the 312 hole

I shot this in Costa Rica with my new 70-200mm Canon lens. I had the lens on my old Rebel to get a little extra length with the smaller sensor. Nothing too crazy here, but this is one shot in a series that I put together for a timelapse that I’m working on. Eventually I will get around to finishing the video, but here is one moon shot as it moved across the frame.

The pictures I took in February come from complete opposite ends of the spectrum: Chicago’s 3rd largest snow storm in history versus Costa Rica; Chicago skyline versus remote Central American beaches.

Click to see a few more portraits.

During our stay at Recreo, we took a small boat out from a local beach for a couple of hours during the sunset. Our 17 foot Boston Whaler boat was captained by a local 17 year old from El Jobo – who had to swim out to the boat and bring it to us. We tried to do a little fishing during out trip, which consisted of trolling with two poles off the back of the boat, but we mainly enjoyed the views and the wine. The views and wine were well worth it, and the fish were not biting at all.

Click here to see more photos.

While at Recreo, there is no better view than the mountain top – called the Mountain Top Cantina. There is no full-service bar up on this mountain, but there is a tiki hut capable of being transformed into a bar. Most guests congregate to this spot, armed with their own drinks of choice, to enjoy the magnificent views of the sunset. In fact, the villas are so remote from each other that these sunset excursions to the mountain top may be the only interaction with other guests you experience. During the day, you can generally find solitude in this same location, with complete 360 degree panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Nicaragua and the surrounding landscape.

In the below photos, I’ve captured a nearly 180 degree view from the mountain top looking west on the left of the picture and nearly east on the right side of the picture. These panoramic images are composites of approximately 10 individual shots, and in its full size is a massive file with great detail of the surrounding area. Viewing panoramic images online or on Flickr doesn’t really do them justice, so I’ve included a link for a larger view below each image. Even still, these are extremely scaled down representations of the original image.

On the right half of the image, across the water and on the horizon, you can see a mountainous landscape. This strip is the southernmost border of Nicaragua. Also on the right side, just above the green plant in the foreground, you can see a large island in the water – this is Isla Bolanos, a 14 hectare bird sanctuary.

You can see a white home perched on a nearby mountain – nearly in the middle of the picture (this was not our villa, but that would be cool). To the right of this home and mountain is a large bay, which is the home of Playa Jobo. To the left of this home and mountain is another bay, which is the home of Playa Rajada. This is the beach that is associated with Recreo, but both bays provide remote and uncrowded beach space. You can see pictures of these beaches here.

Click here for a larger view of this image. Viewing panoramas online doesn’t really do them justice.

From the same location, the below image shows the sky during the tail end of a sunset – with the sun setting off to the left and the night sky creeping in on the right. It is definitely hard to match exposures across this field of view when creating a large panoramic image, but I like the change in the color of the sky. I think it paints a good picture of what to expect from the mountain top.

Click here for a larger view of this image.

Of course, mother nature would call for snow my first morning back in Chicago. Late February snow is not the best way to return to reality, but luckily I have some pictures to take me back to the beaches and villa from our trip to Costa Rica. We spent the last week at Recreo, which is a resort area located in the northwest corner of the Guanacaste province, and it was fabulous.

The pictures below provide a snapshot of the two main beaches within minutes of the villas – Playa Rajada and Playa Jobo – and our villa – #20 aka the Bungalow. Every time we went to the beach, we were often the only ones there. At most, we would see a handful of other people, but these beaches were so large that you basically had your own private slice of the Pacific Ocean. The whole location was so remote and private. Later this week, I will post some panoramic photos from the Mountain Top Cantina – located at the very top of Recreo – and these photos show a great view of the Pacific Ocean, the two primary beaches and even Nicaragua.

Playa Jobo is a beach that is located at the other side of El Jobo, the closest village / town to Recreo. While Playa Rajada is the beach associated with Recreo, Playa Jobo is only a 10 minute golf cart ride from the villas. Once here, the beach is even more calm than the surf at Playa Rajada. We spent several hours on this stretch of sand and we were just about the only people there – except for a fishing boat that was constantly anchored about a hundred yards out and a few local kids passing through on their bikes.

Click to see more photos of Playa Jobo, Playa Rajada and Villa #20 at Recreo