We arrived at Drake's Bay around 10:00 in the morning, and as we approached our anchorage, we immediately noticed fairly large swells entering the bay. Kathy gave the order for bow and stern anchors, and I reluctantly complied. (Note: It turned out to be a good idea.)

After a quick breakfast I gave a brief lecture on Sir Francis Drake. As I read highlights from Encarta I could see eyes waning in front of me. Casey only became curious when we talked about how poor Mr. Drake met his end. "What's dysentery?" she asked.

"Oh!" I replied, "Mr. Drake ate a hot dog from a street vendor like your mom." Kathy gave me a dirty look.
"Oh!..." Casey immediately understood the significance and quickly reflected on Kathy's many hours in the bathroom.

After breakfast we jumped in the dinghy and picked up the crew of our buddy boat Alaya, and headed for the wilderness lodge. Eight people were loaded in the dinghy as we looked for the river mouth. We saw large swells with some breaking waves around the entrance. I tested the outboard engine and quickly re-verified that our 9.9 Mercury 2 stroke can't plane with 8 people on board.

As we approached the swell we had a quick debate on swell characteristics.
"We have to follow the third wave," I stated with arrogant authority.
"Sometimes there's a fourth wave." Chase said, "I think they can come in a set of seven too." I paused and lost all my confidence as a large swell passed over us. After a few false starts we were able to follow a swell in. As we hit the river mouth we noticed a small crock (4 feet) in front of us. I figured he was waiting for us to flip.

Once we made it into the river we quickly tied up to the Wilderness lodge. It was a very pretty place and had beautiful views of the bay. I looked at the swells and wondered how we'd ever get out of the place without being eaten by crocks.

As we walked around the grounds Kathy and Casey found some tide pools and walked back towards the shore. We all spread out and walked around the grounds. I noticed a restaurant and pool in front of me and took off to see what was on the menu. As I approached the restaurant I noticed that a lone woman was laying out by the pool reading. I then noticed that this woman didn't appear to be wearing a top. I thought about approaching this young lady and telling her that I was hip to the scene; how I was now part of a Costa Rican gang; how I knew how to shake hands with my fist; how I like to read topless too, but these thoughts were fleeting and I quickly ran away like a school boy who just accidentally walked into the girl's bathroom. This was all just a little too hip for me.

I quickly approached Kathy. "You don't want to go up there," I said pointing to the pool very discreetly.
"Why are you pointing like that? Why not?"
"There's a woman there that's topless."
"How do you know that? Are you sure?"
"Well. I wasn't at first, but after checking 5 or 6 times - I'm pretty sure." After that I was immediately slapped on the shoulder. To my defense, I've been without my prescription sunglasses since Puerto Vallarta and my regular glasses are falling apart.

We had a lot of options at the Wilderness lodge for tours. You got the horse back riding tour; the walking tour; the insects at night tour; the butterfly tour - you know -- they've got tours. We decided that the free walking tour would be best for us and decided to take the 20 minute jungle walk from the Wilderness lodge to the town.

The jungle trail to town was great. It had a suspension bridge, huge trees, lots of cool Jurassic Park lizards, and lots of cool bird noises. It was everything I thought a jungle should be and more. The trees were large and lush. It was just beautiful. There was one problem though: It was really humid. Not having brought any water we were all a bit miserable. Kathy and Bob started complaining about the heat and I tried to bully them along with factoids about how Teddy Roosevelt spent weeks in a Brazilian jungle mapping a river and he was way older than us. I then got the standard sarcastic comeback: "Well good for Teddy Roosevelt."

We spent an hour walking to the town and quickly realized that there wasn't much of one. Kathy and Debbie were able to find a small store and sent the kids, Chase and Rachel, and me back to get the dinghy. I would drop everyone off at their boats and come to the beach for Kathy, Debbie and Bob.

The swells had decreased at the river mouth and we were able to get back to the boats with no problem. I now had to go and get the rest of the gang. I roared off from the boats and admired my newfound power. A dingy of one - that's how it should be.

As I approached the shore I began to scan for my party. I looked around and couldn't spot them. I quickly became frustrated because it was getting dark and I was going to have to land the dingy in some surf by myself. I began looking for an easy place to land. Note: it's a lot easier to determine how large the breakers are from the shore than at sea.

I placed the wheels on the dinghy; said a prayer; scanned the beach one last time; and punched it. The dinghy roared to life and as I got close to shore I waited for a swell to pass me. This is how I learned to bring the dinghy in. You always follow the swell.

A big swell passed and I gunned the dinghy and got right on top of the swell. There are moments in your life when you know you made a big mistake and this was one of them. I could see that the swell was much bigger than I had realized. The swell broke before me and I did my best to get as close to shore as possible. The wheels soon hit though and I realized I needed to make haste if I wanted to get this monster to shore without incident.

I ran to the front of the dinghy and lifted with all of my strength. Dramatic music was ringing in my head as I pulled. The wheels were dug; I could see the next wave building. I grunted and pulled and it started to move. I pulled the dingy thirty feet backwards and dropped it on the shore. I was exhausted, completely out of breath; but alive. I looked back at the shore and quickly determined that we'd never be able to get the dingy off the beach.

I started down the beach looking for Kathy and soon found them walking towards me. As they approached I yelled, "Where were you? Why didn't you wave?"

Kathy quickly yelled back irritated, "We were yelling and waving. You went to the wrong beach. The town's way over there," she said as she pointed back over her shoulder. "Way to go!"
"I don't have my glasses."
"Duh..." There had a few bags and Debbie was carrying two large pizzas. Isn't it amazing that you're out in the middle of nowhere and you can still get pizza?

We loaded up the dinghy and placed the pizzas under the cover at the bow. Kathy placed her backpack full of unprotected eggs inside the dinghy a long with bread and other groceries. Bob quickly grabbed the nose of the dinghy and turned it around.

"Okay Papillion," I said, "when do we throw the bag of coconuts in?" I wasn't sure if Bob got the movie reference of not. We brought the dinghy close to the shore. Now this is where I usually stop. I'm not a fast thinker and I wanted to sit and wait for a day of two to understand the wave pattern. The group consensus was to get moving though. The breakers were getting bigger.

Now when approaching a situation of peril, it's important to know who's in charge. That person is the leader and his orders should be followed unquestioningly. As we approached the surf complete pandemonium broke out. "Go!" someone would yell. "Wait!" yelled another. Each time the dinghy would move closer to the breakers. "Back it up! We're too close." The suction was too strong. We couldn't move the dinghy. "We can't move it back!" Now we were being sucked into the next breaker and they were getting LARGER.

BOOM! The wave hit the bow of the dinghy and tossed all of us like tinker toys. Gallons of water entered the dinghy - its entire contents lay disarray. Our pizza boxes were wet. The gas can was on its side. There wasn't much time to look. A new breaker was coming. "Hold on!"

The front of the dinghy collapsed as the next wave hit. More water came in. The waves were getting bigger. We pushed hard. Kathy got in and started the dinghy and Debbie soon followed. As I jumped in and Kathy accelerated past the surf line, Bob hung on for dear life.

Fortunately, the damage was minimal. We were still able to eat half the pizza and Kathy only lost a single egg. It was good to be alive.