Jumping ahead in time a bit to the near end of our Semester at Sea voyage, we docked in Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica for a very brief 36 hours where we headed into the jungle near Manuel Antonio to Playa Esterillos.
SVV and I headed straight for Alma del Pacifico, down along Playa Esterillos near Manuel Antonio National Park for a very quiet night away from the ship. Also, for this:
Long, sandy stretches of beach and absolutely no one else out there.
For as much time as we spent on the ocean these past four months, we spent far too little time burying our toes into the sand.
I took a few self-indulgent leaps, did some cartwheels:
Then I made the executive decision that SVV finally learn how to jump. After all, he spends far too much time behind the camera and too little time in front of it.
The initial attempts weren’t all that impressive. There was the leprechaun:
The dolphin:
The skateboarder:
And then he found his groove.
An absolutely gorgeous place to practice jumping. I’m still thinking of a trip to Costa Rica this winter. Maybe I can learn to jump. 😉
Knowing you and your love of nature, you would adore Costa Rica. We didn’t get a chance to go into either Manuel Antonio or Carara, the two big national parks in the area, but they both are just teeming with wildlife–we could even see alligators in the rivers from the main road!
Beautiful place!
My jumps definitely look like SVV’s initial attempts, that’s me. Although I’m always behind the camera. Sometimes I find a helpful rock to balance the camera on, have my dog pose, set the timer and run for it.
You should get one of those little portable tripods that fold up and fit in your pocket for your self-timer dog shoots =)
You call it the leprechaun. I call it, “I’ve just been shot in the back.”
Bwahahahahaa!
Awesome.
xox
I love your jumping shots! Looks like your husband has warmed up to jumping – I expect we’ll see pics of him leaping all the time now! 🙂
Now we just need to actually take our tripod with us when we travel so we can have some dual jumping shots!
Jumping photos = hours of fun.
1) Sooo romantic!
2) I am obsessed with the color of your toenail polish.
3) The leprechaun? Fucking hilarious. My favorite.
It’s a faux OPI color I got in China and was leftover from when I channeled Lady Gaga in the shipboard talent show. I bought a huge bag full of “OPI” and “Mac” and “Benefit” at the fake market in Shanghai for a lump sum of $25; it was a score particularly as I brought one thing of eyeliner on the ship and that was my makeup for four months.
That last one is awesome! I am going to have to try that jumping thing out!
Gravity seems to have rules against me jumping, but you guys did a fantastic job!
Glad you got to have an evening to yourselves!
When all else fails, jump off a higher object like a bench into the frame of the photo, and it will give the impression of some decent hang time 😉
Learning to Jump, a series of prints
That might just be the next art centerpiece in my living room (if I ever have a living room again, that is…still homeless…).
I love the behind-the-scenes jumping shots, but that second photo is my favorite – such a big expanse of beautiful!
You were running out of light! Thank goodness he finally got it!
Yeah, it was weird for me to fathom that we were in Central America not too terribly far north of the Equator and the sun still set at 4:30pm! Then again, science was never my best subject… =)
Gorgeous (and fun) shots! Makes me very eager to start planning a trip…our friends will be moving to Costa Rica this summer so a trip is in the future for us and now I can’t wait!
You should definitely take advantage of that! I’ve never been too terribly eager to visit Costa Rica as I feel it’s now where all Americans go to vacation, but man, 15 minutes on the ground and I understood why that’s the case–the jungle and all the biodiversity there are simply spellbinding.
It looks like you and Scott had the entire world to yourselves there.
Those pictures are fab and I absolutely love Costa Rica! The first time I visited Manuel Antonio, a monkey jumped on my friends bag and stole a bag of cookies from us! Then threw the wrapper at us from the tree and watched us while he ate each cookies. Little punk. 😉
In unrelated news, I know you’ve said it probably before, but I was wondering what camera and lens you use for such pretty sky shots?l!
LOVE THIS ONE!!! cheers to SVV finally jumping! gorgeous sunset & capture also. bravo
I spent Thanksgiving several years ago in Manuel Antonio, eating a big plate of spaghetti and drinking wine under a thatched roof that was open on all sides while it poured down rain. Probably one of my most fun Thanksgiving memories! But you do have to watch those monkeys. They’re bold and steal EVERYTHING!
Loved every shot whether you were jumping or not! 🙂
Beautiful images! Hannah (my fiancee) and I have been wanting to travel to Costa Rica to do some elopement photography. This looks like a perfect spot! Your photos and words make us want to do that even more. Keep it up!