The hot springs were a must-do, so we headed to Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort. We really underestimated how big and beautiful the grounds were going to be. The hot springs were so relaxing, it felt like you were in a hot bath that never got cold. The different trees and flowers were so beautiful. It felt like we were in a tropical oasis, complete with exotic animals. A delicious lunch came with our spa package. We tried almost everything on the buffet, Brian's favorite was fried and breaded cheese balls and Erin's was the chocolate and caramel mousse.

Erin's favorite flower-Shampoo Ginger or Maraca

We followed this little guy and his friend around for a while, then they belly-flopped in to the hot springs and took off.

These are tree roots. They make themselves visible to soak up as much water as possible. — These are tree roots. They make themselves visible to soak up as much water as possible.

Our last adventure in Arenal was zip lining. We were in the first group to go out for the day and we were the only ones on the tour. Our guide Marvin from Athica Canopy Tour was great, along with the photographer who came with us. We figured it would be worth it to pay someone else to zip line with a nice camera instead of taking ours :) After a quick crash course, we started off on the first of 10 zip lines.

Brian was able to 'Superman' since it was just the 2 of us.

After we left La Paz waterfall garden, we headed up to La Fortuna and Arenal volcano. We had reservations at Arenal Lodge for four nights. We were excited to unpack and set up camp for a few days. The hotel sits on 2,000 acres of lush rain forest and offers a butterfly garden, hiking trails and horse back riding. Right away we noticed the Howler monkeys hanging out in the trees by our room. They would let out these loud, long cries in the early morning which served as our wake up call each day. The hotel pool had a great view of the volcano and was the perfect spot to relax. Our favorite beverage were Imperial and Pilsen beer. We went for a walk and saw horses grazing in a beautiful pasture. There was a wedding alter near a cliff over looking the volcano so we used that locations for sunset photos.

A long exposure at sunset, clouds now covering most of Arenal Volcano.

Our first adventure was to visit Fortuna waterfall at the Catarata Ecological Reserve. There is a steep 10 minute hike down the the bottom where the waterfall feeds into the Tenorio River. Just as we were leaving it started to pour. Thankfully we had our waterproof camera bags and our rain coats. It made for a hot and humid hike back up to the car.

Fortuna waterfall aerial view before the hike down.

Yes, we were prepared for the rain. One of the few times we had to wear our rain jackets.

That same day, we went on a hanging bridge tour with Jacamar Tour company. It was cloudy after the morning rain so the vibrant green really popped against the sky. The tour takes place on a 600 acre reserve and has 9 fixed bridges and 6 suspension bridges. Our guide was very informative and very knowledgeable. The highlight was seeing a three-toed sloth climbing back to it's tree house. Sloths live in the trees and only climb down once a week to poop. Our guide said it would take about 45 minutes for the sloth to reach the top of the tree. It lost it's grip a few times and slid down the tree, so of course we had to youtube 'sloths falling out of trees' when we got back to the hotel. ;)

Packing and carrying photography gear on a trip is not an easy task. It is difficult deciding what to leave behind but the main objective is to take the least amount of gear and still be able to create the type of images you want. For this trip, I decided to take the following:

Gear List: Canon 6D camera body, Canon 24-70mm lens, Canon 100mm macro lens, Rokinon 14mm fisheye lens, Manfrotto travel bee tripod, Sigma EF 610 Super Flash, Lee Big Stopper Filter, Neewer Intervolometer.

The 24-70mm lens was on the camera the majority of the time. It is a great walk around lens that can be wide enough for landscape images and then zoomed in for portraits. The 100mm macro lens was used for detailed close-up photos of frogs, birds, crabs, insects, flowers, etc. If I was more into wildlife photography, I would have brought my 70-200mm lens or rented a longer zoom lens (100-400mm) but those are very heavy and clumsy to carry around all day. Overall, I was happy with my choice of equipment and used everything I brought :)

Costa Rica Part III: Tabacon Thermal Hot Springs and Canopy Tour

Costa Rica Part II: Arenal Volcano Sunset, La Fortuna Waterfall, And Hanging Bridges Tour