Today, the beginning of the end of our trip--we head back to San Jose today, as our flight leaves tomorrow. Inevitable as the tide....

We rested yesterday than returned to the beach. Our original tide pools were all covered with waves so we tried another at a promontory near the end of the beach. The water was very shallow, but we got to use up our underwater camera. For dinner we invited Sandy and Dave with us to find the Gilded Iguana. After some searching, we decided that it had closed and the wonderful Italian place had taken its place, so we decided to go to the Jungle Bar (since we hadn't been there). It was okay (more rice and fish), and we could be loud and have fun. Sandy and Dave are nice people--we have much in common. She's an environmental scientist; he works as a janitor, not sure what he wants to do yet. They're here for two months since she just graduated. Young, liberal, adventurous, environmentalist. We swapped e-mail addresses.

Oh, yes, yesterday we saw the tiniest hermit crabs, no bigger than my thumbnail. Amazing! (plus we saw some bigger ones, approximately 1 centimeter).

Also saw sea slugs in a tide pool.

And, most exquisite, I watched a Common Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis), a member of the nightjar family, before we left for dinner, hunting from one of hotel signs, and "plaintively" singing.