave us some cool places to explore and this is one of their top recommendations. It was an exciting way up a river mouth.

The Gone Native sailed to an anchorage called Isle Cana. Ryan and I set up our dingy and told everyone it was time to come. Bill, our guest, and Mom and Dad hopped in. We then motored over to a small river mouth. We putted along and saw many tropical birds and weird species of trees. We slowly went along, and arrived into a fork in a river. In the distance of one direction, we saw a small waterfall, so we went there to check it out. We approached it slowly and then turned off the engine and pulled it up. We put our anchor out and used it like a grappling hook to keep the dingy in place. We hiked up a little then I felt something on me. It bit me... Hard. Black flies! We got the heck out of there.

Then we went up the other way of the river. We ended up at a little dirt opening where we guessed villagers head up the land to pick fruit. We decided to go and explore. We saw several fallen palm trees, lots of coconuts (of course), lizards, birds, and some weird looking fish. When we had our fun looking around, we got in the dingy and Bill and Dad paddled for a while. It was a lot nicer, and much quieter. We all talked about what we could eat... On a boat you often miss familiar foods. When we were almost out of the river we started the motor again for the rest of the way. I have never hated the motor so much. Now I see how my dad complains sometimes how much noise it makes. Well in the end we got back alive, not eaten by anyone in the jungle and had a great meal of fish that we had caught on our last crossing.

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by Ryan Harris
02/13/2009, Isla del Rey, Las Perlas

The inhabitants of the Gone Native took a moment to relax. After having a long dingy tour around Isla del Rey we returned to the boat and had a small snack, fit for a king, before Bill went to take a snooze. My Mom and Dad started reading while Wesley and I played on our Wii for about half an hour until our parents called for us to see a pelican on our dingy.

We went outside into the cockpit to see a pelican just sitting there and looking at us curiously. Wesley went back inside our boat to retrieve the camera and started taking pictures. After a few minutes he jumped into the air and flew right on to the back steps of the Gone Native. Wesley started getting closer and took more pictures. Eventually, he reached the pelican's danger point and he flew away. We all were a little sad that it flew away, but got over it and went back to what we were doing in the first place.

We heard our parents calling for us again and saw the pelican on the dingy before they were able to tell us about it. This time as soon as he saw us he flew back onto the back steps, where my Dad was sitting and reading. Stanley, our newly named pelican, jumped into the air and flew onto the rail which was about a yard from where my Dad was sitting. We stared at him totally excited, but did not show it because we didn't want to intimidate Stanley. Just then Bill came out from his nap and was surprised to see Stanley. Bill decided to get some fish for the pelican. A few minutes later the pelican jumped right next to Dad and started nibbling at his legs. Stanley jumped back as Dad moved. He didn't hurt Dad, but just wanted to give him a friendly taste. I guess Dad was just not the flavor he was hoping for.

Dad then handed a piece of fish to Stanley, but once again, he flew off the boat. We expected him to come back in a few minutes, but sadly he never came back again. Although we enjoyed the few minutes with him we were a bit sad that we probably would never see him again, but all in all it was awesome to meet him.

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