Private snorkeling at Playa Conchal, Costa Rica

Photo by Lindsay Loucel on Unsplash

Photo by Lindsay Loucel on Unsplash

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Playa Conchal is a beach that’s hard to get to. We had to drive our rented SUV through some questionable spots that Ryan was none too pleased about. But I knew that since it was hard to get to, there’d be fewer people there.

The beach is made of shells, not sand so you can’t walk on it barefoot. This photo I found on Unsplash makes it seem more sandy than shelly, but I can assure it was very striking.

We parked a kind young guy watched our car and told us about what we can do. Horses. Fisherman was out at the moment but as soon as he got close enough to shore he’d wave him down.

Once he came closer he paused just past the wave breaks. There’s no dock. You swim out past the waves up to the side of the boat and kick your legs as hard as you can to heave yourself up over the side. Our guide was the tannest Jamaican I’ve ever met. He had young helper who tried to help me up over the side and we both ended up in a heap among the fishing gear but we were in! The boat smelled of fish and it was messy with gear. They offered us life jackets but we passed. Then in the bow they opened a compartment to find some flippers that would fit.

First we headed to a lagoon of sorts where we swam. I floated on my back looking up at the sky and only got a little bit of salt water in my eyes. Being there felt like the planet was whispering a secret in my ear.

Machete laying in the bottom of the boat. Cooler of fresh caught fish.

Ryan says “mucho beuno and slaps his ass”

Hucks the cooler full of fish towards shore and the helper jumps in after it.

Spear gun is much rinky dink than I imagined. It’s very small - not a big piece of machinery.

Snorkeling - swimming way too long and getting sunburnt on our back side.

Ate pargo rojo, red snapper that they fileted and grilled for us there with some lime and salt and pepper. They told us the eye balls are a delicacy and we very generously gave them to our hosts. With two coronas. It started to rain and there was a little tarp that we sat under while we ate and sipped coronas.

I felt changed. There were no pristine docks with ADA ladders. No paperwork to sign. No rules, but everyone was kind and you felt at ease but there was a ruggedness to the day. Everything else is so deterministic. Like herded cattle. Do this. Sign here. Don’t do this. Follow the rules. Controlled, manicured fun.

Ryan gets handed the fish. He’s swimming towards me holding it up out of the water, swimming slowly and lopsided. “You know that thing can get wet right?” Ryan was afraid that the blood would attract a shark. Well the blood was running down his arm into the water anyway so I suggested not swimming like a noob and getting to the boat faster. He hands me the fish — it’s big - too big for the two of us to eat so we later picked a smaller fish.

Raechel Lambert

Indie SaaS Founder & Product Marketing Leader

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The subtle art of bleisure travel

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Floating down a natural lazy river— Sian Ka’an near Tulum, Mexico