Tuckered out by 9am??

  I'm dedicating this post to Rhiannon, who says one day she must come here.
I got up, sat at the back porch and had some chamba chai, and jumped on my bike. It was just after 6am when we rolled out of the arched gate to the house, which was covered in flowering vines.
  Getting up before 6am is wonderful. March is summer time here, and it gets so dang hot in the middle of the day! Everything is quieter and cooler at 6am. I used to whine and moan about getting up early, but I've never had such a great incentive before. Plus, I don't work swing shifts until midnight either. That factors in too.
  We got to the beach and the had already come up. Pity, because it's amazing watching the sky light up, then the sun emerge from behind the mountains. It was low tide, which means tomorrow morning will be a good time to snorkel. It's going to be so much fun, I can't wait. The hardest part about snorkeling is reminding Ron that I like shallow water, not going half way out of the bay. I just found out this morning that there are manta rays out there, the kind that jump right out of the water!
  Biking on the sand is always a grand adventure. Ron has a new 21 speed bike, and I have a very old 1 speed bike. He stays on the dry sand, and I go get messy in the wet sand, as close to the water as I can without going in the ever moving water line. It's a 3 mile beach, and we are on one end, so it's a 6 mile ride. I don't like getting up early, I'm always so groggy, and trying to figure out what's real - my vivid dreams, or waking up in the tropics to go to the beach! But once I get to the beach I always love it. The first part of the ride I can't see much, because the sun is in my eyes. Mostly I stare at the wonderous sand. There are so many patterns in the sand. It's called "arena" in Spanish.
This first picture doesn't look like much. But it's very weird when you are surrounded by it, and know it's caused by hundreds of tiny creatures just below the sand.

I set down the sand dollar next to proof of a live one in the sand.

 Imagine seeing these every 3 feet. Weird piles of sand pushed up from some unknown creature below. Some parts of the beach were covered with them. It happens certain times of the day, on segments of the beach.

I try to imagine what it's like to be the thing that makes this trail.

  Ron can bike the whole way there and back, but I like to break it up a bit. Collect some shells, take some pictures, stop and admire the view. Samara beach is extra safe because there is a reef that extends around 90% of it. No sharks, no crocodiles. During high tide you can't see any of it. During low tide there are 4 separate sections of reef that appear out of the water. I've snorkeled at 2 of them. Maybe the 3rd will be tomorrow.
  After we were back at our end of the beach I took some more pictures, and jumped in the water with Ron. I danced around in the waves and enjoyed the lesser gravity. I'm not a fan of riding home  in wet shorts and shirt, but I'm not wearing my bathing suit while riding my bike. Thanks but no thanks. There are plenty of old grandmas wearing bikinis on the beach, but I'm not there yet. Chances are good I will never be that brave again. But my goal is to be in shape enough to keep it as an unused option.
Ok, now wish me luck with the Costa Rican internet, so I can add pictures to this.


The middle of beach, this is what it looks like from west side of the beach.

This is the south side of the beach, looking to the east.

Facing west on the south side of the beach.