Days Passing Slowly - Ben

We are primed to go, waiting for the last pieces to come together so that we can throw our gear in the back of the truck and leave for Osa, and yet, here we are, waiting. It´s times like these that people start to get edgy. We told our bodies to be ready for adventure on the 27th, and here we are, still sitting, waiting. Of course, we planned for this. And so, at around 2:00 PM we are hoping to finally be on the road. Hopefully some of the stress will dissipate with the wind blowing in our faces on the drive to Osa.

Arrival of the Third - Izzi

As Ben and Jesse prepare in Costa Rica I anxiously
wait for my departure.
Today will be flying out of Fresno California and then
flying to Los angeles then on to Maimi and eventually
I will arrive in Liberia Costa Rica on Jan 26th at
12:10pm. I'm hoping its Costa Rica. The way it's been
going I might have booked it for Liberia Africa-but
i'll go with the flow if so. :-)
I can't wait!
In respose to a lot of questions I've been getting
about -how exactly is this adventure illustrating
conservation or helping in any way. My response is;
this adventure is all about education for
preservation. The more people to see and know of the
delicate amazing ecosystems of this planet-the more
people will band together and protect it. Our
adventure is fueled solely by man/women power, kayaks,
and coconuts. Unlike a lot of mainstream tourists we
are hoping to not even leave footprints.
While doing some research I found out that one of the
main threats to high levels of biodiversity on osa
peninsula is that it has been estimated that less than
10 percent of the land outside of the national park on
costa rica is under secure title. Therefore resulting
in lands being cleared for logging and agriculture at
a higher rate than anywhere else in Costa Rica. Gold
mining in the rivers and streams has also led to
serious environmental threats including, water
pollution and soil erosion.
We will be exploring some of the last unaltered
terrain on this planet and I hope that our
experiences, the photo's, videos and stories we bring
back will help other realize the importance in
protecting them.

Jesse Building a Rack for the Kayaks

Preperation - Ben

I've come down to Costa Rica a few weeks early to get everything set up for the expedition. After working in Central America on a few previous trips, it is painfully obvious to me that even on a bare bones trip like this, things will come up, pieces of the puzzle will be missing, and nothing will happen like you plan it. At a certain point, it's always necessary to just take what you have and go for it. Like deciding which stroke is your last on a painting that has taken hours or days to complete, a certain point comes where whatever you do will only complicate things further. In a few days, Izzi's plane will land in Liberia, Costa Rica, and we will head south on our 8 hour drive to the Osa Peninsula where, with all the planning that has been put into this trip, plans will change and it will gain a mind of its own. These are the best kinds of trips. We have goals, but how we get there will be a fluid and entertaining process.

Expedition Summary

Three team members, Jesse Horton, Izzi Stalder and Ben Horton will be kayaking around the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, going into the Sierpe Reserve, Drake Bay, Corcovado national park, and hopefully Isla Cano National Reserve. The trip will be fully self supported, living mostly off of the land (coconuts and speared fish), and will take about a week of kayaking through mangroves, open ocean, and uninhabited coastline to complete.

The trip will be going through a number of ecological habitats known for sharks, Rio Seirpe and Rio Sirena are fresh water hunting grounds for inumerable Bull Sharks, and Isla Caño attracts some of the same schools of hammerheads that we documented off of Cocos Island. Isla Caño is only 10 miles from shore, and about 40 miles from some of the closer fishing villages, so I am anxious to see how much more affected it is by the fishermen than Cocos Island.

Our plan is to sleep in hammocks on the beach, eat coconuts and catch fish for food, all the while surfing what waves we can on the secluded coast line. This adventure is to be an example for other young people, by showing that adventure can have a purpose.

This expedition will be taking place the first week of January, and we will be covering it with HDV video, and High quality still imagery above and below sea level.