I pleased to report that I have gotten home safely and without a scratch. All my luggage made it as well.
The dive trip to Cocos island was very good. We had excellent conditions. I got many good shots of Hammerhead sharks.
As my brief previous message indicated, we had quite an adventure in Costa Rica before the dive trip started.
On 8 January a group of 11 of us went on an 11 hour tour of Volcano Poas. An active volcano 40 or so miles from San Jose Costa Rica.
We first toured the rim of the volcano proper. viewing the live (though dormant) crater.
Next we went to a mountain on it's slope. Going to the LaPaz waterfall garden. We toured monkeys, butterflies, birds, ect. After lunch we hiked down into a deep gorge to view a series of large waterfalls.
While we were viewing the second waterfall we had an earthquake. Later we learned the the epicenter was half a mile from where we were standing and a half a mile deep. I was looking at the waterfall. The cliff on the far side of the river collapsed in front of me and large and small boulders rained down into the gorge from both sides. It looked like hell had opened up.
The one of our party suffered a broken ankle. One a fractured rib. Another had a deep puncture wound on his leg. These people were all literally within arms reach of me. No persons on the mountain were killed or more seriously injured. Pure blind luck.
The steep mountain paths forward and behind us were wiped out by landslides. Fortunately a side path was not totally destroyed. We able to use it to climb out of the gorge.
When we got back to the resort on it's little mountain, we found out the roads off the mountain we all destroyed.
Just before nightfall our broken ankle lady was flown out by helicopter. We spent the night out in the open. At 5000 feet in intermittently heavy to light rains. Wearing shorts and Tee shirts.. No one got any sleep. The mountain was shaken constantly by aftershocks. Large trees would crash off the cliffs all night long.
In the morning it became apparent that the promised helicopters would not be coming anytime soon. We ended up hiking out over destroyed roads and high mountain cow pastures. It was all up hill I would guess we climbed to 7000 feet. It took about an hour and a half. I was actually a beautiful hike if it weren't for the circumstances.
Once out the Costa Rican rescue services were great. We made it back to our hotel by 5.
About 60 or so Costa Ricans were killed around the area. No tourists.
As mentioned I didn't get a scratch on the entire trip. I am one of the few people who can say that they literally saw an earthquake happen in front of them.
Dave Burroughs
