left to right: ty sawyer; John Mozo/OceanStock.

com
Oahu, Costa Rica and St. Kitts When temperatures
rise, so does the possibility of adventure and romance. The zone just south of the

Tropic of Cancer has an ideal and inviting climate, hot enough year-round to maintain

water temperatures that beckon swarms of turtles, whitetip reef sharks and flocks of

other finned denizens — yet cool enough each evening to enjoy a walk on the beach.

BY TY SAWYER AND TARA BRADLEY

tropical escapes
48 October 2007 spor tdive r.co m pad i.co m October 2007 49
 tropical escapes costa rica
USA
NICARAGUA

Pura Vida
Map
Area Caribbean
Pacific Sea
COSTA RICA Ocean

discovering there is never a dull moment in Costa Rica •

Tamarindo •
By Ta ra b ra d l ey
San Jose

O
utside our beachside villa, my
friends and I fill the air with the
stories, mystery and scandal that
only lifelong friends can create. And since
I have known these friends — Trish and
Anne — for over half of our lives, there is
a lot to laugh about. We have decided to
escape from our homes on opposite coasts
and meet in Costa Rica — where lo que
pasa, pasa (whatever happens happens).
As we sit in our hideaway at Ocotal Beach
Resort, the anticipation of our upcoming
adventures adds to the excitement. But
our voices are soon overpowered by the
beat of drums through the night breeze.
We follow the sound along the string of
stone steps curving up the mountain that
rises beside our villa. Higher and higher
we go. The beats become louder, the
rhythm more pronounced. Then we see
it. Adorned in bright purple and orange
with grand headdresses covered in se-
quins, beads and feathers that reach the
wooden roof above, dancers move in a
rapid rotation — their feet stomping to
the band’s restless drums. Sweat glistens on
their bodies as they pulse through the faint
glow of the nearby lanterns. We have hap-
pened upon a local wedding. This is our
first glimpse of pura vida.
While watching the locals celebrating,
time gets away from us until we remem-
ber we have a dive boat to catch in the
morning. We make our way back down
Turning Point
Shark Channel PANAMA
Punta Mala
Punta Gorda
Catalinas Islands
Destination Primer
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 80°F WHAT TO
WEAR: 3-5 mm fullsuit AVERAGE VIZ: 30-
100 feet (varies; Costa Rica is surrounded by
two bodies of water) WHEN TO GO: Year-
round; best viz is from June to September.
to the shore. The water rushes over our
bare feet, the phosphorescence causing
purple sparkles against our toes. A boom
sounds overhead, followed by fireworks
filling the sky. We haven’t seen daylight
yet, and Costa Rica has already given us

Back on deck after the dive, I’m a
little stunned. The wrecks of Oahu, es-
pecially those off Waikiki, tend to get
overlooked because they’re smack in the
middle of the busiest spot in the Pacific,
a city where it’s easy to get caught up in
the whirlwind of tourist distractions. In
the back of my head, I almost begin to
think that I’ve just been shown a little
Hawaiian secret. The best spot
at 1024 (1024 Nu’uanu Avenue). The
shop is filled with locals, all having tea
and all women. But this is not a proper
English tea. No, this is Hawaii, so every-
thing comes Hawaiian-style, and here in
Chinatown, there’s an Asian twist. Here,
you come for tea and put on a feather
boa and fancy hat, or for men, a top hat
(the feather boa is optional for men),
seeing red Left: The inviting glow of footprints in the sand Riding along
Cassis by Chef Mavro, the hottest new res- Playa Espadilla Norte at dusk.
taurant and wine bar in Honolulu. Right: The
ltitan scorpionfish can be spotted by its red-
dish tint and algae-imitating appendages.
history on Oahu.
That night, I’m back in the wonder
that is Waikiki. Perusing the stalls of the
International Marketplace, watching local
surfers, shopping at one of the

in the islands for giant sea
turtles and inarguably the best
wrecks in all of Hawaii. I can’t
wait to explore more.
But right now I’m off to an even
more unheralded part of this famous city
— Chinatown in Honolulu.
While exploring the resurging
streets of Chinatown, I come across
what seems like an impossible shop: Tea
Tea With a Twist
Tea at 1024 in Honolulu’s Chinatown is
must do
back on deck after the dive,
i’m a little stunned.
and you sip orange pekoe and nibble
scones in this outlandish attire. Other-
wise, the shop looks the part. The tea,
cucumber sandwiches and scones would
all be right at home in an English gar-
den. But the owner has taken all the
pretense and stodginess out of this tra-
dition and infused it with a bit of wild
abandon. I sit for tea, chat with the local Tiger. Sunk in 1999 in 107 feet of wa-
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: TY SAWYER (2); BRENDA WEAVER (ILLUSTRATION); BLAINE HARRINGTON III/CORBIS
dozens of ABC stores and stock-
ing up on macadamia nuts. A full
moon rises over the bay, cast-
ing a silver sheen on the shore
and the famous beach. I leave my window
shades open at my ResortQuest room and
fall asleep, basking in the magical glow of
the Hawaiian night.
The next morning, I’m headed
back to the bay, still within site of my
hotel, and soon I’m descending upon
the fairly new wreck of the 168-foot Sea

a unique combination of a tearoom and women and have a grand old time in my ter, the upright ship looms dramatically
boutique. Enjoy a traditional English
tea – Hawaiian-style: Come as you are top hat. Afterwards, the owner takes me up from the sand. The deck is covered
or pick out a one-of-a-kind outfit from for a quick tour of the dragon-shaped with a massive aggregation of snapper.
the boutique to wear before taking tea
at this local favorite. garden in the back and tells me about A couple of sea turtles rest near some
the resurgence of this important part of deck gear, and two green morays slither
must dive

1. YO-257 Honolulu’s dynamic history. As I wander among the growing coat of red hydroids
2. San Pedro
3. Sea Tiger the streets I can sense the pride locals that have begun to carpet the surface of
4. Land of Oz have taken in this part of their town and this artificial reef.
5. Makaha Caverns
the desire to retain the roots of their (Continued on page 90)

52 October 2007 spor tdive r.co m pad i.co m October 2007 53

 a royal welcome. The next morning will
mark the first open-water dive for my
friend Anne, and I can already tell the
trip will be anything but uneventful.
They’re nervous. As we jump aboard
PADI Gold Palm IDC Ocotal Resort’s dive
boat with PADI Dive Instructor Flaco,
the usually talkative Anne is quiet while
the rambunctious Trish jokes to relieve
the tension. Anne has just completed
the PADI eLearning course, and within
minutes of descending the line at
Turning Point, her rising comfort
level becomes evident, so Trish “when you see something beautiful the La Victoria Waterfall
and I leave her to finish her skills
with her PADI Instructor Phillipe.
As we fin along the reef
of Turning Point with Flaco, the open
mouths of green and chain moray eels
appear out of what seems like every cor-
al head. Their scorpionfish neighbors try
to seem less obvious. Nearby, a puffer-
fish family of 10 bounces off one another
like fragile bumper cars. In the shadows
of a coral head, an eight-foot whitetip
rhythm of life Left to right: Whitetip
reef sharks hot on a scent trail off of Cocos
Island; conga drummers infusing the beat
into Carnival in Jaco; a white-faced capu-
chin monkey balancing in the canopy.
left to right: jeff rotman/seapics.com; gary braasch/corbis; classic stock/alamy
54 October 2007 spor tdive r.co m pad i.co m
reef shark slumbers on the sandy floor.
Careful not to wake it, Trish and I slowly
JG<:@8CKP;@M<I
approach it for an up-close-and-personal
look before we head back to the surface
— Trish’s eyes twice their normal size.
Our surface interval brings us to a
place Flaco has affectionately named Flaco’s
Beach, (after himself). Side by side, we float
on the surface as Trish retells the story of
her first shark encounter, the size of the
shark growing with each new version.
you say, ‘Pura vida.’ Life is good.”
And with her check-out skills behind her,
Anne is ready to join us on our next day of
diving — and to check out the shark tales
she is sure we have fabricated.
That night at Ocotal’s rooftop res-
taurant Roca Bruja, we join our friend
Sisinio for dinner and are greeted by our
waiter Jose, who smiles as he stretches
out his bearlike arms in greeting and
says, “Pura vida girls.” When he sees
our confused faces, he says, “It means
good things — when you see something
beautiful you say, ‘Pura vida.’ Life is good.”
Later, as we dine, we begin to understand
continuing education
Get your Advanced Diver
specialty. For more info, go to
padi.com.
what he means as we share what be-
comes our favorite meal in Costa Rica
— fresh ceviche.
After dinner we sign ourselves up
for the next day’s Costa Rica Adventure
Tour. We are told we will
go tubing from the base of
through the rapids of Rio
Negro, rappelling through a
large canyon by the Blanco
River and horseback riding through the
dry forest trails of Hotel Hacienda Gua-
chipelin. And although the mai tai’s at
the bar are tempting, we make our way
back to the room so we are ready for
whatever form pura vida will take on the
following day.
The helmets should have been a
sign. Our tubes float us atop the cool
water that slowly carries us — but not
for long. The first rapid looks fiercer than
we had imagined. Not able to slow down,
I go with the current and fly out of the
tube like a rag doll only to be dunked
October 2007 55
 tropical escapes st. kitts
underwater and tossed like a toy in a springs. Our somewhat leisurely gal-
washing machine. When I surface, the lop along emerald valleys offers us the Sunset Sail beautiful remnants Left: A sugar
For the perfect way to end a day, sail mill now serves as a reminder of the aban-

looks on Anne’s and Trish’s faces are of
complete fear. One by one they topple
over the waterfall and into the crashing
water below. A hint of excitement starts
to show in their eyes, and with no other
must do
chance to take in the incredible beauty
— all further enhanced with the hint of
wild mint on the wind. No matter how
worn out we may be from our earlier ad-
ventures, it is hard not to enjoy the view
into the horizon on the Trisha Anne
doned sugar cane industry. Right: A diver
— Ocotal’s signature 65-foot sailboat.
Enjoy fresh pineapple and cold Pilsner inspects the bow of the MV Talata.
beers as a pod of dolphins playfully fol-
low your wake.

option, we get back on our tubes and are
forced to surrender ourselves to the river
— forever to be known as the “Category
Five Rapid River of Death.”
After we dry off, the guides hand us
weathered gloves, hook us onto zip-lines
and secure the straps of our harnesses.
And just like that we’re off — from bridge
to platform and platform to waterfall, we
swing through the air overlooking the
river below — so clear that it’s nearly im-
possible not to notice the details of the
fallen leaves lying on the rocky bottom.
With each new platform, we are guided
deeper and deeper into the dark green of
the forest. When we reach the last line,
Trish surprises us with a confession: She’s
afraid of heights.
Following one adventure with an-
other, we let a group of horses carry our
fatigued bodies to what will be our final
reward — a mud bath followed by hot
hold steady The zip-line canopy tours
offer adrenaline-spiked treetop views of
the Monteverde cloud forest — to those
unafraid of heights.
— simply pura vida.
The next morning, animals are ev-
erywhere. We wake to howler monkeys
dancing on our roof, catch a bright red
crab trying to scamper into our room,
have breakfast under the pleading gaze
of a hungry raccoon, and dodge iguanas
and other lizards lurking around almost
every corner. As we walk toward the dive
boat at Ocotal, I look back to see a white-
throated magpie jay perched on my chair,
attempting to eat my leftover pancakes.
Animals are everywhere underwater,
too. Newly certified Anne is ready to find
the sharks we’ve been talking about, so
we set off to explore Shark Channel. The
name alone has her worried. Beneath the
surface trumpetfish align like swords on
the wall of an ancient Renaissance for-
tress. An octopus gives itself away as it
skirts from crevice to dark shadow, its
colors changing from white to purple to
pink. I tug Anne’s fin to get her attention,
and we watch as the octopus performs its
rainbow of costume changes. And like a
stage curtain, the thermocline — signaling
a drop in temperature — glistens in the
must dive
1. Turning Point
2. Shark Channel
3. Catalinas Islands
4. Punta Gorda
5. Punta Mala
water column behind it. Ahead, Sisinio
flashes the shark sign followed by the
number “three.” The girls and I slowly
approach as three sleeping whitetip reef
sharks come into view. Disturbed by our
presence, they circle one another, and
then us. We sit motionless as they disap-
pear and then return. Two, three ... six
laps. Their graceful movements begin to
hypnotize us and our breathing begins
to stabilize. When they finally settle, we
leave them in peace as we ascend through
a school of brown damselfish, blue chro-
mis and yellowtail snappers. When we
surface, it is Anne’s turn to exaggerate.
And by the time we are back at Ocotal
waiting for our rental car, the whitetips
have grown from eight feet to 12.
For our final dry day in Cos-
ta Rica we decide to take a road trip
from Ocotal to Tamarindo — one of
(Continued on page 92)

Seduced by St. Kitts

CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: Y. LEVY/ALAMY; TY SAWYER; CARLOS VILLOCH; BRENDA WEAVER (map)
USA
the old world charm of diving’s newest hot spot Atlantic
Ocean

By Ty Sawy e r
Map

B
y day two I was suffering from
full-blown Caribbean intoxica-
tion. I found myself at sunset,
standing atop the cannonaded buttress of
the Fort Brimstone ruins. I could see the
nearby island of Saba rising from the ho-
rizon as if perched at the edge of the earth
to house the retreating sun. Behind me,
the volcanic peak loomed over the “far
side” of St. Kitts — the little-seen crater of
Mount Liamuiga was wrapped in a shawl
of color-shifting clouds. My girlfriend
walked up, and together we watched the
sun lose the battle with the moon. For
a moment during the transition, there
was only stillness. Then the sun was
Caribbean
Sea Area
gone, and the first of the stars erupted
from the deepening darkness.
ST. KITTS
Then it happened, almost suddenly,
as the moon took over the evening — that Basseterre
electric tinge of romance and adventure. •
It swept through the dimly lit streets and MV Talata
River Taw
filled the spaces between the trees on the Corinthian
volcanic hillsides, between the old sugar Turtle Bar
mills that pockmarked the landscape,
between plantations, and all along the Monkey Shoals
uninhabited coast where fallow sugar
Destination Primer
cane rustled with the quickening breeze.
At that moment, I was hooked, drawn in AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78-83°F WHAT
by the Old World Caribbean charm that TO WEAR: Dive skin or shorty in summer; 3
mm fullsuit in winter AVERAGE VIZ: 60-80
still lives and breathes here. feet WHEN TO GO: Year-round
St. Kitts came out of left field for

56 October 2007 spor tdive r.co m pad i.co m October 2007 57

tropical escapes/costa rica (Continued from page 56)
Costa Rica’s notorious surf towns. It is
only eight in the morning and we’ve al-
ready hit a roadblock as a group of cows
is herded across the road. And almost
as if on cue, the nearly forgotten Chi-
cago tune “Saturday in the Park” comes
across our rental car’s radio on Radio
Dos — Costa Rica’s station of choice. Af-
ter the last cow has cleared the way, we
drive through tire-threatening, potholed
roads lined with skyscraper-size pejibaye
palm trees. As we pull into town, the dust
92 October 2007
settles on the road and the colors begin to Need a Buddy?
unfold. Shops decorated with hammocks Grab a friend and get them certified.
in reds, greens and pale yellows line the After enrolling in PADI’s new eLearning
program online, students can complete
walkway accompanied by table after table
their coursework wherever and whenever
of homemade jewelry, bongos and bikinis. they like. They can gauge their progress,
In the distance, the salty air leads to the review answers and correct responses at
shore. Off the road a hand-painted sign their own pace. Once the coursework has
been finished, they can then contact their
reads “Surf Lessons $25.” Within minutes, local PADI dive shop to complete their
we’re riding above the water we have been pool skills with a PADI Instructor. And the
submerged in all week. Hours pass before best part? The check-out dives can occur
almost anywhere — be it with their local
lightning begins to show its fierce face, dive shop or on their next vacation. Learn-
and we make our way back to the sandy ing how to dive has never been so easy.
For more information on eLearning, check
out padi.com.
shore and our worn-out rental car.
We have crashed through the “Cat-
egory Five Rapid River of Death,” danced
with the whitetip reef sharks waiting for
us on every dive and ridden the waves
of Tamarindo. We wanted an adventure,
and from the looks on the sunny faces
of my friends, it has been another one
for the books. We’ve created new tales
that will be told when we find ourselves
reunited again, ready for another ad-
venture. But the stories aren’t the only
thing I’m taking back with me. The two
little words that have been following us
around all week are with me too. Pura
Vida. And the best part is knowing that it
was with me all along.
Special thanks to Costa Rica Tourism (visit
costarica.com), Ocotal Scuba Diving Resort
and Hotel (ocotalresort.com) and Sisinio Al-
varado.
costa rica listings
Costa Rica Tourism
visitcostarica.com
Dive Centers
Deep Blue Diving Adventures
deepblue-diving.com
Diving Safaris Costa Rica
diving-safaris.com
Divingmania
divingmania.net
Ocotal Scuba Diving Resort and Hotel
ocotalresort.com
Live-aboards
Okeanos Aggressor
aggressor.com
spor tdive r.co m
tropical escapes/st. kitts (Continued from page 58)
sites that comprise Monkey Shoals (es- and cultural heritage of St. Kitts remains st. kitts listings
pecially for that name), which harbored relatively hidden behind the veil of the
heaps of marine life, from sleepy nurse sugar-based economy. Well, the secret’s St Kitts Tourism
stkitts-tourism.com
sharks and sea turtles to a secret parade out. Let the seduction begin.
of macro critters.
D i v e Centers
Back above the water, between Special thanks to the Golden Lemon (golden Dive St. Kitts
dives, there were tons of places to dis- lemon.com), Ottley’s Plantation (ottleys divestkitts.com
cover. Besides the UNESCO World Heri- .com), Rawlins Plantation (rawlinsplan
tage Site Fort Brimstone (the Caribbean’s tation.com), Greg’s Safaris (gregssafaris Kenneth’s Dive Center
kennethsdivecenter.com
largest intact fort), there was a lush .com), Adam’s Unlimited, Bertrum (our af-
rainforest filled with playful vervet mon- fable driver) and Jason (our accommodat- Pro Divers
keys, which were introduced to the is- ing guide). prodiversstkitts.com
land by passing sailors. We spent a day
with Greg’s Safaris exploring the Valley
of the Giants, which took us deep into
St. Kitts’ fascinating rainforest. We also
found old sugar mills, romantic planta-
tion homes and petroglyphs carved into
rocks — all remnants of St. Kitts’ in-
teresting past. In a sleepy village called
Middle Island, we met an elderly woman
who took us on a tour of the first Angli-
can church established in the Caribbean
(by Sir Thomas Warner). There was a
covered and cracked marble gravestone
from 1648, marking Warner’s gravesite,
but the woman was keen to show us her
continuing education
JG<:@8CKP;@M<I
Underwater
Get your
Navigator Diver specialty. For
more info, go to padi.com.
husband’s grave — right next to War-
ner’s. She spent 30 minutes telling us
wonderful stories of their time together,
which greatly illuminated St. Kitts’ past.
We went on to visit the batik factory at
Romney Manor. This art form has found
a unique expression on St. Kitts, making
it hard to leave without bringing a piece
or two home. Before returning home,
we took the time to stroll around Basse-
terre, French for “lowland.” Its central
“circus,” with a four-sided clock as the
centerpiece, was like London’s Picadilly
Circus, a gathering, passing and meeting
place for locals and travelers alike. We
sampled milk straight from the coconut
here, and the friendly locals with their
love of sharing stories made us feel at
home on their island. The architecture
was a mix of old West Indian colonial
and Creole that hearkens back to the
17th century. Yet even with the long
and heady history, the unique natural
pad i.co m October 2007 93